I have been fascinated by Pompeii or rather the destruction of it since I can remember. I was already in Rome, and Naples is just an hour train ride away and the perfect jumping point to go see Pompeii. I was told to stay away from Naples because it was dangerous and dirty and not worth the visit. My expectations were very low but I was determined to see Pompeii!

I am traveling with one of my friends that I met last year and I felt a little safer knowing that I wasn’t alone in this scary place. We jumped on the train and arrived in Naples prepared for the worst. I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped into the metro station and experienced a clean and decorative building. Nothing seemed dangerous here.

We wandered around the city and got ourselves lost by strolling around and deciding to go left or right at whatever crossing we ended up at. We stumbled across the equivalent to Beverly Hills where the port was full of yachts and the hotels look like they cost one month’s salary for a night! We ended up in the Latin District which was full of shopping and restaurants and then finally made our way back to the hostel. It was a great way to see the city and there was not one moment when I felt unsafe.

The next day was the journey to Pompeii and the entire reason I was in Naples. A metro to a very cramped 40 minute train ride and we were there! I’m not sure what exactly I expected to see. A city still covered in meters of ash? The city was rediscovered nearly 1700 years after the eruption of the volcano and has been a tourist destination for quite a while.

At it’s destruction in 79, Pompeii was a thriving city with over 11,000 inhabitants. The construction of this city absolutely baffles me since we are talking about building this almost 2000 years ago! The architecture was beautiful and the idea that a city was lost in the blink of an eye from one eruption made me sit down and think about how fast things can really change.

There are plenty of other sites to visit but we were hot and exhausted and out of time. Now I have another reason to return back to Naples!