Back in early January, we drove to California to see the traeling Pompeii exhibit at the Science Center and knew immediately that we had to visit the real thing in Italy. So we signed up for an all-day tour and because of scheduling, spent our last day in Rome out of the city. But it was all good and worked out in our favor because had we been able to go on our chosen day -- Thursday -- we would have gone in the pouring rain we had yesterday. But instead, we had cooler dryer temperatures and partly (mostly) sunny skies.
Our first stop was Mt Vesuvius. During certain times of the year, the tour gets 2 hours at the Archaeological Mseum of Pompeii. Bt we were in the prime season , the Vesuvius National Park was oopen, the path to the summit was dry and walkable and so we were a go.
It was with a little trepidation that I started out. The bus drives you pretty close to the summit, so the actual path is not all the way from the bottom. But what's left for you to hike is steep. About a 14% incline for close to a mile with some good sized rocks on the path you have to be careful not to step on the wrong way. Not for the faint-hearted. But I have been doing the treadmill at the gym with a 20% incline and figured if I took it slow and steady and took breaks to catch my breath, I'd make it. And I did. About 1/2 way up, I slowed my pace down even more, so I could take deep breaths without having to stop and catch my breath. That worked.
 |
| Here I am, half-way up, still smiling |
 |
| And here I am at the top, still smiling, even if it does have a grimace look to it. I could have gone up a little further and gotten closer to the steam, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself enough time to make it downhill in the time allotted. And I'm glad I did. Downhill was easier in that you didn't get out of breath, but you had to be careful not to go too fast. One misstep and you're tumbling with no good way to stop yourself.
After a fine pizza lunch, we were off for a 2-hour walking tour of Pompeii. The thing I found amazing about Pompeii was how BIG it is. It's not a collection of urns and doo-dads, capped with the powerful casts of people that were caught in the unpredicted explosion. The thing I found amazing was the huge size of the village that was unearthed. Main streets, side streets, marketplaces, store fronts, houses, mansions.
  Vesuvius is always in the background. It is 4,000 feet high, but estimates are that it was 8,000 feet high prior to the eruption on August 25, 79 AD
You really can't take it all in in 2 hours, but the message is unmistakeable: this was a very advanced civilization. And clever! This is the main street that comes into the city. The white dots are marble, which are designed to pick up the moonlight and make the street more visible to newcomers entering.
And this is exactly what you think it is, carved into one of the street stones. It points the way to the red-light district, again for newcomers to the city to find their way! Love it!
After Pompeii, we drove back to the city and our last day in Italy was over. It was quite an experience and we're happy we took the time to visit this wondrous site.
|
Wonderful!
ReplyDelete