Day 6

First went for a train ride to Herculaneum - on the way we stopped to get a ride on a cable car up to the mountains only then we found out that the cable car is out of service until next year - an hour wasted.

The cable car we should have been on

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD a shower of ash rose thousands of metres into the sky - the next day the hot ash and gases billowed through the town at a hundred miles an hour - the majority of people died from the heat which was at least 250C.

The town was buried in 20 metres of ash.

The volcano was thought to be safe as it hadn't erupted for 800 years
Excavations only started in the eighteenth century and have carried on for over 150 years. Just recently over 300 skeletons were found along what was the seashore

Coral at the trough

We're off to the theatre tonight - The Sound of Sorrento - sounds cheesy doesn't it?? I'll let you know tomorrow as to how much Parmesan they pile on!