Saturday, April 30, 2016

The Ancient Ruins of Herculaneum and Exploring Vietri

After our weekend in Naples, we set off down the Amalfi coast for some town hopping and sight seeing. Our first stop was the ancient ruins of Herculaneum, which is similar to Pompeii, but less well-known.  Apparently, it's where the locals go. 

We got in a little fender bender on the way there, but Mike's friend Scott says we just got the full Neopolitan experience. Luckily everyone was fine, we didn't get in a yelling match with a crazy Italian and we were able to buff out all of the marks on the rental car.  

It was all worth it because Herculaneum was totally worth it.  I was a little hesitant for a couple of reasons.  First, I've heard of Pompeii my whole life and my expectations were pretty high.  Usually that just leads to disappointment, so I was a little worried.  Secondly, we've seen A LOT of ruins and I wasn't sure how these would be any different. Fear not, though, because it was totally worth it.  You could see the entire city!  It was so cool!



Mike said all he cared about seeing was skeletons and on our first stop, his wish was granted.



We lucked out because it was sunny and warm, but not hot.  I can imagine this being kind of miserable in the summer because there is no shade and I'm sure it gets really hot.







This is crazy! You can totally see the whole little town.
















Guess people weren't very tall back then...


Herculaneum was so cool.  It amazes me that all of those buildings were built thousands of years ago and survived a volcano and years and years of weathering.  Absolutely mind boggling.  I'd add it to the must-see list in a hot second because it was so cool.

After Herculaneum, we set off for Vietri, where we would be staying the night.  We checked in to our AirBnB and fell in love with this little town full of cobblestone streets, little shops and a beautiful coastline.  Vietri is known for it's pottery and there are tons of pottery shops along the streets.  We spent most of the afternoon wandering throughout them.  All of us walked away with some pottery and I'm pretty sure Karen and I would have decorated our entire homes with pottery if shipping hadn't been an issue.  Our best find was a Naval Academy Goat made out of pottery.  Apparently, Admiral Foggo from Naples knew the owner of the shop and bought one, so now the owner had a couple of extras. We debated on buying one, but eventually passed.  We got the owner's email though, so I wouldn't rule it out completely....

After all of our shopping, we stopped for a drink at RUSSO CAFE!  Cue freak out.







After stopping at Cafe Russo, we kept wandering around taking in the view because it's just THAT pretty.

















Our last stop for the day was the local duomo, which, for a small town was quite large and quite beautiful.







Ending this post with a beautiful Vietri street because it really is just that picturesque.




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