Very old things today. First, took the circumvesuviana train way towards Naples to see Herculaneum. Herculaneum is just like Pompeii, but with much better buildings and not body casts. Herculaneum was a smaller city than Pompeii, and most people were able to evacuate, except for about 300 by the seashore, who were apparently died of instant vaporization by a heat wall. The lava was very deep here, covering houses above roof level. This left some houses almost completely standing, with wooden balconies, mosaics, and frescoes. Then a few stops down the metro to Villa Oplantis, which is a very fancy, huge Roman villa. It’s basically intact, with the wall frescoes mostly preserved by the lava. The Villa was mostly empty, which is a shame. It was at least as worthwhile as Herculaneum, to see the frescoes. You can be right next to the brushstrokes making a flower that some guy painted 2000 years ago, which were then covered by lava. The amazing thing is that nothing is behind glass, you’re just walking through this house with wall paintings.
Then the fastest stop at Pompeii ever, since I had a free ticket that was expiring that day. Spent 15 max, then back to Sorrento to catch a bus to Positano.
This bus was very scary. It takes the Amalfi drive, which is very tall cliff with a road on top of it. One sight was a glimpse of the wall of a valley full of bathtubs. Strange. The bus was a strange mix of tourists going to Amalfi and Positano, and locals using it as normal transportation. We walked down the hill to the pedestrian town center, then ate by the ocean. Another very, very scenic town. Then, a wait by a random wall for the bus back to Sorrento. Sat with a bunch of people speaking mostly Spanish, with some Italian mixed in. Not sure where they were from. There were also three Chinese girls who kept standing in the middle of the dark mountain road, scaring some drivers coming around the bend. Then a limoncello at the square in Sorrento to end the day.