Naples and Pompeii

After a whirlwind visit to Florence, we took the high-speed Frecciarossa train to Naples. And by high-speed, I mean speeds approaching 300km/h (186 mph).  The Frecciarossa is a very smooth ride and you don't necessarily realize how fast you're traveling.  Even with a brief stop in Rome, it cuts driving time in half.

Most folks know that Naples is the birthplace of pizza, but not as many know it's the gateway to the well-preserved ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.  These were the reasons we wanted to include Naples on this trip.  In 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius had a massive volcanic eruption that completely buried these two cities in a matter of hours. They were all-but-forgotten for over 1,500 years until initially being rediscovered in the late 16th century.  It wasn't until the mid-1700s that the first formal excavation occurred.

Before venturing to Pompeii today, we first visited the National Archaeological Museum in Naples yesterday.  The museum covers archaeological history in general and has more exhibits than just the period around 79 A.D.  However, there is a significant portion of the museum dedicated to Pompeii and Herculaneum.  It is here that most of the original items artifacts are displayed.  Most of what people see in Pompeii are copies.  It is amazing how many of the artifacts are in such excellent condition considering they were buried under some 20 feet of pumice stone and ash.

For today's journey to Pompeii, we rented a car as we planned to see both Pompeii and Herculaneum and driving made the most sense.  We hired a guide for our Pompeii tour -- Paola -- and she met us on site. There's so much to see at Pompeii that it's impossible in just one day.  Paola said we would need five days to cover the entire area.  She focused us on some of the more important sites as well as some of the most recently excavated. There are still large areas that are not yet uncovered.  It was incredible to see intact frescoes on the walls, intact mosaic tile floors, and original columns still standing after such massive destruction from the eruption.  Paola was an excellent guide and provided much appreciated information and context to what we were seeing.

Unfortunately, we did not get to see as much as we would have liked.  Just as Paola was finishing our tour, the skies opened up and a massive thunderstorm moved through the area replete with multiple lightning flashes all around us. Our plan was to explore more of Pompeii on our own before venturing to Herculaneum, but it was clear the storm had settled in for the afternoon.  It wasn't so much being soaked from the rain as it was thunder and lightning that made us call it quits early.  Herculaneum will have to be another time.

After a brief lunch stop, we drove back to Naples in the rain and returned the rental car. Regardless of not getting to do all we wanted, it was still a fantastic day.  The sun eventually popped out allowing us to cap off our day eating a traditional Neapolitan pizza dinner al fresco.