A step back in time...
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2005
1
6
15
Trip End
Aug 05, 2005
Pompeii,
Italy
Thursday, July 28, 2005
We were up early, had breakfast at the hotel, and set off for the drive to Pompeii. Had to navigate the coastal road to Vietri sul Mare to get to the A3, enjoying the views along the way.
Arrived in modern Pompeii and followed the signs to the ruins. After parking our car in a local camping ground across from the entrance, we walked up the hill toward the entrance to go to the ATM. Between us we barely had 20 euros left in cash. The site doesn't take credit cards and the ATM wasn't working, so we trekked back down to the car, back into town and found a bank machine. Cash in hand we drove back to the ruins, arriving an hour after our first arrival.
The ruins of Pompeii are what remains after two disasters. In AD 63 the Roman port was destroyed by an earthquake and after rebuilding, was again devastated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24 AD 79. The city was buried under a layer of lapilli (burning fragments of pumice stone) and killing some 2000 inhabitants. The burial of the city preserved it beautifully and while walking the streets of the 66 hectare site, I couldn't help but realize how little life has changed.
The streets are laid out in a grid pattern with smaller alleys leading off the wider main streets. Lining the main streets are the remains of shops, the little alleys leading to areas of homes, piazzas, and ruins of ancient temples. Many of the doorways have tracks in the floor indicating sliding doors. The shops still have countertops, where one can imagine the shopkeeper standing behind waiting to serve the locals. Set into the counters are a series of circular holes ranging from large to small to measure out their purchases.
Some of the homes still have original frescoes and mosaics intact. The design of the home opens out from a central courtyard with a variety of rooms off the main hallway surrounding the open courtyard. Each painted in once vibrant colours, the walls decorated with amazing painted frescoes.
The baths are equally well preserved. The Terme Stabiane is a 2nd century BC bath complex complete with frigidarium (cold room), apodyterium (changing room), tepidarium (warm room), and caldarium (hot room). The original tiling and murals are beautiful. The changing room still has the upper cubbies to store your clothing while bathing, and has several body casts in cases.
Throughout the ruins you come upon body casts. As the lapilli buried the people, their bodies decayed leaving an open space in the now solid rock encasing them. Upon excavating, the space is filled with plaster or cement, the rock chipped away, leaving a perfect sculpture behind. The eerie part is, that you realize that this sculpture was once a person caught in the throws of death. Many of the poses indicate the fear they must have felt and the protective positions they took to fend off the falling hot pumice stone.
After spending most of the day wandering about the site, we stopped for lunch and souvenirs and drove back to Maiori spending the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the beach.
We ate dinner down the road at a restaurant overlooking the beach at the opposite end of town.
