Ghost City of a Vanished Civilization
Trip Start
May 25, 2008
1
11
30
Trip End
Aug 16, 2008
Pompeii,
Campania,
Italy
Friday, June 20, 2008
Anyway, when I got to the train station just out of curiosity I checked the flyers they had for tours of Pompeii. I knew I would be going on my own and would just jump onto a tour when I got there, but I still wanted to see what the prices were going for
Look At the Size of Those Lemons!!
. In front of me were an Aussie mother and daughter pair doing the same thing. In an attempt to be friendly, I told them what I had learned from an Aussie couple in Venice: that when I go to Pompeii, don't sign up for a tour group. Just get a ticket on the train by myself, and when I get there try to either hop into a group that's already formed or try to create one myself. If I get together a group of 20 it costs about 11 euro for 2 and a half hours, plus the ticket which is 12 euro. Much cheaper than the listed tour prices. They were very friendly and we decided to all go together.
On the train we talked and they were great. The mother's name is Brenda and her daughter, who is 23, name is Kelly. They are here for a month together, leaving the rest of the family at home :) Kelly's boyfriend, Miss Brenda's husband, and their other daughter weren't very interested in the trip so they were instructed to just stay home then. Kelly and Miss Brenda are staying in Sorrento for a while then moving onto Florence to meet up with friends. After another couple of in Florence they are taking a Trafalgar tour around Italy and other parts of Europe. Sounds like a great mother/daughter Eurotrip.
When we got to Pompeii we found that we were early, even though I thought that the city should have been open already. So we waited and then eventually hooked up with an English speaking tour guide. We later found out that the workers of Pompeii were on strike and they refused to open the gates. Rafaelli, our guide, told us we should only have to wait an hour. We wound up waiting 2 or 3. It got kind of crazy for a while, people were shaking the gates and chanting and yelling at the workers inside, which we could see
Still Beutiful After All These Years
. I had the idea that maybe we should got to Mt. Vesuvius first but was told that both Mt. Vesuvius and Herculaneum workers were on strike also. So we waited. To pass the time we went across the street to get some gelati since it was about a 100 degrees. Okay, maybe 90-95 degrees. It was hot. Two other woman joined our little group, an American mother/daughter team from California. We all sat and talked and the time passed easily. Before we knew it, Rafaelli was telling us the gates were open and it was time to go!Pompeii was amazing. The city is largely intact and you can easily see how the people lived. The most important pieces reside in the archaelogical museum in Napoli, unfortunately, but many of the original frescoes and mosaics are still present. The pictures say it all, there's really nothing else to write as everyone knows the story of what happened at Pompeii. Pay particular attention to the casts of those caught in the ash- those are real people frozen in time. It's hard to describe the feeling I had upon seeing the facial expressions exuding pure terror and pain. You can see that the people in the photographs were trying to claw their way out and were gasping for air. It's tragic and difficult to view.
Later we entered one of the most famous houses in Pompeii, the Brothel known as Lupanare because the women were referred to as "She Wolves", which in latin is Lupanare
.
. Our guide explained that the pornographic pictures acted as a kind of cataloug- you pointed to what you were there for and your demands were met. There was also grafitti in the wall that is translated into "If anyone is looking for some tender love in this town, keep in mind that here all the girls are very friendly." That's all the detail I'll go into on that, he actually had a lot more to say. Google it if your interested :)Later Ms. Brenda and Kelly went back to Sorrento and I continued on to Mt. Vesuvius. I hiked up to the top which took at least an hour and a half, I can't reallly remember. It was so hot and so steep, plus I had my bag that was at least 20 lbs so I was pretty worn out when I got to the top. But the view of the crater was worth it, as well as the views of Pompeii and Naples. The pictures don't do it justice because the crater is too immense to view in a picture from that point of reference, it needed to be taken from a helicopter, and the weather was so hot it created a haze so the views of the cities below didn't turn out well. But that's okay, I'll always have the memory :)
Later I met up with Ms. Brenda and Kelly and we had dinner at a very charming ristorante where the waiters were wonderful as well as the music. The musician took a liking to Ms. Brenda who knew the words to his songs so they had a little sing along. We then had gelato and I headed home in my wonderful 27 euro taxi :(
