Mt. Vesuvius Hike and Pompeii

[stressball]

We are sailing on the Aug 18 sailing of Brilliance of the Seas and were thinking about taking the Mt Vesuvius hike and Pompeii tour offered by RCI. Can anyone tell me if this is a good excursion? Do you know how much time is allowed in Pompeii? We don't want to spend the entire time hiking to then have very little time in Pompeii, but we do think the hike would be fun.

Any help would be great!:)

[wwinfl91]

I haven't done this tour but I have read that the hike up Vesuvius and back down takes about 4 hours minimum. You would still have to drive or be driven to Pompeii and then do your tour of the ruins while you are already hot, tired and sweaty. We did a tour with a Licensed Pompeii guide which lasted about 2 hours. Once you are in the ruins you can stay as long as you like or until they close for the evening as far as I could tell. 2 hours was not nearly enough time but we had several other things planned for the day including visiting Herculaneum and the Museum of Archeology so we left. I hope to go back on our own someday and be able to spend a full day there. If you are into history and archeology you might want to look in to going to both of the above sites in addition to Pompeii. Most of the best artifacts from both sites are actually in the Museum. By the way it will be hot any of the above places so take lots of water and search out what shade you can find. When we were there in July last summer it was well into the 90's and even though we are from Florida and are used to the heat we were very very tired by the time we returned to the ship. Also be careful to leave enough time to get back to the ship. Traffic can get really bad around Naples and you don't want to miss the ship.

Have a great next cruise.

[stressball]

wwin - Thanks for the info...if you had to choose between Pompeii and Herculaneum, which would you choose? I have heard that Herculaneum is much better preserved than Pompeii. If we were to go on our own, is Herculaneum easy to reach by train?

[lisiamc]

We've visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum on separate visits, and we were glad that we saw Herculaneum first. The buildings are much better preserved, and the site is somewhat smaller. (On the other hand, there are no naughty frescoes in Herculaneum!:eek: ) The Circumvesuviana train (which leaves from Stazione Napoli Centrale-Piazza Garibaldi) stops at both, so they are easy to get to.

We also did the hike up Vesuvius, again as a separate trip, with a bus ride of about one hour to and from our hotel. The whole expedition took about five hours, but that includes nearly two hours of bus ride. It is not an easy hike. Thousands of tourist feet have broken down the surface of the path until it is like walking on thick sand and gravel in many places, steeply uphill all the way. On the way down, you may slip and slither in places. Wear sturdy, closed shoes if you have them (they may never be quite the same again after all the dust and grit!) We were dusty from head to foot afterwards. Having said that, we were really pleased we made the trip. The view from the top is impressive, and the view into the crater is interesting.

If it's hot, and you're climbing Vesuvius and seeing Pompeii on the same day, I would advise doing Vesuvius first, in the cooler part of the morning, as there is NO shade there (wear lots of sunscreen and a hat, take lots of water!) Someone will offer you a walking stick on the way in - I found it very helpful. They want a contribution when you give it back, and most people were paying one Euro. I thought it was worth every cent for the stick.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you will have a great time.

Lisa

[wwinfl91]

Herculaneum and Pompeii are very different sites because of the way the volcanic eruption destroyed them. Pompeii was destroyed from above by ashes and pumice and therefore the roofs and upper stories of the buildings collapsed and in some cases burned. In Herculaneum the destruction was a wall of mud and lava that covered the city as it rolled down from the volcano and headed for the sea. Here the houses filled with mud and in many cases multi-story buildings survived. By seeing both we were able to see both types of damage.

Herculaneum is in the middle of the new city of Eurculano (I think that is how they spell it in Italy) and is like descending into a quarry. The city's buildings over the area that has been uncovered and it can be very very hot since no breezes seem to penetrate into the ruins while the sun still beats down into it.

Pompeii is slightly away from the new city of Pompeii and you get an occasional breeze as well as great views of Vesuvius in the distance. Because the city wasn't buried as deep as Herculaneum it doesn't seem as much like an excavation as a city that was just there on the plain.

Pompeii is the much better known site and is much larger. It probably occupies 3 or 4 times as much area as Herculaneum. With the various reconstructions that have been done at Pompeii you can still get a good feel of what the city was like back in Roman times. You also can definitely get this feeling as you walk through the streets of Herculaneum.

If we had only been able to visit one of the sites, I would probably suggest going to Pompeii but if you can go to both so you can experience the differences yourself.

As I mentioned earlier the Museum of Archeology in Naples has many of the artifacts that were uncovered on both sites in a massive display including many of the mosaics and frescos. It is well worth of visit if archeology and history are your interest.

Have a GREAT next cruise.

[Bobbi S]

Hi I was thinking of doing the hike and pompeii as well. As my main criteria for the cruise was that it had to go to Naples so that I could see Pompeii, I was afraid that I would be too hot and dusty after the hike to enjoy the ruins.

We're on the Brillance Aug 20 as well. From the others I've talked to it seems like we're going to be quite an international group which should be fun.

[stressball]

Bobbi-to whom have you spoken??? I haven't seen other postings from people on this cruise at all. Are you doing ship excursions, private tours or on your own in the ports? We would like to do it mostly on our own, but have been hoping to find someone to share a private tour with in Rome. If you are interested or you know someone who is, please let me know.
Thanks!

To everyone else, thanks for the input on this question...we have decided we are definitely going to do Pompeii and will try to figure out how hot its going to be before we decide on whether to do the hike.

[Out_2_C]

We did this excursion 2 weeks ago when we were on Galaxy and really enjoyed it. I'll echo the recommendation to use a walking stick when climbing Vesuvius as it helps a lot and is definitely worth a Euro. We were lucky that it wasn't too hot when we were there. It's a steep climb but well worth it.

We had about 2 hours in Pompeii. Would've liked a little more time as I'm sure we only saw a small portion of everything but what we did see was great.

[sie625]

I have to agree, the excursion was great(Galaxy 5/21). We talked to some others that did the same excursion but had a different tour leader and they didnt like it as much as we did though. We saw a ton in Pompei, I thought it was enough time. Also, we got back to the ship in time to have about 2 hours in Naples.

There is no set time for the excursion to get back, so if you get a good group and a good tour guide you can squeeze an extra hour at the ruins, the guide usually doesnt mind for a few $$$.

[baltimorebarb]

I have heard that there are actual lava covered bodies in Pompeii. Since I will have my toddler sons with me I would like to avoid this. Is it possible to avoid seeing the bodies?

barbara

[wwinfl91]

There aren't actually any bodies left at Pompeii but there are cement models that were made by pouring wet cement into the ash cavities that were left from the bodies being covered by ash and pumice. As far as I can remember the only examples of this at Pompeii are in the Baths. There are others at the Museum in Naples. There aren't any bodies just laying around in the ruins. These are displayed in glass cases.

Have a great next cruise.

[Andrew9999]

Hello all

Stressball (or anyone else) - we're interested in sharing a tour to Florence/Pisa and/or Rome. The options I like so far are:

[url="http://www.driverinrome.com/shore.htm#exclusivepf"]http://www.driverinrome.com/shore.htm#exclusivepf[/url] for Pisa/Florence

and

[url="http://www.driverinrome.com/shore.htm#exclusive"]http://www.driverinrome.com/shore.htm#exclusive[/url] for Rome

There are 4 of us (including 2 very well-behaved children :) ) so if you are interested (or anyone else on this Board) please email me at
andrew(at)urgentmail(dot)co(dot)uk.

Andrew :)