Blogs from Pompei, Campania, Italy, Europe - page 11

One cannot really fully prepare themselves for the reality of what occurred here. We felt so fortunate to have experienced the museum before going to the ruins. It really put everything into context. We grabbed an audio guide and a 2 hour itinerary and set off to see what we could see. It was immediately apparent we should have allocated a LOT more time to this impressive site. It is vast! It is not just temples, government structures, sports arenas, public baths, and huge amphitheatres. It is villa upon villa upon villa, each more amazing than the last, that you can walk through and actually get a sense of how these people lived. It is an endless grid of streets cobbled with smooth rocks that are 1 to 2 feet in diameter, with distinct grooves where ... read more

March 31 - April 1 Monday March 31 On Monday I left Rome and made my way to Naples. Once in Naples, after finding my hostel, I didn't feel like doing anything as I was really only in Naples to see Pompeii. So I made myself some lunch then went and sat on my balcony and read for the rest of the day. It was wonderful. Tuesday April 1 On Tuesday, I boarded a train for the ride to Pompeii. The title of this blog comes from a quote by Plato about Atlantis, but I thought of it as I walked through Pompeii's deserted streets and buildings and thought it applied. Before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii had been, a few years previously, hit by an earthquake. They hadn't finished repairing that damage when Mt. ... read more

Pompei is a wreck! I mean you thought Naples was a dump, Pompei is practically unihabitable. It is an amazing place, a bit of a mix between gosh wow ruins and well intentioned rebuilding without too much reference to the original blue prints. Getting to Pompei is a breeze, train from Sorrento and the ruins are right outside the station. There is something eerily familiar about the streetscape and despite what I am sure is a certain amount of poetic license having been taken the effect is still one of familiarity of scale. This is not too dissimilar to what we could quite easily regard as a comfortable lifestyle provided you are not born anything other than a wealthy Roman. We were hustled into taking a guide but he did prove to be helpful in gaining ... read more

Earlier this week, Molly’s parents, sister, and grandparents arrived to Rome. Saturday, we decided to join Molly and her family on a tour of Napoli and Pompeii. Bridget, Jess, Sam, Molly and her family, and I were down in the lobby at 6:00AM, waiting for the bus to come pick us up. We rode on a charter bus for three hours to Napoli. It was great getting out of the city of Rome to see the countryside of Italy. We reached Napoli and literally just drove through it. I wasn’t too impressed. Personally, I thought the city was dirty. We did stop for a photo opportunity. At this spot, the view of the ocean and nearby islands was beautiful. We were stopped for approximately 10 minutes then hopped back on the bus to make our way ... read more

On the second day of our trip we made our way to Pompeii, a buried Roman city excavated by archeologists. After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we made our way to Naples Central Station. From the internet, I knew there's this Unico Campania day ticket which we can use for our trip between Naples and Pompeii. However, when we tried the buy the ticket from the station ticket office, we were told that there was no such thing as a day ticket, and we had to buy 2 single trip tickets for a return trip between Naples and Pompeii. To our further shock, the ticket staff tried to cheat our money by returning €2 less for our change. Luckily my friends calculated the change on the spot and realised the scam. The ticket staff, realising ... read more