The eruption that destroyed Pompeii in AD79 also buried the Roman Coastal town of Herculaneum in mud and lava. The site is on a much smaller scale than Pompeii but what is great is that you can look down on to the ruins and visualise how it may have appeared before the eruption.
It’s easy to get to Herculaneum on the Circumvesuviana train. You need to get off at Ercolano-Scavi, the journey takes about 20 minutes. The site of Herculaneum is a ten minute walk from the station. We found the restaurant options for lunch in the small town rather poor [we had to walk out of two!], so maybe a picnic next time.
Several buildings stand two or more stories high. The site is still being excavated and there are more treasures awaiting discovery.
The Villa dei Papiri was sadly closed on our visit but there are some wonderful exhibits from the Villa in the Museo Archelogico Nazionale Museum in Naples. Fortunately many other houses are accessible such as the House of Neptune which has some beautiful mosaics on the wall and House of the Stags. The male and female bath houses have lovely floor mosaics also.
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