Wir entschlossen uns dazu, dass wir heute beide etwas mehr Ruhe und weniger Trubel brauchen. Deswegen ging es heute zur Ausgrabungsstätte nach Pompeii. Es war wirklich sehr beeindruckend und wirRead more
We have hired a car because the direct train from Solerno to Pompeii isn’t running this week.
We can’t believe we are here in Pompeii, a place we have all heard about for years.
It is more impressive than we could have ever imagined. The size and scale of the city, how well preserved it is and how sophisticated things were 2000 years ago. We love the stepping stones across the old roads that kept the residents feet up out of the dirty roads. The shops had sliding doors as well as counters with built in storage. The homes they lived in were beautiful and had courtyards, water features, mosaics and sculptures.
Ruby and Colm enlighten us about different Greek and Roman gods when we see a statue of one or walk through a temple dedicated to another. I am amazed how they can recall complicated background stories and family trees of the different Gods they have read about in the books by Rick Riordan and Stephen Fry.
Throughout the day I find myself looking towards Mount Vesuvius and thinking about the twenty feet of ash that fell and buried this entire city. We visit the casts of bodies found in the garden of the fugitives. It is moving to see them lying down, as they were when their died.
We stay for most of the day, taking in as much as we can until our minds and bodies are overwhelmed.
We head to the nearest Gelateria for the cure.Read more
Wir entschlossen uns dazu, dass wir heute beide etwas mehr Ruhe und weniger Trubel brauchen. Deswegen ging es heute zur Ausgrabungsstätte nach Pompeii. Es war wirklich sehr beeindruckend und wir konnten viel entdecken. Gleichzeitig war es wirklich leer, super Wetter und somit auch sehr entspannend. Also verbrachten wir den Großteil des Tages dort. Es war wie eine kleine Zeitreise. Wir spazierten durch ein Dorf und lernten etwas über das Leben und die Menschen dort. Wir schlenderten bei bestem Wetter durch das Gelände und genossen es sehr. Zitat Felix: "Das beste hier ist die Mischung aus alten Gebäuden und der Natur, die sich da ganz natürlich eingebaut hat."
Nachmittags aßen wir eine (quasi) neapolitanische Pizza (leeeckeeer)!
Pompeii wirkte eher bescheiden, aber in den Dom sind wir trotzdem noch reingegangen. Zu unsere Überraschung war das (meiner Meinung nach) die schönste Kirche, die wir in Italien gesehen haben. Wir waren echt beeindruckt!
Später ging es rüber nach Salerno. Von da fährt später unser Nachtzug nach Bologna los. Also mussten wir noch ein paar Stunden totschlagen (Strand Spaziergang, lesen, Serien gucken, Eis essen...). Jetzt geht's endlich los - der Nachtzug ist da und somit unsere erste Übernachtung im Schlafwagen! Die Schlafplätze sind jetzt eingerichtet und ich bin sehr gespannt, wie es wird - wie aufregend 🤭 da wir aber schon um 7 ankommen, geht es jetzt schnell schlafen, um morgen fit zu sein. Somit eine gute Nacht :)Read more
Pompei was the next reason for me wanting to stay in the area around Naples. I have always wanted to see the site but was blown away by the actual area it encompasses. We, however, made 3 pivotal mistakes. Firstly, despite the site being open until 7 p.m., we booked an audio guide that had to be returned by 5. We had things to do in the morning and so didn't make it to Pompei until 2pm, I had not considered the fact that audio guide would close before the site but it heavily impacted how long we could stay inside. Secondly, Stef recommended that I try a fried pizza while near Naples, and when we found somewhere that sold them, we grabbed one each. The main issue that arose from this was the incredible size and quantity of grease that came with it. Quite literally the last thing you would want before walking around Pompei in midday heat. Despite being very good, the timing was horrible. The third mistake was not checking the map before we started to walk around. Although I knew we would be restricted by time, I underestimated the size of the site and figured we could get through it all in 3 hours. In the end, we spent probably an hour in the just the houses part of the city and realised the monuments on the other side would be considerably more interesting, but even the trek to the other side of the site took ages. We then had to rush through the amphitheatres and collosseums, but we did end up seeing everything we wanted. A bit of extra time at these final sites would have been nice, but by the end of it, I think Jack had pretty much had enough anyway. Overall, I am very glad we went, but a bit of better planning probably could have made the experience a bit better. The audio guide wasn't as effective as I had hoped either, as it was difficult to understand what they were referring to when discussing different aspects of each area. Not to mention, they kept saying we should walk through different areas of the site that we did not have access to. I'm not sure if we had come on the wrong day where most things were shut or if they simply only open small sections at a time. Either way, it did slightly take away from the experience as we could only listen to what was inside and try and match with different things that we likely couldn't even see. It is difficult to comprehend how well preserved this site is given the age. Especially given the size, you could see how functional and effective it must have been running at one time. The site was breathtaking, and I hope to return one day and do it on a proper tour. Although we had these as options, they cheap ones only went for 2 hours, and I feel as though they would overlook some aspects that would be interesting. Next time, I will get a proper tour that isn't rushed.
By the end of this, we were beat and ready to head to bed, so we caught the train back and did exactly that.Read more
Hoy nos esperan mil y un transportes. Bien prontito, cogemos el primero: un tren 🚄 hacia Nápoles, café en mano por supuesto ☕. Después de un metro, mucho estrés y sufrimiento (qué buen ambiente) llegamos por los pelos al segundo: era un ferry a Positano, pero lo cancelan por mal tiempo y nos dan otro hasta Amalfi. Lo que nos viene estupendamente, porque era donde queríamos ir 🤗. Todo sale bien ✨. El trayecto es muy movido, con muchos saltos en el agua, y la gente empieza a vomitar en efecto dominó. Pero nosotras vamos bastante bien ✌🏼. Mamá incluso ayuda a la chica de al lado, proporcionándole bolsas y toallitas, y luego echando colonia 😂.Read more
Day 19 and 20
I arrived in Sorrento.
It's a small but very nice town.
It is full of tourists.
In my first day i wondered the streets and shops and had some fantastic roast pork and potato pizza.
2nd day i went to the Pompeii ruins.
Now i under estimated how big the ruins actually were.
You literally walk the whole city.
Took me a solid 5 hours.
But mainly its just streets and streets of broken houses.
I thought that there would be a museum type section that would house the bodys and what not. I was wrong.
You had to walk, normally there'd only be 1 cast.
But 1 house had 9 people.
A lot of the bodies they found they moved to a museum in Naples.
I didnt take that many photos as it all kinda looked the same.
After a long day im very tired. But still enough energy to get more pizza.Read more
Debbie Rowe Suppose it was 79AD so might have been better with a Audio of history telling you more about it. Otherwise yeah just broken down buildings not very special.
nach unzähligen Geschichten über Pompes wollten wir uns die Ausgrabungsstätte mal anschauen und waren erstaunt über die Gewaltige Größe der einstigen stolzen Stadt... Ein bisschen betrübt hat uns eher das so viele Ruinen mit heutigen Baumaterialien nachgebessert wurden so das man genau sieht was original ist und was nicht. Aber umso weiter wir zum Palast kamen umso mehr war im Originalzustand erhalten und wir haben einen ehrfürchtigen Einblick in den Reichtum dieser Stadt bekommen... Wir hatten herrliches Wetter und einen fast perfekten Blick auf den "Übeltäter" dieser Ruinenstadt...
Dopo tantissime storie su Pompei anche noi volevamo vedere i scavi e siamo rimasti affascinati dalla dimensione potente di questa orgogliosa città ... Un po 'ci ha rattristato piuttosto che tante rovine sono state ritoccate con i materiali da costruzione di oggi in modo che si vede solo ciò che è originale e ciò che non è. Ma più ci siamo avvicinati al palazzo, più era tutto nelle sue condizioni originale e abbiamo ottenuto una panoramica impressionante in tutto la forza di questa città ... Abbiamo avuto bell tempo e una vista quasi perfetta al "colpevole" di questa città in rovina ...Read more
Warning: Long post ahead!
This is the highlight of the trip so far, according to Flora. She is a lover of ancient history, especially ones of archaeological nature. We got a tour guide to show us around after numerous advice from people that have visited before. A very wise decision indeed.
First established in 6-7th century BC, Pompeii was engulfed in a thick layer of ash and lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Pompeii was downwind of the eruption and bore the brunt of the first phase of the eruption. However, what survived the onslaught of debris was preserved very well. We started in the auditoriums in which the Pompeiians would have enjoyed a day of entertainment. Much of the stone seats were preserved.
It is amazing how much archaeologists have managed to deduce from their findings. As we walked through the streets of Pompeii, the tour guide pointed out the impressions in the stone made by wagon wheels back when Pompeii was an important, bustling city. We touched the bricks and mortar of the city which was more than 2000 years old. Can you imagine touching something that old? These guys sure know how to build things that last.
The more we looked, the more in awe we were of this ancient civilisation. They have thought of everything: advanced plumbing system, drainage, stepping stones on roads so pedestrians crossing puddles in the road wouldn’t get wet, public baths, public toilets, shops that sold food like modern-day cafeterias, even brothels!
Shops selling food still had their thermopolium (or counters) intact. These were often clad with different pieces of marble. Over 2000 years ago, the Pompeiians were already making marble benchtops! Some of the thermopolia were so well preserved that the marble was in excellent condition and the earthenware jars (or dolia as they were known) that are embedded in them to keep hot food were still completely intact. Curry, anyone?
The guide took us to a seedy part of the city where brothels were in abundance. How did one know that a house contained a prostitute? Easy, just look out for the stone penis that hung above the door (no joke!). There is believed to have only been one purpose-built brothel. Lupanare was a two-storey brothel with small, cramped, windowless rooms for entertaining clients. In each room, there was a stone bed where a mattress would have laid to render sexual services. On the walls, there were erotic paintings or frescoes that have been extremely well-preserved. These showed all manners of sexual positions, assumed to be somewhat of a menu of the services offered. There were lots of chuckles when we saw this.
The public baths cut a very different picture. It was a very large compound, complete with male and female change-rooms. Male and female hot baths were separated. The warm and hot baths were heated by a furnace behind the wall which fed pipes underneath the bath floors. The mosaics and frescoes that remain were astounding.
Finally, we came to a warehouse where archaeologists have stored all the earthenware, statues and tables uncovered during careful excavations. Amongst the collection, there were some plaster casts of victims of the eruption. In 1864, Giuseppe Fiorelli, the director of excavations, discovered a technique to capture body shapes trapped in volcanic ash after soft tissues had decayed. He instructed his diggers to pour plaster into hollow pockets, let them dry for a few days before chipping away at the volcanic ash to reveal whole plaster cast of victims at the time of their death. CT scans of some of these plaster casts have since revealed near-complete skeletons and full sets of teeth.
As I look at Mount Vesuvius from the ancient square, I can’t imagine the terror felt by Pompeii’s inhabitants as they watched volcanic ash and lava spewing out of its mouth. It is the only active volcano on the European mainland and it is a matter of time before it erupts again. The last eruption was in 1944 but it was not destructive. There are approximately 3 million people living within the red zone of Vesuvius. With the chaotic traffic in the area, one would hope that the authorities have got a bulletproof (or volcano-proof) evacuation plan.
There is so much to write about Pompeii, but perhaps it is better told through photos. Flora could have spent days just roaming around this ancient city. If you appreciate ancient history, this city should be on your bucket list.Read more
Traveler
Streets of Pompeii are well-preserved. The three stepping stones are for pedestrians to cross the road without getting their feet wet. You can still see the wagon wheel tracks in the stones.
🌋 La ville de Pompéi se trouvant à quelques kilomètres de Naples, nous en profitons pour faire une journée culturelle pour se balader dans les ruines de cette cité engloutie par le Vésuve en 79 après JC. La découverte des moulages des corps des victimes, retrouvées dans la position où elles sont décédées, est émouvante !
🍕 On en profite aussi pour déguster des pizzas de renom aux championnats du monde de pizzas. Cette année, les meilleurs pizzaiolo vont tenter de battre le record de la plus longue pizza du monde : qui mesurait, tenez vous bien, 1854m en 2018, malheureusement on est parti avant la réalisation de cette maxi pizza … 🤤
🌸 Quelques photos pour vous partager le charme de la ville de Naples, connue pour son « chaos organisé » de scooters et ses petites ruelles très en pente et bien animées, qui donnent une magnifique vue sur les îles alentours et le Vésuve.
⚠️ Breaking news ⚠️
L’équipe de Sur les Rails du Climat gagne un nouveau joueur ! Et oui c’est notre petite Marion, également en année de césure, qui décide de nous rejoindre pour ces deux dernières semaines italienne, on est ravi !Read more
Nur eine halbe Stunde von Neapel entfernt liegen zwei UNESCO Weltkulturerbe Stätten. Die Ruinen von Pompeii sowie die von Ercolano (Herculaneum). Pompeii wurde vor etwa 2000 Jahren beim Ausbruch des Vesuvs komplett zerstört, heiße Asche ließ alle Bauten kollabieren und tötete viele Menschen. Ercolano ist zwar viel kleiner, aber dort sind die Gebäude seinerzeit nicht eingestürzt, da dort schichtweise heißer Schlamm die Stadt verschlungen hat. Insofern ist dort weitaus besser zu sehen wie die Häuser damals ausgesehen haben und viele Fresken sind noch erhalten geblieben.
Ein interessanter Ausflug, aber auch sehr anstrengend und heiß 8 Stunden in den Ruinen rumzuklettern.
Danach gab es zur Belohnung eine letzte Pizza aus der bekannten Pizzeria da Michele in Napoli. 🍕Read more
Frieda Möllerchen Die „toten Steine“ alle besichtigt? Genieß Deine Auszeit bei diesem traumhaftem Wetter!
Up early for the train from Termini to Tiburtina, transfer to the bus station and on the bus. This was a sentence written without much turmoil. On the day however, everything was pretty easy until we got to the bus station, only to be met with chaos. It was bound to happen since I am sure I had only uttered the day before that the train and bus network in France and Italy had worked like clockwork, down to the minute just about. We arrived at the bus station at least an hour ahead of schedule, where there was absolutely no indication of what to do next. A line of angry people were lined up at the "ticket office" (although perhaps they were not angry, just speaking in dramatic Italian). One guy did dare to queue jump, at which time there was a bit of anger directed at him - that much can be deduced without the need to understand the language.
It would appear the board which told you which platform you had to go to was broken, and with only one girl working the counter (despite another man standing around behind her doing what looked like "nothing"), she didn't really care to help people. To be fair, she may have just been sick of being yelled at about the broken billboard despite it only being 7.30am.
So the only way to know which bus you had to get on, was to stand around, wait for one of your bus company's buses to pull in, rush to the bay to see if that was yours, and bravo if it was. So, that is exactly what we did. Bit of a trial run for tomorrow because we are going to be back here to catch the same bus company to Siena.
The bus journey was great and we drove past Vesuvius and through Naples. That was an eye-opener! Imagine scouting for a post-apocalyptic movie location - do yourself a favour and go to Naples - will save heaps of time! Graffiti, overgrown, run-down, neglected, slums, rubbish everywhere, mafia-controlled, barely habitable...Read more
You might also know this place by the following names:
Piazza Schettini
Traveler Looks amazing Margaret-on my bucket list.