Herculaneum and Pompeii!
Ciao! I am finally going to post about my recent adventures, so you are welcome! First adventure to discuss is the trip my "Daily Life in Pompeii" class took to (where else?) Herculaneum and Pompeii!
The adventure began on November 15th, and after a morning train ride to Naples we took another train to Ercolano. The first train was ok but the one to Ercolano was a commuter train that was crazy crowded and ah it was like people getting on the lifeboats on the Titanic...so intense, lol. We then had lunch in Ercolano where I had the region's famous mozzarella on a sandwich with prosciutto crudo (which I love now). After lunch we walked to the site of the ancient city of Herculaneum!
Buried in 79 AD by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, this city is better preserved than Pompeii due to the speed and heat of the ash that covered everything. Modern-day Ercolano was built on top of Herculaneum, and only this small part was excavated. The whole thing is pretty much in a pit with the wall of volcanic ash around it...we had to walk down a tunnel to get into the city. The walls of ash were amazing though- it was hard to imagine the whole city being dug out of there! It was also really cool that we could see Mt. Vesuvius from the city, but don't worry, it stayed quiet! Another interesting thing was that Herculaneum was a coastal city before the eruption, and the Mediterranean Sea used to right up against the buildings we saw. This seems very strange considering the sea is now about a quarter mile away!
Some cool things we saw in the city include a temple, some ancient stores, the carbonized wood that was preserved since the eruption (this wasn't present in Pompeii), the dents in the stone streets from wagon wheels, bath houses, beautiful mosaics, and other main buildings that were so interesting! Our stay in Herculaneum was shorter than the Pompeii tour, but it was still awesome and I loved it!
After we left Herculaneum, we took another train to Sorrento and once there we walked to the hostel we stayed at during the trip. The hostel was surprisingly fancy and very comfortable, which was great. My roommates were nice, and were from Kentucky and Nebraska. Everyone in my class was quite nice on the trip, and it was nice that there were only 10 of us, including our teacher. That night, our awesome teacher took us to a pizzeria in Sorrento, where I had delicious appetizers of more cheese and bread and the best prosciutto I have eaten in Italy! The actual pizza that we ate wasn't even my favorite part of the meal, haha. The tomato sauce on the pizza here is sometimes too sweet for me, but the bread and cheese in it is always excellent!
The next morning, we had a great breakfast at the hotel and then took another train to Pompeii, where we began our tour! Luckily the weather was nice to begin with, even if it did rain later in the afternoon. I still had fun despite the rain! Pompeii is definitely on my list of my favorite things I did in Italy, because I was truly so happy to be there! I have been interested in the city since middle school and it was so cool to be there in real life and see all of the things from our textbook! There are so many details that I could share, but I'd suggest a book on Pompeii since I can't even begin to describe all the things we saw! Being in a town that looked pretty much the same as it was in Roman times was so surreal and I loved it!! Pompeii is quite large, too, so there was a lot to see. Things that really stood out for me were the Forum, the temples, the streets with the grooves from the wagon wheels like in Herculaneum, the frescos, plaster casts of the deceased Pompeiians, the theatres, the Villa of the Mysteries with its beautiful paintings, and most of all the amphitheater! I had to do a presentation on gladiators and being in the amphitheater, talking about the gladiatorial games that occurred there so long ago...ahh it was so cool!! I think my class could tell that I was very into my topic!
Pompeii was so amazing and going on the trip without knowing anyone else was a good thing for me. So many things here in Italy have improved my confidence and I couldn't be more thankful for that. Being in Pompeii was such a great experience and I had so much fun! Even though it rained at the end, it was still an awesome tour and I am so glad that I took that class.
That night, we went out to eat again with our teacher, this time to a lovely restaurant where I ate delicious cannelloni and veal escalope in white wine sauce. SO GOOD, and so fancy! A good end to our stay in Sorrento. The next day, we took yet another train back to Naples, where we visited the National Archeological Museum. Being in the Naples train station was kinda sketchy since the city is kinda rough, and I couldn't wear my jewelry for risk of theft, but nothing bad happened so all was fine. The Archeological Museum was great, though we were all pretty tired by that time! I loved seeing all the art that was found in Pompeii, especially the mosaics of guard dogs and statues of various animals. The museum itself was even awesome, with long, open hallways that are lit in a lovely way. I always enjoy going to museums, so it was delightful!
We had lunch in the train station that was rather sub-par, and after waiting for our train for a long while I was glad to rest on the trip back to Florence. All my Florence roommates were also travelling that weekend, so I had a relaxing evening before heading off to bed. Fun fact: I went on 10 trains in 3 days!! It was such a wonderful weekend and as I said, will be remembered as one of the best parts of my study abroad experience!
I took sooo many pictures, but here are some of the best ones. In my facebook album I describe each one a bit more, so if you are interested, check it out! =]
