When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was about Mount Vesuvius erupting in 79 AD and destroying the city of Pompeii. I never thought of that as strange until I just wrote that sentence. But yes, there was a detailed children's book about how Vesuvius obliterated Pompeii and killed all its residents... and it was one of my favorites. I never thought about where Mount Vesuvius was on a map until I was much old (probably older than I would care to admit), but as soon as I figured out that I could actually visit the places I had made my mom read to me about, it made my travel bucket list.
You can see Vesuvius from Naples. Visiting the volcano and the towns it destroyed (Pompeii and Herculaneum) is a common excursion to take from Naples or Sorrento, which was part of the reason I had picked Naples as a destination. I had planned the trip to Naples and the Amalfi coast with Melissa, but my number one priority for my day in Naples was to hike Vesuvius and tour Pompeii. Melissa wasn't interested (and I don't really blame her) so I booked a tour to do both by myself. I'm usually fine with just wandering and letting myself find my own way, but I wanted to do a tour for something like this because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. I only had a day to get it all in, so I didn't want to waste time getting lost and distracted. Plus, with as much history as these sites held, I wanted someone to explain to me what I was seeing when I was seeing it so I could appreciate it more. The tour I found on Viator.com had high ratings of how organized it was, how knowledgable the tour guides were and how stunning the views of the bay were from Vesuvius. They were supposed to pick me up at my hotel, take me to Pompeii for a guided tour of the city, feed me pizza for lunch and then take me to hike Vesuvius. On this hike, we were supposed to see a lava river, the crater where the top blew off and allegedly some of the best views that exist of the bay. My inner nerd was bursting with excitement.
Unfortunately, I did not agree with the high ratings. I was originally supposed to be picked up at 10:15 from my hotel lobby, but no one showed up until about 10:45. The only number I had to call had a busy line every time I called, without even the option to leave a message. That was 30 minutes of me wondering if I was in the right place and worrying that they had forgotten about me. Once they finally picked me up, they put me on a bus with other bright-faced travelers and we spent the next half hour continuing to pick up people until the bus was completely full. It only took 20 minutes to get to Pompeii and we didn't arrive until about 11:30. Once in Pompeii, it was like watching the tour guides herd cats. The site was crowded with tourists, there were different options for agendas that had to be separated, there were four different languages offered that each had different headsets, and of course everyone had to go to the bathroom. It took forever to organize because the group was so big. We could have saved a lot of time and trouble by having the groups pre-determined and picked up individually. Since I was a solo traveler, I was able to just be responsible for myself and I wandered the small markets while everyone else...I don't even know what they did, i guess just stood there waiting to be told what to do. Little perks of traveling alone. I had no idea why there was so much erotica mixed in with the little souvenirs but since I don't always act like an adult, I giggled and took pictures. Sorry, Grandmas I know ya'll read this but it was all part of the atmosphere.
You can see Vesuvius from Naples. Visiting the volcano and the towns it destroyed (Pompeii and Herculaneum) is a common excursion to take from Naples or Sorrento, which was part of the reason I had picked Naples as a destination. I had planned the trip to Naples and the Amalfi coast with Melissa, but my number one priority for my day in Naples was to hike Vesuvius and tour Pompeii. Melissa wasn't interested (and I don't really blame her) so I booked a tour to do both by myself. I'm usually fine with just wandering and letting myself find my own way, but I wanted to do a tour for something like this because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. I only had a day to get it all in, so I didn't want to waste time getting lost and distracted. Plus, with as much history as these sites held, I wanted someone to explain to me what I was seeing when I was seeing it so I could appreciate it more. The tour I found on Viator.com had high ratings of how organized it was, how knowledgable the tour guides were and how stunning the views of the bay were from Vesuvius. They were supposed to pick me up at my hotel, take me to Pompeii for a guided tour of the city, feed me pizza for lunch and then take me to hike Vesuvius. On this hike, we were supposed to see a lava river, the crater where the top blew off and allegedly some of the best views that exist of the bay. My inner nerd was bursting with excitement.
Unfortunately, I did not agree with the high ratings. I was originally supposed to be picked up at 10:15 from my hotel lobby, but no one showed up until about 10:45. The only number I had to call had a busy line every time I called, without even the option to leave a message. That was 30 minutes of me wondering if I was in the right place and worrying that they had forgotten about me. Once they finally picked me up, they put me on a bus with other bright-faced travelers and we spent the next half hour continuing to pick up people until the bus was completely full. It only took 20 minutes to get to Pompeii and we didn't arrive until about 11:30. Once in Pompeii, it was like watching the tour guides herd cats. The site was crowded with tourists, there were different options for agendas that had to be separated, there were four different languages offered that each had different headsets, and of course everyone had to go to the bathroom. It took forever to organize because the group was so big. We could have saved a lot of time and trouble by having the groups pre-determined and picked up individually. Since I was a solo traveler, I was able to just be responsible for myself and I wandered the small markets while everyone else...I don't even know what they did, i guess just stood there waiting to be told what to do. Little perks of traveling alone. I had no idea why there was so much erotica mixed in with the little souvenirs but since I don't always act like an adult, I giggled and took pictures. Sorry, Grandmas I know ya'll read this but it was all part of the atmosphere.
The tour was the best part of the day. The guide (I hate that I forgot her name) was funny and knowledgable. We had these headsets connected to her microphone so we could always hear her, but they were fuzzy half the time anyways. I think the headsets were intended to allow her to talk normally instead of shouting to the back of the crowd, but it allowed me to wander and still hear her information in the background. I have never felt more like a tourist with my headset, lanyard, camera and information guide in hand. I even had my monogramed Yeti tumbler with me, since no one in Europe seems to place the same value on a cold drink as I do. I have been trying so hard to blend in as a local since I moved here but this getup was a dead giveaway that I was visiting. At least I blended in though, since everyone looked like tourists.
There were some really fascinating relics there. A few of the buildings had even managed to keep their dome-shaped roofs and some paint on the inside. That doesn't sound that impressive until you think about how old the city actually is. It was DESTROYED in the year 79. 79. The buildings would have had to be built before that, so they were even older. Take a second to appreciate the magnitude of that. These buildings are around 2000 years old and you can still see the paint on the walls. Someone needs to start making nail polish out of whatever material this paint was made of. The guide had a lot of cool little pearls of knowledge to share...like how scientists could tell what the cause of death was based on the position the person was found in. She explained the process for findings human remains and creating the casts of the people. She also took us to a brothel where there were still "menus" painted on the walls. Turns out the most popular ways to pass the time back then was in the spas, drinking wine and at the brothels. Out of those three activities, the brothels were the cheapest.
The fountains were all unique and used as landmarks. We actually did learn why there was so much male genitalia in the souvenir stands. Apparently, the drawings were carved into roads as a symbol to point towards water. No idea why they didn't just use arrows. A man probably made that decision. *Note: later carefully phrased internet research found that the symbol wasn't meant as erotic or threatening...it's a symbol of fertility and a ward against the "evil eye."
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We had lunch at a cafe in Pompeii, where they served us red wine and pizza margherita. No complaints there. The waitress told me that she liked me and that she was my friend, I assume because I was the only one to at least attempt to place my order in Italian despite my terrible accent. Without getting into political views or touchy subjects, I will mention that in my opinion it is respectful to at least make an attempt to speak the language of the citizens around you when in a foreign country. There is no reason anyone should ever go to another country and expect the people who live there to learn your language in order to communicate with you. That is not the responsibility of the citizens that live there. Rant over. Anyways, my new friend the waitress served me a FULL glass of red wine with lunch. I couldn't finish it, I would have had to be carried up Vesuvius and I was way too excited to miss that.
The winding roads were even more apparent on the volcano. There was an accident ahead of us while we were on our way to our drop off point for the hike causing a complete cease of traffic flow. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put full-sized tour busses on these tiny, winding roads but they were wrong to do so. I thought traffic was terrifying in the SmartCars...it was a whole new level with the busses. We waited for a while, hoping the traffic would clear but we never made it higher than where we were. These are the best pictures I got and I never got to hike anything. To say that I was disappointed would be the understatement of the year. I should have just finished the wine at lunch.
The winding roads were even more apparent on the volcano. There was an accident ahead of us while we were on our way to our drop off point for the hike causing a complete cease of traffic flow. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put full-sized tour busses on these tiny, winding roads but they were wrong to do so. I thought traffic was terrifying in the SmartCars...it was a whole new level with the busses. We waited for a while, hoping the traffic would clear but we never made it higher than where we were. These are the best pictures I got and I never got to hike anything. To say that I was disappointed would be the understatement of the year. I should have just finished the wine at lunch.
Ok, things happen. It wasn't anyone's fault and I sure wasn't going to start raising hell to people who had no control over the situation. But I did call the company to see if I could reschedule and squeeze another time the Vesuvius hike was offered into my limited schedule. I really didn't even care about a refund, I just wanted the experience! I tried to explain this to the man on the other end of the line, who kept insisting that I call Viator.com for my refund. I don't know if he was misunderstanding me or just uninterested in helping, but he got angry and started yelling at me that he was going to look up the tracking times for the bus to see if I was lying and that there was nothing he could do anyways. But... that was the number that Viator provided me with to call for local issues. And at this point, I had a much bigger issue with the fact that a customer service representative was screaming at me on the phone so loudly that Melissa came out of the bathroom to see what was going on. He continued to scream at me (I promise he was legitimately screaming, Melissa can vouch for me), be sarcastic, told me that I was wasting his time, refused to pass me on to his supervisor or give me his last name, and ended the conversation by hanging up on me. I was appalled. Melissa and I were both sitting there with our jaws dropped that a so-called "professional" would talk to a client like that. And I wasn't even rude! So...I do not recommend the Project Napoli Service at all. If you have to talk to Enzo "No-last-name-because-I'm-the-only-one-in-the-world" (not kidding, those are his words not mine) then beware.
I thought the Pompeii tour was great. I thought lunch was great, but let's be real, that was a given because they gave me red wine and pizza. (Side note: Maybe I should have just called my blog "Red Wine and Pizza" for how much of a common theme that is...) Unfortunately, the tour and lunch only lasted about a total of 2.5 hours. The rest of my day was spent on a bus, waiting for other people in the group, or just sitting around. I wasted my only full day in Naples on this tour that I could have had finished by noon and I never got to hike Vesuvius. When I tried to rearrange plans to still be able to do everything that I had planned on and paid for, I met the only rude person in the entire city of Naples. I guess you win some, you lose some. I plan on trying to hike Vesuvius again in August when I meet my parents in Naples. I will also be calling Viator (like how Enzo insisted) before I leave a review.
I thought the Pompeii tour was great. I thought lunch was great, but let's be real, that was a given because they gave me red wine and pizza. (Side note: Maybe I should have just called my blog "Red Wine and Pizza" for how much of a common theme that is...) Unfortunately, the tour and lunch only lasted about a total of 2.5 hours. The rest of my day was spent on a bus, waiting for other people in the group, or just sitting around. I wasted my only full day in Naples on this tour that I could have had finished by noon and I never got to hike Vesuvius. When I tried to rearrange plans to still be able to do everything that I had planned on and paid for, I met the only rude person in the entire city of Naples. I guess you win some, you lose some. I plan on trying to hike Vesuvius again in August when I meet my parents in Naples. I will also be calling Viator (like how Enzo insisted) before I leave a review.