Saturday was cold, overcast and windy but we still decided to opt for a ferry trip over to Cápri. The ferry terminal is pandemonium with unclear directions as to where we needed to buy the tickets and where the ferry actually left from! They told us it would be either quay 7 or 8 but in true Italian fashion, it actually ended up being number 6. The crossing was uneventful apart from the rain which stopped before we reached port.

Capri is a town of two halves with the cheap touristy bits down at the harbour and the expensive touristy bits at the top of the furniculare.

We couldn’t walk too far because Ruth was a bit tired from the day before but we managed to go to a vantage point on the south part of the island to see the famous rocks. A quick lunch down at the harbour before making our way back to the ferry for the 40 min trip back to Naples.

We then went off to find Herculaneum as last time Liz and I tried to find it, we failed miserably. By the time we got back to the boat, we were all still fairly full so we had cheese and biscuits whilst watching Mama Mia!

On Easter Sunday, we woke up to clear blue skies and a lovely 20 degrees C. After another leisurely breakfast – after all, we are on holiday – we then left for Herculaneum hoping that the parking goddess would smile on us. We were not disappointed. Easter Sunday in Italy appears to mean that no one was on the road and neither were they parking near the site.

I have to say that Herculaneum was amazing. The fact that you can see the skeletons of the women and children in the boat houses made it very real and not just a history lesson. Although, there were quite a few school parties it was relatively quiet.

As it was such a stunning day, we then drove up to Mount Vesuvius. Despite the quiet roads, chaos ensured at the top as people were parking anywhere they could find so the coaches couldn’t get by. Luckily, we had prudently decided to park a short walk away so we weren’t involved in the ensuing carnage! On the way back down we stopped at a lovely cafe with a beautiful backdrop of Vesuvius and a stunning view across the Bay of Naples to Capri for the requisite beer! Dinner on board and an early night followed as we had to be at the airport by 10am on the Monday.