In college I
studied archology for a time, one of several majors. I still love archology and
have built this trip around various ancient sites, so it was only natural that
we would have to go to Pompeii. I wanted to see Pompeii during my trip here 6
years ago but was so disappointed to have to miss it. We were not going to miss
it this time.
We hopped a
high-speed train in the morning and about 1 hour later we arrived in Naples
train station where we had to get onto a commuter train that would take us to
the site of the ruins. This was well and good except that we only had 2 minutes
to get down to the next track after buying our tickets. We ran down to the
track and the jam-packed train stopped. Zaya and I jumped on but Dale and Kim
hesitated only to be left behind.
Zaya and I
got off at the next stop and fortunately, Kim brought her phone along (we’d
forgotten Dale’s at home). I tried to call Kim several times but the call
wouldn’t go thru so finally I sent a text. She sent a text back that they were waiting
for the next train. She then sent a text that they had gotten on the next train
and were in the 2nd car from the last.
Zaya and I
hopped on the next train but thought we could walk back to the car with Dale
and Kim. Nope, couldn’t walk between the cars. At the next stop we ran from the
car we were in to the next back and there they were. We lost a little time but
had a great story!
Once at
Pompeii there was no line at all. We did not take a tour and mistakenly did not
get a map from the ticket office but we did have the Rick Steves tour in our
book. As it turned out, we didn’t use the tour book much at all.
As we’d
read, some sites would be open and others not so the guide books didn’t help much after
the entry. We were amazed at the area of Pompeii that has been excavated, a
tour guide who wanted us to go with her said that over 17 hectares (42 acres) had
been excavated. There was no way we’d go up and down every street.
Some of the items excavated 
Items excavated including a child
 |
| Mt. Vesuvius thru the arch |
Like I said,
some things in the guide book were closed but as we wondered up and down
streets, we found excavated villas open to walk thru which had beautiful
frescos visible and mosaic floors.
Most Pompeiians
didn’t have kitchens or baths so ate prepared food. There are so many ruins of
fast-food stalls. You can tell the commercial sites because many have the door
frames with tracks for sliding doors. The restaurants still have counters, some
still have marble counter tops.
Zaya is cooking up a storm for her line of customers
 |
| Just one of the rooms we saw with mosaic flooring and frescos on the walls |
We spent 4
hours walking and by 4 pm when the homes closed, we were hot, tired and hungry.
Getting back
to Naples was another adventure. We’d purchased a round trip ticket for the
high-speed train to Rome, so knew that we had to get to Naples to get on our 6
pm train. The commuter train did not come and did not come. Finally, it arrived
but was way too late to get our train out of Naples.
We were able
to change our tickets and were glad to get back to Rome for a very late dinner.
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