Exploring Pompeii

Another day in Italy, another day of rain. The weather was becoming monotonous now. We had thought that southern Italy would be a nice sunnier escape from the UK but it seems that the rain, snow and sludge was determined to follow us.

Today we jumped back on the graffiti train leaving Sorrento to head towards the Bay of Naples to Pompeii Scarvi.

Once again the carriage was filled with gypsies who worked the tourists hard for cash and once again we were smiled at and passed by. Tired parents feel for tired parents the world around it would seem.

Nick and I felt a bit mixed in regards to the gypsies.We lacked any historical understanding of their plight and how they were viewed by the wider Italian community. Generally they were looked down by the locals we saw. I felt for the young girls who played their instruments and shimmied along the carriage aisle. That was until I saw one jump off the train when we arrived at the station, whip out her  mobile phone, hand over the young baby to another girl and jump back onto a train heading back in the opposite direction. It was so sad children themselves looking after young children.

Gypsies aside we arrived at Pompeii and I was really excited having enjoyed Knossos in Crete and long been fascinated with this ancient city preserved in 30 feet of ash thousands of years ago.

For those not in the know Pompeii is in western Italy in the region now known as Campania. Pompeii is a fascinating insight into Roman civilisation at the time.

For the citizens of Pompeii their lives ended when on the 24th August 79AD Mt Vesuvius erupted. 

For archeologists and historians the fascination of Pompeii comes from the way the structures and humans were preserved. The citizens of Pompeii were not killed instantly but instead were suffocated by a blanket of hot ashes and poisonous gases. These ashes when cool mixed on  human bone to form a 'cast' like structure which froze the bodies in their terrified huddled states.  Essentially the dying movements of these poor people were preserved like a paw print in drying cement.

It is these cast postures which have drawn people to Pompeii.

Overall we found the experience a little disappointing. It is not as well preserved as Knossos and there was no option to have a tour guide.

The sheer size of the site means you get good walking value for your 11 Euro but it also means that after several hours of walking down ancient paths in the rain one roman forum is beginning to look like every other Roman Forum.Oh and did I mention the weather was miserable.

Here are some snaps we took as we wandered around the ruins of Pompeii.

Considering tourists are visiting to see the preserved human casts it was disappointing to see how they were displayed. The casts could have been better displayed where they were found rather than disappointingly displayed with a heap of amphores (pots).

Inside some of the structures the light was amazing and the walls were covered with intricate frescoes.

Overall it was an interesting experience that could be maximised with better site management but then perhaps they save this for good weather and peak season.


I would rank it a 7/10 and oh I am pretty sure THIS wasn't part of the original city

A fast food outlet - what every ancient site needs