Herculaneum

What an adventure to Herculaneum.

It was an experience which was mind boggling. We saw a lot of houses and villas which were destroyed in the earthquake.

What was interesting was the mosaics on the floors of the villas and on the walls of bedrooms and dinning areas. They get the pieces so small and the size of the pieces are the same.

The shop fronts had different coloured scrap marble to make benches. The pots are made to fit inside the marble bench top which means are never washed.

Those days nothing was wasted, and I mean nothing. Something I learnt was they actually collect human urine which is used to wash clothes as a detergent or to remove stains from clothes.

There were Skeletons, that where not even moved after the eruption . It was heartbreaking to see even young children lying down and the facial expressions are in describible.

Herculaneum was closer to Mt Versuvius when she erupted. The damage happened at 0100 the night before it struck Pompeii. Herculaneum was buried in lava, so it was not as plundered as it is much harder to dig through then in Pompeii. The paintings, wooden structure like door frames, beds, rafters and even food like bread, seeds, fruits, all turned to carbon instantly by the pyroclastic combustion. But the damage to the structural buildings was greater in Herculaneum because of the weight of the lava.

It was very sad when we were chased out at 5pm, because there was so much more to see. We where first in at Pompeii and the last out at Herculaeum. What a heartbreaking experience.Read more