Saturday we woke up, had breakfast at our hostel and headed to Pompeii. Now Saturday was supposed to be the hottest day of the year, so we weren't too excited to walk around in the heat, but after a nice bus ride, we got there and there was a really nice breeze which cooled us down -- so that made the experience much more enjoyable. That being said, I still sweated more than I think I ever have in my life. We didn't have enough money for a guide, but I did use Rick Steves' tour -- I am quickly becoming a huge fan of Rick Steves' tours. . . they never fail to be interesting! Anyways, so we walked in through the streets of Pompeii, and it was just like walking through a Roman ghost town (which it essentially is, although more ruined). It was easy to imagine Romans bustling through this town. . . you could see where chariots had worn in tracks on the stone and where pedestrian only streets would be. This was the basilisc (which was court basically). The columns actually weren't destroyed in the volcano eruption, but had been demolished several years prior because of an earth quake. You can't really see from here, but they're entirely made with terra-cotta brick that would eventually be covered with a facade to make it look marble.
One of my favorite parts of Pompeii was that there were sleeping dogs everywhere. At the house of the tragic poet in the town, there is a mosaic in the entrance way with a dog that says "Cave Canem" (beware of dog) -- which was in one of my Latin books. . .I was excited. Apparently many houses had mosaics like this and nowadays, they welcome stray dogs in Pompeii. So if you go, bring some dog treats =) the dogs are very loving.
This is the forum and you can make out Mount Vesuvius in the background. Vesuvius is the volcano that made Pompeii what it is today. Look at Vesuvius in the picture and continue the triangle that it begins -- That is how big it was before it blew. . . it's ENORMOUS.
I really enjoyed walking around and learning about life back then. The Romans had a ton of knowledge that wasn't rediscovered until the Renaissance -- like floors had perspective, which is a huge stride made in the Renaissance. Amazing. More cool ruins:
Also, we saw a neighborhood brothel, which was actually kind of hilarious. They had a menu for sex, basically frescoed on the wall. The pictures are priceless, but rather inappropriate, so I haven't posted any. Lastly, we made it to their theatre, which was modeled in the Greek style. I was pretty excited about it =) . Even better -- they were doing an opera in it at night, so there was a modern set and lights and such. LOVE modern meeting the ancient. I wish I could have seen it!!!
We left Pompeii ready to go back to the hostel. And we left by way of some particularly pushy vendors. . .wow. They were intense! Anyways, we went back and I had a lovely run-in with a controller on the bus (the guy who makes sure your ticket is stamped) because even though I put my ticket into the box, it didn't get stamped. SO! I had to pay a lovely fine for that. augh. It's just one of those life charges, I suppose. Bah! After that, we slept through the heat of the day in our AIR CONDITIONED room. . . it was amazing. Then we got up and headed to see what there was to see in Naples. We actually found a very nice area that looked like this:
There we found a 100 year old shopping mall that was GORGEOUS. The light was amazing, and it was a cavernous space. Here's a hall:
On the floor they had the signs of the zodiac mosiaced, so here I am with Aquarius .
Across the street was the oldest theatre in Europe (who knew it was in Naples!) called "Real Teatro Di San Carlo." Apparently it's amazing inside -- I wasn't able to get in, but it was just cool to see it outside =)
Around the corner was this random giant building that I really have no idea what it is, but it was cool! And classic Naples. . . if you can see this gorgeous building, with grime on it and rather shoddy apartments in back. There's also graffiti everywhere. eh. interesting.
After that we walked along the water, which was SO PRETTY and it was so nice to smell the salt air =)
We then sauntered over to one of the most renowned pizza places in Naples. They only serve Marinara or Margherita (which is their version of cheese). Pizza in Italy is so different from Pizza here -- and I swear it has to be burnt here, or it's not pizza. That being said, it was quite tasty =)
After dinner, we headed home for a quite night, so we could sleep and get up early. However, ten feet outside our hostel, I heard cursing and saw a guy on a scooter drive away holding Kelsey's purse. . .I knew it was going to be a long night. Scooter thieves suck. They are gone in seconds. Luckily our hostel was awesome and helped Kelsey with everything. After a later night than planned, we went to bed and got up early to go to the train station (where, btw some guy stole some change from me). We couldn't wait to get out of there. Now we're back in Florence, and I'm having a lovely, relaxing Sunday. There's a nice breeze, and I did laundry (which is scary when there's a breeze) and skyped with my parents and just chillled out =) Now I'm heading up to Fiesole to watch the sunset. Only 1 week and less than two days left! AH!
No comments:
Post a Comment