28 Mar 2024
My wife and I booked a tour with Antonio for Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius. We had not purchased ascent tickets to climb to the top of Vesuvius, but Antonio drove us up to the dropoff point so we could appreciate the views. We did not know that Vesuvius is still considered and acitve volcano - with the last lava flow in 1944. Antonio uses the Socratic method as a tour guide, giving out bits of information, then questions from him, then more information in a back-and-forth manner. MUCH more interesting than droning on historical facts. We UNDERSTOOD how Pompeii and Herculaneum came their current condition, and how life was like in those cities. Very good use of our vacation dollars and this turned out to be the best part of our 2-week Italian vacation. He picked us up from our hotel and dropped us off at the train station (because our Naples departure had a crash change due to a rail strike day.) Highly recommend.