One Year Away

Joseph

We have added more pictured to the Italy album. Enjoy!

No matter where you are, Mount Vesuvius dominates the skyline from Naples to Sorrento. Even today the mountain looks like the volcano it actually is; Vesuvius is considered active and last erupted in 1944. The Cicumvesuviana train we took skirts the base of the volcano and stops at the most famous archaeological site in all of Europe; the ruins of Pompeii.

We got off the train (which was covered in graffiti like many things in Italy) and went straight to the audio guide rental stand near the entrance to the ruins. The first thing we did was look at the map of the ruins and plan a route. Although I knew that we were visiting the ruins of a city it never really dawned on me how large the excavated area is. Just a few minutes later we were walking through the remains of an ancient Roman city listening to the voice of our pre-recorded guide explain everything we were seeing.

Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and buried the town under 30 feet of ash and rock. The ruins were discovered in the 1600’s and excavation began in 1748 and is still continuing. Some of the buildings are remarkably well preserved and others have been faithfully reconstructed by archaeologists. The memory that will stay with me is of standing in the central square of the town, the Forum, surrounded by columns, statues, temples and ancient administrative building and looking up to see the ominous shape of Mount Vesuvius rising above it all.

The ash that buried the town also buried many of its inhabitants. When archaeologists were excavating the site they heard hollow areas beneath the rock they were digging through. Ingeniously, they made a small hole in the rock and poured plaster into the hollow. After it dried they chipped away the rock and uncovered perfect casts of human bodies. The flesh had decomposed leaving only a hollow area and a skeleton inside. The casts are incredible, you can make out the clothes they were wearing and the expression of pain on their faces.

The ash that buried the town also protected the ruins; they are so good that it doesn’t take much imagination to visualize the town as it once must have been.

However, the high heat of the day meant that we were always looking for shade; behind walls, in temples, in the thin shade of marble columns, or anywhere. It also meant that we got tired faster and after visiting for a few hours we needed to get out of the heat, have a cold drink and eat. So our tour of Pompeii ended and we made our way back to the coast and the air conditioning of our hotel rooms.