Yoo 650 - Pompeii

Thursday was an early morning with a 7:30 train to Naples. The "Frecciarossa" high-speed train to be exact. It only took an hour but it didn't feel like we were moving terribly fast.

This part of the trip was planned very last-minute (the day we were leaving...) so it wasn't planned well. Immediately upon departing the train we began searching for a tourist information center so we could get local public transport passes and maps and figure our lives out.

From there, I knew we needed to find the "Circumvesuviana" train heading for Sorrento. We meandered around the station until we saw signs and quite quickly found ourselves pushing upstream in a cattle herd of people, not entirely sure where we were going. All of a sudden, a woman and a man in front of us started running and we stuck with them, using them as a wind-block except with people. The woman tore down a staircase and after a train that was getting ready to leave. I wasn't 100% sure it was the train we wanted but Greg seemed pretty comitted so we stuck with her as she leaped up on the steps and shoved her arm into the closing doors, forcing them open again. The woman, the man, Greg, and I all pushed on. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw "Pompei Scavi" listed as one of the train stops.

The train ride was a little smelly but we got to people watch and that's one of my favorite parts of traveling so it went by fast. The stop is remarkably close to the entrance of Pompeii and we were part of the first handful of tourists to arrive. We didn't realize, until it was too late, that the free maps are only available BEFORE going thru the entrance so we were left to wing it for the day.

But winging it was fun. The audio guide we'd downloaded covered a lot of the basics about life in Pompeii before and during the eruption and talked thru a dozen specific residences and businesses. Then we were left to explore an entire ghost town. Homes and public baths and brothels and restaurants and forums and stadiums and amphitheaters and temples. There is so much to see and it's all fascinating.

I would have spent most of my time in the public baths. The hottest one, to be specific. Their baths were set up like a sports club. So they'd exercise before hitting the baths for a while, followed by a stop across the street at one of many "fast-food" restaurants lining the sidewalks.

This isn't a real body but it is a plaster-fill from an air pocket left behind by a real body. Haunting.

The walls of their homes were painted in bright, beautiful colors.

What remained of the mosaics were pretty. Most of Pompeii's real treasures are in the Naples Archaeological Museum but that's a post for another day (hint, it was the worst part of our trip).

Of course I found the dog paintings. There was also a dog mosaic somewhere but it was blocked off and I couldn't get a decent picture.

It's a working archaeological site so unfortunately some of the buildings are closed off. We didn't get to see the House of the Vettii, which sounded cool on the audio guide. But we still kept ourselves busy for at least five hours.

These were their fast food shops! Counters lining the streets with bowls of food that could be slopped-up quick. Hardly any of the houses had big kitchens so not much food prep happened at home. The pedestrian streets were happening places and "eating out" was pretty standard.

Pompeii's Colosseum was quite impressive. Also, quite a walk. Our feet were getting so tired! But we had the place to ourselves and acted ridiculous accordingly.

This little park behind the grand theater was one of my favorite spots. It was peaceful and shady with plenty of sitting rocks. And also a dog. There were quite a few random dogs trotting about Pompeii, but I obeyed the many signs and did not feed or pet them. Mostly because I did not want fleas again.

Also present, a group of Italian teenagers to watch. They were really nice to the dog so I loved them. And what a cool field trip!

Dog.

By late afternoon our feet were dying and we made our way back to the train stop to continue on to our luxurious accommodations in Sorrento. Ok, luxurious by our standards, but it was still a pretty cool room and the shower seemed ginormous compared to the one in Rome. We didn't have a map of Sorrento so it actually took us quite a while to find the hotel. After wandering around the streets and across several piazzas, we sidetracked into a grocery store to shop for breakfast food but mostly to use their wifi.

Then, we had just enough time to settle before walking a block to watch the sky change over Mount Vesuvius and the Gulf of Naples.

Sorrento was easily my favorite part of the trip. Granted, I'm sure it's MUCH different and considerably more crowded in the summer, but I loved winter Sorrento. The side streets are cute. There are Christmas lights. And fewer people to navigate around on sidewalks! We had so much fun just strolling thru it all, amid plenty of people-watching.

Instead of pizza for dinner, which is all I ever wanted to eat in Italy, we opted for a kebab place that had awesome reviews and it delivered. Of course we had the place to ourselves because it was probably 6 o'clock and still too early for most people to eat but the owner spoke English and he was fun to talk to. So much so that we went back the next day too.

The highlight of the night was this nativity. Nativities are more of a thing than Christmas trees and every church that we went to in Rome and Sorrento had a grand nativity display. They were all beautiful, but this one was our favorite.

The details. Look at all the different kinds of bread!

And baskets of tiny fruit!

And tying all of those little knots to hang stuff?? Not going to complain about decorating a Christmas tree again...

It was just neat. I took a picture of the whole setup, but it didn't turn out so use your imagination. BIG.

And with that, we retired for the night. Greg fell asleep and I stayed up for a couple hours googling on my phone, pen and paper in hand. I had some pretty grand ideas for the next day but it was going to take a lot of planning and heaps of luck to make them happen!

Have a great day :-)