this is bbc news. the headlines: russia says its troops have completely cleared ukrainian forces from the besieged and heavily bombarded city of mariupol after weeks of intense fighting — apart from one location. president volodymyr zelensky has warned peace talks with russia would come to a halt if the remaining troops in mariupol were killed. the mayor of kyiv has told people who've fled the ukrainian capital not to return yet. vitali klitschko warned of further russian missile attacks in northern parts of the city. he said at least one person had been killed and several others were wounded in strikes early on saturday. the authorities in south africa say the number of people known

to have died in devastating floods in kwazulu—natal province has risen to three—hundred—and—ninety—eight with 27 people still reported as missing. rescue operations have been taking place but further flooding is possible as rain falls on saturated ground. now on bbc news: the travel show. this week on the show, i head underground in naples to get a sneak preview of an amazing archaeological discovery. on my gosh! look at this! plus find out why a certain world—famous footballer has a shrine dedicated to him in the city. as restrictions are rolled back, cat is on the road in the uk to take a rollercoaster recovery ride. and we're heading to sri lanka to find out about a cleanup campaign along one of the country's historic canals.

this is one of the most archaeologically significant sites in the world. the roman city of pompeii was destroyed almost 2000 years ago in 79ad when nearby mount vesuvius erupted.

metres of ash buried everything, freezing this catastrophic moment in time until its rediscovery in the 16th century. walking through the streets of this ancient city, under the shadow of the active volcano that destroyed it, is actually quite unsettling. pre—pandemic, almost 2 million people came here every year, which put a strain on the site and lead to it almost losing its unesco heritage status in 2015. but it's come a long way since then, partly thanks to a new director, who's made it his mission to protect the site while also improving the visitor experience. it has always been a site evolving with the times and so it has always been a site to experiment and to try out new approaches — both for the conservation and for the dialogue with the public — and so this isjust continuing.

and how — how do you think this will change the perception of how pompeii used to be? it's really about the vision of the past. it's not only the big families, not only the senators and the ones who got the statues in the forum, and the local authorities, but it's also the slaves and women, who often have — do not appear the same way in the written and official sources, and children, and i mean to see all this complexity of an ancient society, that's really important. the challenge at pompeii is its exposure to the elements and climate change means the site is subject to sudden temperature changes from extreme drought all the way to heavy rain. today, new technologies are helping to preserve this invaluable record of roman life in the first century. drones are helping to map the site, robots are rebuilding frescos, sensors are monitoring seismic activity, and thermal imaging cameras are helping keep a check on humidity,

helping staff to act quickly if potential danger strikes. but the real star of the show is, without a doubt, this a—legged robot that, bizarrely, looks like a dog. good dog. so, paolo, i've got to be honest — i'm geeking out about this. this has got to be the coolest, most elaborate robot i have seen in my life. but tell me about what i am staring at. there is a lot going on here. it's a — an incredible piece of technology. yeah. it is a machine that is able to move around autonomously, and is able to bring with it some other technologies — other payloads. here, now, you see a computing power, where we can run our software and a laser scanner that's a special laser scanner that is able to scan while the machine is moving. and the robot itself is able to avoid obstacle, to move autonomously in an environment like —

like this ones. and also, since you can upload artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms on it, you can bring ai wherever it is required — it is needed. by using a combination of technology and a fresh, more inclusive approach to ancient history, the authorities here in pompeii are hoping for a successful tourist season in 2022 after being closed for almost two years. another part of naples set for a boost this summer is the la sanita district, an area that was once partly controlled by the mafia nicknamed la camorra, here in naples. but thanks to a concerted effort from locals, guesthouses

are popping up, the art scene is thriving, and the neighbourhood is being transformed. and the latest tourist attraction leads deep below the streets. it's an archaeological gem that's even older than pompeii, but up till now has been hidden from public view, beneath a private home, and i've been lucky enough to have a sneak preview before the site fully opens to the public later this year. but first, i'm meeting meeting the woman who spent years persuading her husband to share this unique family treasure. during this 26 years, i don't know how many people ask him to open it. but not only kings or prince or archaeologist, or isabella rossellini, i don't know how many people. so i say "maybe we have to open it." and he say "no, no, no — please alessandra, don't tell me, it is too difficult. come on — no, no, no." following our catch—up,

alessandra took me to their property in a seemingly unassuming naples side street to unlock the door to the hidden subterranean marvel. are you ready? an amazing network of tombs that are almost two and a half thousand years old, originally part of a necropolis built outside the city walls back when naples was an ancient greek settlement. on my gosh. yes. look at this. this is the start. the detail! it's full. so you've got to tell me more — this is unbelievable. yes.

so this is maybe one of the most beautiful tomb in the world because everybody came here, the archaeologist, they had the some reaction. 0ne arrive and say "i want to live here." and so say to my husband "there is an archaeologist that want to live in our tomb. maybe we do something — we must open it." and you see the colour in the architecture, everything is incredible, and we start the restoration from there. so this colour are still — are the same after 2500 years. there is colour everywhere. yeah, i can see. what about this — this person up there? who have we got here? is that medusa? she is the medusa, la gorgona, yeah. she's — she was bad. yeah. and if you go over there you can see that the — she's full of colour, and you can see the teeth and this incredible and it's really unique. and she's the start. it is amazing to think that these terms laid undiscovered for over 2000 years. but thanks to alessandra's powers of persuasion and a lot of hard work, from thisjune, they'll be open for everyone

to see here in naples. right, back to the uk, next. we've been busy touring some of the country's biggest attractions as they prepare to deal with two years of pent—up demand this spring and summer. and this week promises to be quite a rollercoaster. as restrictions relax, i'm travelling across the uk to see how ready the country's top attractions are, to meet the people getting us excited about travel again, and hear their plans for the new normal. today's trip is to staffordshire. and to reach the gates of my chosen attraction, i'm taking the monorail. hello from alton towers, the largest theme park in the uk. now, it'sjust opened for the season without any government restrictions in place. and although it's been around for over a0 years, i have a confession to make — this is my first time here. so let's go.

sprawling over 900 acres, this was once the residence of the earls of shrewsbury. and being a themepark novice, i've enlisted some help. we're about to do the three rides that they've got up on the stratosphere. shawn sanbrooke is a full—time rollercoaster vlogger with a lot of followers. no worries. shawn, are you a celebrity? i wouldn't say that. i love sharing my adventures. but it's all good fun. i love it. i think can guess what we're going on, butjust confirm it. we are going on nemesis. nememis is a classic and is europe's first—ever inverted coaster. it also happens to be shawn's favourite. it's an aggressive start of the day. shawn, why are you laughing so much?

i love it! survived my first ride! it's intense, but it's great. i love it so much. four times, you go upside down on that ride. it's strange to think it was only a short time ago attractions like this fell silent. but this is a place that has a long history of embracing change. before it was a themepark, its main attraction was its gardens. during lockdown, it was an opportunity to get people back out into some fresh air, so we were able to clear some

of the pathways that were not necessarily used previously, and people could come back to alton towers and revisit it as, you know, its intended purpose — a great garden. and for a little bit of escapism, too. of course, yeah, because obviously the earl of shrewsbury wanted to collect all of these elements from around the world. we've got the dutch gardens behind us, the pagoda fountain which was of eastern origin, we've got grecian mixed in with the gothic architecture of the time. well, the gardens have been perfect to change the pace, but with over a0 rides and attractions, i better cross a few more off my list. i've been told there's one ride i simply have to try — it's called the smiler — and it's even collected its own following of superfans that cosplay in the colours of the ride. guys, you look fantastic. thank you. so, tell me about smiler. when i first saw the ride i was just completely

awestruck with it. and from then on it became a big massive obsession. and now i — this is how i dress daily, now. i started a — a — like a group. you started this website, and that's how you all became friends, because you organised meet—ups here. yeah. this is the first time we have met here. yeah, yeah. yeah. oh, really? yeah. this has been a long time coming, then. yeah. so i'm still not sure if i want to commit to this ride. it is the world's first iii—loop rollercoaster and promises to challenge your body and your mind. meet instagrammer roller coaster rachel and her 10—year—old daughter sappy, who is yet to ride the smiler. but is she finally tall enough? we're hoping she is tall enough. hope so. now i have no excuse. wish us luck! scary! screaming. after my day here, i can see places like this mean more

to people than thrillseekers. i work in healthcare and elderly care and it was really tough during lockdown and to be able to come back, it was amazing. i class this as a little piece of heaven on earth. if theme parks are your thing, there is a lot going on this year. chessington world of adventures have new rides. paultons park has a new rides. and if you're heading further afield, disney is celebrating some big anniversaries

in paris. and if the last two years have taught us anything, it is the unbridled happiness that escapism can bring. so my trip to alton towers is done and i think i found a ride that is a bit more me. naples is a very catholic city.

it has religious iconography everywhere and some revere in equal measure, the unofficial patron saint, diego maradona. at a time when naples was suffering from unemployment, poor sanitation and organised crime, maradona, with his own troubled back story, joined the napoli team, giving the neapolitan people something to be proud of. and the owner of this bar claims to have a lock of maradona's hair at the centre of what has become a shrine to the man himself. so this is the famous lock of hair? tell me, where did you get this from?

to end toway, we are back with adventure and you may remember that last year karolis mieliauskas challenged himself to drive this old banger the length of the lake by car and he made a good job of it. this time, he is leaving combustion engines behind him and opted for a cleaner method of transport. wejoin him in sri lanka, where he is about to begin a journey down the historic hamilton canal, heading

for the capital, colombo. along the way, he will discover how pollution has taken its toll and how locals are doing their bit to clean it up. long time no see, sri lanka! so humid already. hello, gentlemen. i'm looking for a traditional boat to rent for maybe four days or five days. i want to go down the canal. you have one? 0k, can you give me a street number? 0k, here's my number? how is numberfour, if i understand right. i was following the track and someone told me to go right and then left and here i am. a small catamaran is here.

adventure is the very first step and the trip starts. i hope to do it in three days. ok, the first 100 metres is done! as i start myjourney i get a warm welcome from the people who live here. hello, hello, how are you? shouting from banks. good? very good! very good. i'm going down the canal. goodbye! see you, all the best. and what does the sign say? "dear neighbours,

keep the canal clean." no good. i was expecting to see some rubbish but not that bad. not that bad. looks like the rubbish comes from these houses. tell me please, is that right, you are cleaning the tunnel? how many people like you are they here? six people who are cleaning? i think i can see why now, approaching, hello. that is nice. that somebody is doing this. there is also a local boat company that collects rubbish on their days off, run by a man called fernando. our cleaning project is called captain fernando cleaning project and we started this in 2016, actually five years ago, so step—by—step, we came to a very good stage. plastic pollution is a big problem these days.

if you walk on these speech, it is very polluted and if you go now, the canal and lagoon is very polluted. now people are slowly, slowly changing. people through the rubbish into the canals but now i starting to think, little by little. so a long time ago, those canals were used for transportation but these days people are using them to dump rubbish. the easiest thing is not to throw rubbish into the canal and what we can do is educate your brothers and sisters so we can have a clean and healthy lifestyle. so, boys, thank you for coming, if you are not using plastic so we can make a better life for all. thank you.

let's make some noise! thank you, fernando! thank you, karolis. looks like fernando is doing a greatjob and i'm happy to see that someone like fernando is working on these issues, to make our world much greener. and now i'm approaching where i'm getting off. coming up next week, more from karolis as he continues hisjourney down the canals in sri lanka. and how a busy re—wilding project is bringing life back to some of the biggest national parks. it's a female deer and i can see her in the distance, camouflaged and a couple found one. in the mean time, check us out on social media at bbc travel

show. and we are also on the bbc iplayer with loads more fun from our recent trips. in the meantime, enjoy your travels and i will see you very soon. hello. saturday was a day of more widespread warmth across the uk, and for many, easter sunday is a repeat performance. for many, not all, because this would suggest there is some different weather on the way the further west you are. and that initially the case in northern ireland and in north—west scotland, with cloud and some outbreaks

of rain as the day begins. it will be coolest in east anglia, down to two or three degrees in places. for most, it is clear to begin with, there will be a few mist and fog patches around. but we do have this atlantic weather front with cloud and outbreaks of rain in northern ireland, initially in the western counties in the morning, slowly moving further east into the afternoon before it gets into belfast, and affecting parts of western scotland initially the north—western western isles butjust edging a little further east going through the afternoon and into the evening, though glasgow could well stay dry until then. and some rain into cornwall and westernmost counties of wales. cooler with the rain, but elsewhere, 20, may 2! degrees in plenty of sunshine. more of wales, the western side of england, western scotland seeing the rain in the evening, there will be clearing to showers in northern ireland. it does push east overnight and into monday morning, but look how it weakens, so if you do want some rain in central and eastern parts of england, you are likely to be disappointed.

now, as the weather front clears on throw into easter monday and it is behind it, well, still perhaps some spells of rain towards north—west scotland where it will be quite windy, and windy, too, in northern ireland. but they will just be a few showers moving on behind this front. it is, though, ushering in cooler air, not cold, just temperatures closer to average for the time of year on monday. but as it has gone through, they will be quite a bit of fine weather around on monday, still. broken clouds, sunny spells, the chance of a shower, more especially in the north and west and mainly for northern ireland, and into western scotland. north—west scotland could well see some longer spells of rain. it will be blustery across north—western parts, breezy elsewhere, and, yes, those temperatures are closer to average, though still above in the east and south—east of england. a greater chance for showers on tuesday in wales in the southern half of england. some could be quite heavy, we could see some rain into parts of northern ireland and western scotland. and then beyond that as the week goes on, and easterly wind moves in. that is still with a lot of dry weather around, just a few showers, but it will keep temperatures close to average, if not below,

especially in eastern areas.

welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories... the siege of mariupol may be nearing its end. russia claims it's taken control of almost all of the city. president zelensky warns if his remaining troops are killed, peace negotations with moscow will be over. the mayor of kyiv urges people to stay away from the capital, as further missile attacks could take place. the death toll rises in south africa following heavy flooding, with a warning more rain may be on the way. and shaken and stirred — the orchestra trying to raise spirits on the street sof ukraine.