Explore the ruins of Pompeii on a guided walking tour. Visit the Archaeological Museum home to a collection of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Pompeii - This Roman resort was buried by volcanic ash. Entering by the sea gate, your guided walking tour of the excavated area takes in the city's baths, villas, theaters and wrestling grounds. Plaster casts mark the positions of the fallen, who were swiftly overcome by the volcanic ash. The highlights include stunning frescoes and mosaic-inlaid floors.
After lunch the guided tour into the National Archaeological Museum, the most important of the world for the roman fresco paintings and mosaics. - Originally a cavalry barracks, Charles of Bourbon established the museum in the late 18th-century to house the Farnese collection he inherited. The highlights include the Farnese Bull, a classical Roman sculpture depicting figures from Greek mythology. The museum possesses an extraordinary collection of murals, frescoes and mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum.
On the way to Pompeii, you drive south on the motorway with views of Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius, the still-active volcano that buried Pompeii in 79 A.D. Once you are back in Naples, take a short orientation drive around the city; drive past the round-towered Castel Nuovo, San Carlo Opera House, Umberto I Gallery, the Royal Palace, San Francesco di Paola Church and the Castle of the Egg overlooking the spectacular Gulf of Naples.