A couple of days ago we went up Mt Vesuvius. We didn't do our homework here and found that part way up you have to pay for parking (5 euro) get the shuttle bus (2 Euro) to an office where you can pay 10 Euro to walk to the top (2 and 1/2 hours - not sure if that's return). Anyway it was hot and none of us was wearing suitable shoes or planning on spending so long getting to the summit so we just stopped at that point and took some photos.
Faith and Quentin headed off to a winery for lunch and tastings, while Elizabeth, Malcolm and I just found a restaurant on the slopes of Vesuvius overlooking the Bay of Naples. We all spent the afternoon back at our accommodation resting.
That evening Malcolm and I wandered around San Lazzaro (where we were staying), this is one of the churches. There were views from the cliff out to sea and along the coast in both directions. Then we all met up for dinner in a family run restaurant in the village.
Yesterday Faith and Quentin went to Naples while Elizabeth, Malcolm and I visited 2 Roman Villas at Stabia. These villas were destroyed by ash during the eruption of Vesuvius but have been excavated. They are quite hard to find (tiny signs point to narrow lanes) but well worth it. They are free to visit and give a good idea what life was like for rich Romans in their seaside villas - on the edge of a plateau overlooking the Bay of Naples.
Some mosaic floors and some of the wall artwork has been taken to the museum in Naples but lots remain. These pictures are just some of hundreds of photos we took!
The villas were on two levels and the coastline was much closer pre-eruption, they could walk down steps to the beach.
View from the villas towards Vesuvius.
Our final accommodation before the others fly back to London is in the countryside outside Rome. We spent some time enjoying the pool area yesterday...
...before having another great Italian dinner.
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