Pompeii Rock City

Mount Vesuvius makes an appearance over the ruins of Pompeii.

Every time I visit sites of ancient stone ruins, I will so hilariously call them *insert name here* Rock City. Of course, today is no different, so now let us dive into an adventure through the archaeological wonders of Pompeii Rock City!

We got up well before the sun to take a day trip from Rome to Naples. Waited in the train station for a bit and groggily took another train to Pompeii with all the locals, also now awake and heading to work along the same route. It was a success, because we got there before the crowds. No line up to get in and we didn’t see any bus groups arrive until around eleven or maybe noon.

I’m not sure about the food on site, there is a cafeteria, but my travel tip for the day is that there is a grocery store down the road from the train stop that is perfect for grabbing snacks and water for an afternoon of adventure in the ruins of Pompeii. Oh yes, pack some sunscreen too! We got burned wandering all the open areas, despite it being winter.

OK, now that the words are written- Get ready, get set, and cue the Italian pressing of some Kiss music, because we are now entering Pompeii Rock City!

Let’s get dangerous!

Entering the ruins.

An amazing maze!

Pillars and palm trees. They were vaporwave before it was cool.

Recovered statues on display.

Scattered pots and ruins.

Exploring inside some of the buildings.

Pieces of a fresco. This place would have been amazing to see when fully painted!

While looking around the site, don’t forget to also look down. The mosaics and tile work around Pompeii contain plenty of visual treasures within their patterns as well. Plus, an even better reason to watch your footwork is because the ground is ancient, rough and rocky and therefore, very easy to trip and fall. Surprisingly, I did not.

Cube tiles.

Walking through Pompeii.

Triangle tiles.

Small stones form a mosaic of a battle scene.

Before leaving the site, don’t forget to wander the path to the Villa dei Misteri. It’s a bit of a trek, but worth it to see a fully preserved and in tact fresco of Pompeii.

Inside the Villa of Mysteries.

The restored fresco in the Villa of Mysteries.

Outside the Villa of Mysteries.

And of course, prior to catching our train back to Rome, we got some pizza and beer from the famous Da Michele and ended our day wandering through Naples as the sun went down. We were totally stuffed after the pizza, but all the other good food kept calling to us from the display cases and windows as we roamed the streets back to the train station wanting to eat it all.

To be honest, we initially were not sure if we’d wander into the city, but it was totally worth it as a short side trip tacked onto our day spent at Pompeii and hopefully one day we spend more than just a few hours in Naples too!

Wandering the streets of Naples at night.

Lives up to the hype, it’s the best pizza!