Napoli & Pompeii

29 - 31 August

We took a afternoon train to Napoli (Naples), several hours south of Rome.

I really have nothing of any particular interest to say about Napoli. It seemed like an industrial town, filled with hooting cars (it actually reminded me of Peru in that aspect) and nothing really to see. Despite being on the coast, it's just a port town, with no real beaches nearby.

The only good thing I can say about the city is the pizza. This world-famous dish is a Neapolitan invention, and the best pizzas in the world (in my opinion) are definitely to be found here. Almost every restaurant was a pizzeria, they serve it fast, it tastes amazing, they're huge pizzas, and they're cheap.

€3-5 for a large dinner-plate size, real thin crust, delicious pizza? Why is it no surprise we ate only pizzas while there? I don't think I'll ever be able to order Pizza Hut or Domino's ever again...

Thankfully we had only two nights there, serving as a base for a day trip in between to Pompeii. Almost everyone knows the story - the Roman town that was covered by ash and pumice from an eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. The town was almost perfectly preserved and has now been archaeologically revealed to give an amazing insight of what Roman culture was like.

First view of the edge of the city of Pompeii

It's hard to really describe what walking around the city is all about. Basically it's all stone paving, with the remnants of most of the houses, public baths, the forum, and even theatres and a stadium all left relatively intact. Amazing details of wall paintings and mosaics are quite well preserved. Archaeologists have now named all of the streets (modern Italian names of course!) so you get a little street map to follow around!

So I think the best way I can describe what it was like to be there is to simply present a photo montage... Enjoy!

Aerial of just part of the site (thanks Google Maps)
The Forum and Basilica are the open rectangular areas around centre left
The "Large Theatre" and "Small Theatre" are the semi-circular shapes near the bottom right
Most of the other constructions are houses, the larger ones being mansions or possibly public baths
There is even a brothel there!

Inside the "Basilica"

Latin carving on remains of an arch in the Forum

A view down the end of the Forum with the daunting shape of Mt Vesuvius behind

One of the busy "main streets" within the compound, named by archaeologists as "Via dell'Abbondanza" (street of abundance) lined with ruins of houses on either side

Me peering down another street

Details of street cobbling
The ruts are made from 160 years of carts travelling down the road
The raised stones are believed to have acted as a sort of pedestrian crossing to avoid rainwater (or probably sewage!) running along the streets, which act themselves as a drainage system

View across part of the town from a small viewpoint, with Mt Vesuvius in the background at right

A number of the buildings were open to look around inside (although many are also not accessible for preservation reasons). The decorations inside are sometimes exquisite and often very well preserved. 

Interior stucco remains

Interior stucco remains

Interior designs in one of the public bathhouses, where condensation from steam was designed to run down behind the white ribbed stucco you can see, as a kind of drainage system

Detailled interior painting - still preserved after so many years!

Interior small sculpture designs

Mosaic floor tiling (depicting a dog in front)

Mosaic floor decorations of a battle

A huge number of various items have been recovered in the archaelogical digs, and a number of these were displayed in a covered shelter. All sorts of jugs, pottery, tables etc were found. There were also a number of petrified people on display, some in various positions of prayer.

A collection of items from the archaelogical dig

A petrified person

Inside the small theatre

Me in the large theatre

Lindsay in the large theatre (with a church spire from the modern-day town of Pompei behind)

All in all, it was a fascinating day of exploring the town, and Lindsay and I spent some 4 or 5 hours wandering around, just trying to take it all in, and imagine people actually living and working here. It really did feel like it could be an actual small town!

Back in Napoli again, the only highlight was the opportunity for more Neapolitan pizza. First thing the next morning we caught a bus south to the Amalfi Coast for a completely contrasting experience!