Herculaneum

As I said before, Pompeii was a bit of a disappointment. To try and "wash the taste out of our mouths" so to speak, I suggested we visit Herculaneum (another famous city covered by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius). Originally we'd planned to go there the following day because we thought it might be too much walking for one day… especially in the heat. It was. By the end we were exhausted. But we were both really glad we did.

The ruins of Herculaneum, although a lot smaller than Pompeii, are much better preserved. The buildings are over 2000 years old and a lot of them still have parts of the original paintings still intact! They had bath houses with some amazing mosaic floors that again are magnificently preserved. They even have preserved wood (carbonised) which was pretty cool.

If you can only see one, I'd recommend Herculaneum over Pompeii because everything is just so much better preserved there, it's easier to get around because it's a lot smaller and there are a lot less tourists / tour groups. 

Herculaneum train station

The big ramp down into the ruins (there's a tunnel entrance too)

This gives a pretty good idea of how much dust, ash and gasses covered Herculaneum after Vesuvius errupted.

The tunnel entrance was great - it was air conditioned:)

Some important dude

Notice the red paint still covering the columns and wall

Flooring

One of the many bars

Alice destroying the ruins, accidentally of course.

Narrow street

Preserved wooden door frame from over 2000 years ago

This was pretty awesome

Amazing mosaic floor, perfectly preserved.