On Friday, the weather was very bright and sunny - and exceedingly warm! This worked out well since this was the day we planned to spend in Pompeii. This was something Paolo had always wanted to see in person, so rather than just book tickets, I signed us up for a small group tour (there were eight other people), run by an archaeologist. I'm not always a fan of group tours, but in this case it worked out well, as I think we had a much better experience with someone who could lead us through the highlights and provide us with a lot of historical and scientific background along the way.
Pompeii was a fairly well-to-do city at the time of its destruction in 79 AD due to the eruption of nearby Mount Vesusvius. Until we were actually there, I never realized just how large a city it had been - the site is more than 160 acres in area (it would take several days to see it all; some of it is off-limits since there are active excavations ongoing). Our guide confirmed that it wasn't volcanic lava that killed the people of Pompeii, but rather the volcanic gasses and heat. I also learned that quite a lot of the residents were able to escape.
Side note: there is an excellent documentary on MHz Choice (Italian with English subtitles) called A Night In Pompeii, which we watched before we came to Italy. I highly recommend it if you want to learn more about the destruction of Pompeii. Also, the host, Alberto Angela, is adorable.
To get to Pompeii from Napoli, we took the metro from Toledo (steps away from our hotel) back to Garibaldi station. This time, I managed to snap a few pictures inside Toledo station:
There are structures up on the street above the station that let in natural light
Examples of the mosaics in the station
At Garibaldi, we went up through the station to purchase tickets for the Circumvesuviana, which is the train system that runs around the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius. The line to Pompeii runs from Naples to Sorrento. We had considered spending a day in Sorrento - it's only a bit over an hour away by train - but ultimately decided to leave that for another time.
The Circumvesuviana trains are small and very crowded; essentially much like riding the metro at rush hour (except above-ground). It took about 40 minutes or so to get to Pompeii Scavi station (the name literally means "Pompeii Excavations"). As it wasn't an express train, it stopped at every stop; there were more than 20 stops between Garibaldi and Pompeii (I eventually stopped counting somewhere in the teens). Because it was crowded, we had to stand for the whole ride. I made sure to put my train tickets and cell phone in my "secret" inside jacket pocket, just to be safe - pickpockets are unfortunately common on the trains.
There are restaurants, shops, and street vendors between the train station and the entrance to the park. We walked through this area, and, as we arrived well ahead of time, stopped at one of the tourist-trap restaurants for a not-too-bad-but-nothing-to-write-home-about lunch at an outdoor café before heading to our tour's meeting point.
We met up with tour guide Eliana and the rest of our group: two other American couples, and a family of four from London. Eliana is an archaeologist whose family has a history with the archaeological site - her father is a historian, and it seems she and he have worked together on a project there, as I understood it. Given the two hour time limit of the tour, I thought she did an excellent job of leading us through the major highlights of the site, providing interesting facts about each place we stopped to view.
Theatre. Our guide told us that they host concerts here in the summertime now - the stage is modern but the rest is original. I climbed up the steps to the top to take this photo - but I (slowly and carefully) climbed back down via the seating because the ancient steps are very steep and uneven, with no handrail - I was afraid I was going to fall on my face.
This was once a take-out restaurant of sorts
Painting in the prostitutes' quarter
Amazing how bright the paint colors are after 1900+ years
The two archways (partially hidden in this photo) were once storage rooms that were part of a clothing shop
The forum, with Vesuvius in the background. Probably one of the better pictures I've managed to take of the volcano.
It seems this was once a restaurant with indoor seating (dining area through the door to the left)
Gladiator training grounds
I thought we were in Ravenna again for a minute
This poor woman appears to have possibly been pregnant, according to Eliana
Tour guide selfie. And no, Paolo and I didn't plan on the matching outfits.
I took tons of photos; I had a hard time deciding which ones to include here - we found the whole thing quite fascinating. This was certainly worth the crowded train ride and suffering the intense heat - it really did get molto caldo as we were walking around under the bright sunshine overhead. I think this was one of the warmest days we've experienced in Italy to date. We would definitely put this on our list of places to which we'd like to return - there is still so much more to see here at the archaeological site. Note: you can also visit and stay in the comune of Pompei (that is not a typo; it is spelled differently, and you have to be aware of that when you purchase Circumvesuviana tickets, or you may end up at the wrong destination).
By the time our tour was over, we were hot, sweaty, and ready for a little rest before dinner. Once we returned to our hotel, we were treated to an afternoon street concert - that is, we could hear it quite clearly from our hotel room. I have a short video that captures the sound of it here. The band was located just out of sight of my camera at the end of the street, a bit to the left of the yellow building with the flashing lights. As it turned out, there was a band that would play in that same spot for a couple of hours every late afternoon although I'm not certain whether it was the same band each time.
Because we were rather tired, we decided to eat at our hotel that evening rather than venture back out in search of more exciting fare. Although my shrimp and citrus risotto was pretty decent:
Next up: A visit to Vomero.