Pompeii

Pompeii has to be done if you are staying in the area, and as with most trips you can do it yourself even with a guide for half the price of an organised tour.We took the train from Sant Agnello to Pompeii which is about 10 or 12 stops along the line but only about a 30 minute journey and trains run fairly frequently, about once every half hour. It the only train that runs through Sant Agnello on that line so as long as it’s going the right way as it comes into the platform, get on.

Getting off the train at the Pompeii station, you go under the tracks to com up in the station building and as you exit turn right and walk just a little way up the road past the cluster of tavernas where you can buy a bottle of water for a euro to take with you onto the site. Entry was 12 euros and we joined a 2 hour guided tour (run by Vincenzo Caporaso, +39.339.736.5063, www.yourguidetonaples.com) who charged 10 euros per person to show you round in a group of about 15 or so people. It also meant you managed a bit of queue jumping to get your entry tickets, and he was friendly, fairly funny and very informative. He stuck to the area around the Forum and skipped the odd thing that you might see on a regular tour, such as the main brothel with the sex position frescos, but when we went t see this for ourselves we were fairly glad he did as it was seething and would have wasted about 20 minutes of time just for that small building. He finished his tour back in the forum (you pay him at the end) and then you can go to explore the rest of the city, of which it was definitely worth walking right to the other end to see the Amphitheatre.

I’m not going to describe all the different things to see in Pompeii as there is plenty of information about on the ruins themselves and the details of the eruption of 79 AD, but what the guide books may not mention is that there is some where inside you can get lunch, albeit nothing grand. This café sits just outside the Forum area and serves pizza, burgers, chips etc. Very much like a very busy motorway service café, but unlike most such places in the UK you need to choose what you want first, then go to the till to pay, then take the receipt to the people actually serving the food. It was very busy when we were there so if there is more than one of you, then best to nab a couple of seats first and send one of you to get the food.

Leaving Pompeii, just make sure you come out of the same gate to get back to the train station although there is a one way system in place so you don’t pass under the long arched tunnel you would have come in through, but take a path around it.