16 Nov 2024
This was an amazing experience, the highlight of our whole two-week four-city Italy trip. Antonino is a great guide, both in the logistics (arranging pickup beforehand, etc) but especially in showing us and telling us about the three locations. He's very knowledgeable about the history - he answered all of our follow-up questions without hesitation - and he also did a great job making the material fun and engaging. He used the ruins (and a few pre-prepared images he brought) to paint a great picture of life in Pompeii and Herculaneum before the eruption, as well as what happened during the eruption, and how the ruins have been handled by archaeologists since.
P.S. Seeing all three of these sites is absolutely worth it - there's a bit more to see in Pompeii in total, but Herculaneum is better preserved (and gives you a contrast with Pompeii), and Vesuvius is breathtaking.