Pumice in Pompeii (July 25)

Josh relished in giving us a title for this Blog!

We had a quiet day on the 24^th. Caleb, Daniel and I (Karen) spent all day at ‘home’, with the boys playing with their new gladiator toys and me reading kid’s books (that is all I have left to read!). Tim and Josh spent the afternoon visiting the Catacombs of Rome which Josh particularly wanted to see. Apparently the Catacombs were probably not used to hide Christians as we had originally thought, and they also no longer held any bones as these were all taken away once Christianity was made the official religion under Constantine. Despite these drawbacks, Josh and Tim had an interesting time wandering around.

We caught the very early morning bus on a tour to Pompeii and Naples. A tour guide took us around Pompeii which was most helpful as he was able to explain lots of things to us that we would not otherwise have known. Once again there was a major lack of signage or explanation in the ruins. Tim and I were amazed that precious 2000 year old frescoes were left exposed out in the sun and rain, some with a tiny tin sheet as a little roof over the top which was not the best look. We were allowed to wander around the ruins at will, touching any frescos we wanted. The well known plaster casts of people and dog were I think the ones we had seen before in the Melbourne museum in a visiting exhibition. I have to say that they left much more of an impression then, as they were shown with beautiful lighting and displays. In Pompeii, we saw them behind wire in a shed with nothing to protect most of them. Despite how much more could have been done, the ruins themselves are incredible to see. The whole area is immense and covers 16 acres. It is impossible to see the whole area in one day, and we only saw a small portion of it. I loved the wagon wheel ruts that were clearly visible in the road surface. The city walls built around Pompeii have all been excavated out, and our guide explained that they had been built upon larva. The people at the time had not known that they were building on old larva flows as they did not know that volcanoes existed. There is still a large portion of land that is not excavated yet, and has been deliberately left for ‘protection’ as our guide explained. We were dismayed to later see this area covered with rubbish.

Our guide lead us through the ruins and out an obscure exit into a souvenir shop where he proceeded to tempt us to spend up big. As this shop and the subsequent restaurant that he lead us to for lunch were both off the beaten path, we had to wonder how much of the good areas of Pompeii we had seen and how much he had lead us through in order to get his commission at the shops. Perhaps I am being a bit cynical. I would find it really frustrating to be in a tour for a long time I think! We walked out of the restaurant when we could not get a waiter to show us a menu or price list (lunch was not included in the tour price), and we got our own lunch on a ten minute walk down the road. We were not quite so satisfied with ourselves however on the way back, as we had been forced to pay $15 for about 5 slices of bread on top of our restaurant meal. In Italy, you are presented with an unordered basket of bread in restaurants, which you sometimes pay for and sometimes don’t. I think in this case they had decided that we did not pay enough for lunch! It was some of the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life however, which is fitting since we were so close to Naples where pizza was invented.

After our Pompeii experience, the bus took us on a ‘panaromic tour’ of Naples. This meant that we drove around looking at things from the bus. I am sorry to say that we were less than impressed with Naples. It had some magnificent buildings in it and lots of potential, but everywhere we looked there was neglect, graffiti, and rubbish all over the streets. They whole place had a seedy feel, as did Pompeii. Apparently it is a very poor area. We arrived home from our trip at about 8:30, thoroughly exhausted but very glad to have chosen to see Pompeii in this stress free fashion.