Welcome one, welcome all to the Italian travel diaries (there's only going to be three, don't worry).

First up - Pompeii.

But first let's backtrack a couple of steps.

Our holiday technically began in Naples, as that was the easiest spot to fly into and go from, public transport-wise.

A quick note on Naples - it is absolutely not somewhere I would plan to spend any amount of time in, it is quite a dangerous place and I found it really unclean, the streets are lined with piles of rubbish (not in bags, just loose) and in my experience there is nothing fantastic to see there. However, if you are visiting the South of Italy it is most likely going to be the easiest/most affordable airport to fly into.

We landed in Naples quite late on our first night so we had booked an Air BnB to stay in for the night before heading to Pompeii the next morning. I have to say, the Air BnB was very nice - very tiny but adorable and just what we needed - a place to crash and shower. We headed out for dinner in a local place just around the corner and had some amazing food for such a good price! Insane.

Next morning, after jumping in the shower and getting a coffee and croissant in the local bakery, we hopped in a taxi (I had a giant suitcase and it was HOT out let me tell you) and made our way to the train station to head to Pompeii.

The ruins were amazing, it's so crazy to think that a volcano you can literally see from where you're standing in the ruins, erupted and destroyed an entire city. It's so alarmingly close I don't know how everyone is so confident it won't happen again! There was something quite eerie about the whole place, it's very quiet among the ruins despite the hoards of tourists, and there's a sense of sadness at times when you think of the people and families who lived their lives happily here until that day. Definitely something to put on your list if you're visiting Southern Italy.














After the ruins (and the stress of losing all of our earthly belongings) we strolled back to the centre and made our way to some (lots of) wine and pasta and chilled out there for quite a while before walking back to our Air BnB (SUCH a trek and kind of dodgy walk but we were highly aware all the money we had to our name was some cash as I had cancelled my card. Although I had sent emergency cash to myself through my bank, finding a Western Union in Pompeii is like trying to find your mom in a supermarket).







Our Air BnB host was super helpful and friendly and helped us find a car to bring us to our next destination* (Amalfi Coast) the next morning. Safe to say we passed straight out that night in Pompeii (not before I had to apply a calming and zen-ifying face mask - on myself and Ed - to cleanse off the stress of the morning).

*Important to note: it is not easy to get from Pompeii to Amalfi on the cheap. Something to consider when you're deciding which order to make your stops in perhaps!

Next up: The Amalfi Coast .. stay tuned.