“Traveling is not something you’re good at. It’s something you do. Like breathing.”~Gayle Foreman

Our driver was Gaetano, a rather large Italian man, who kept us entertained on our journey with stories of how he broke noses, made pizza and other tales.  I am fairly certain he could have people killed and have the people who killed them killed. Luckily we arrived safely at our destinations.  Our first stop was Pompeii.

Our tour guide in Pompeii was the niece of the guide we had ten years prior.  She was a much nicer version of Vincenzo taking into account that we could not hop over the stones quickly. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the ash and pumice buried the town and killed over 3000 people.  Apparently some people had fled but those that were left behind suffocated and died.

“You could hear the wails of the women, the cries of the children, the shouts of the men…many raised their arms to the gods, others… declared that the gods were no longer and that this was the last night on earth.”                                                                                        ~ Pliny the Younger, in a letter to the historian Tacitus

We walked over cobblestones and though the street drainage system. The guide told us how they discovered by artifacts if someone was a baker or a salesman or a wealthy homeowner by the remains.  It is amazing how much is preserved, even frescoes.

Of course you can not leave without a visit to the brothel.

No day is complete without an obligatorily group shot with Mount Vesuvius in the background!

We piled back into our vans for the next stop on our journey, Praiano, and continued to be entertained by Gaetano’s stories. We arrived at the Hotel Margareta in Praiano, one of the most lovely places we have seen with an incomparable view.

Even at night after a delicious dinner (and group shot) the view with the twinkle of the city lights was alluring.