Pompeii: a Trip to an Open Museum

To get to Pompeii from Rome, take a train from Termini station to Naples. A fast train second class ticket cost around 42 Euros. From there, take the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii.

Pompeii is one of the most impressive outdoors ancient cities/museums. The beauty of it is breath taking. However, you can't help but to think about the tragedy the city went through in 79 AD. It will make you sad to think of all of the people who lost their lives during the volcanic eruption. The good side is how well the buildings are preserved and that we can get a glimpse of the ancient times.

The modern city of Pompeii is a tourist trap, so watch out for the over-priced everything around it. The admission ticket is 11 Euros. http://www.pompeiturismo.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=28

The cafeteria inside the ruined city offers over-priced soft drinks. Coffees were a reasonable price. The fast food there wasn't great, but when you walk for hours and get very hungry, this food will be enough to please your stomach. They have a selection of pizzas, salads and sandwiches. The service wasn't good. I don't eat pork. I ask when I buy food whether or not it has ham or bacon in it. Anyway, the man behind the counter wasn't happy that I asked about the sandwiches.

                                                                        Tuna Salad

                                                                         A slice of pizza

                                         

You will fall in love with the ancient houses, theaters, bath house and the paintings on the walls. The way the streets were designed is simply genius. The temples and the standing marble statues are lovely. 

My favorite artwork was the mosaic of Alexander the Great on the floor of one of the house. 

The incredible beauty of the calm Vesuvius. The city was green and the sky was clear blue. That leaves you to wonder if nature is really harsh. A day trip to Pompeii isn't enough, it'll just leave you hungry for more.

We stayed at Villa Rocla bed and breakfast. I totally don't recommend staying there. It's not a good value for your money. It was a disappointing stay at many levels. The place is owned and run by a family. The mom, who is the manger, doesn't speak a word of English, which is totally fine and it's not her fault that she doesn't speak English. The communication with her was very very difficult, but she always smiled to us. The room was less than okay. The TV was broken and didn't work at all, and the blanket smelled like urine. The hot water didn't work, so I had to take a very cold shower in the morning. We did complain about the hot water twice and nothing was done. I never expect to find good body wash in small hotels when traveling, but in this place the body wash and shampoo were dish soap, I could tell from the smell and texture. The breakfast was one packaged croissant which was old and flavorless, coffee, jam and orange juice.