Pompei

Pompei is an enormous, eerie ancient town. We visited first thing in the morning, and beat the heat and the tourists...just. We had a couple of villas and streets to ourselves, and made a valiant effort to see as much as we could - we ended up seeing about two thirds of the whole ruins.

The ruins are filled with stray dogs lurking in the shade, and creepy plaster casts of the victims of Mt Vesuvius' eruption in AD79. There were people lying, crouching, and even children preserved. They had ancient 'takeaway' shops and bakeries, a stadium and theatre, public baths & beautiful villas & homes with ancient murals and gardens.