The day started off with Aaron, out on the balconey of our room, playing with the zoom function on our new camera. The island of Capri was just off our side of the boat, 2 miles off, and Aaron was fascinated by what his camera could capture. The island looked beautiful from a distance and from what we heard from other passengers, it was beautiful in person too. Another reason to get back to Italy...but we already had plans for that day.
AM - Mt. Vesuvius
Bright and early we left the boat and were taken by bus up a very narrow, switchback road to 1000m short of the top of Mt. Vesuvius. We were then set free to tackle the 25min hike to the crater. This doesn't seem like much, but when it's straight up hill - with no flat sections to catch your breath or rest your legs - it seems like a lot more. I was definitely more out of shape than I thought, and probably shouldn't have celebrated so much the night of our anniversary. But, despite the complaining, I did make it to the top - and the climb was so worth it!
The highly active volcano was still steaming from fissures, and is being watched 24/7. There is an evacuation plan in place for 600 000 people - of course if the eruption is as big as the one that buried Pompeii, even that won't be enough. The volcano itself was once one solid peak, but from a distance it now looks like two peaks. The last eruption occurred in 1944, in which the funicular used to carry people to the crater was buried. According to Nello this was a very famous funicular - you've all heard to song written about it I'm sure. Ask Aaron or I one day - we may even hum or sing a bit of it for you. Across the way from Mt. Vesuvius we were able to take in the view of "Big Nose" Mountain - as pictured below. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why it's named that.
PM - Pompeii
After the morning hike, in very warm weather I might add, we loaded back on the bus and headed to Pompeii. We made a brief stop at a cameo factory - very neat to see first hand, and if cameos are your thing, they have some really nice pieces (without the made in China sticker on the back). Soon after that stop we arrived in Pompeii. That is a sight worth seeing. I know people think it's just "more ruins", but there is something about it I found awe-inspiring.
It was great to have a tour guide for this excursion; we learned so much having someone with us who knew the history. Buried under 10 ft of mud and ash; stonework and skeletons perfectly preserved - only organic material destroyed. We entered through the sea gate, so named as that was once the entrance to Pompeii's harbour; the ocean now being more than a mile away from Pompeii.
We were shown the basilica (justice house), which showed incredible damage. However, this damage was not the fault of the eruption. but rather an earthquake that had occurred earlier. The fact that the pillars in front of the basilica were all the same height and smooth on top was considered to be evidence that this area was under reconstruction when it was buried. This was also evidence that Pompeii was a very important city in the Roman Empire at the time.
When then moved through the forum (main square) and into the market place. Here we saw some amazing use of artwork and perspective to add depth to the market place. What was so amazing about this was that this technique was accredited to later artists like Michaelangelo, some 1000 years later. Of course, in his time, no one even new about the city of Pompeii - it having been removed from maps after being buried by the eruption.
We then headed down main street to head to the spa, hotels/restaurants and the biggest surviving home in Pompeii. The spa was something to marvel at: 4 rooms, covered by the only surviving roof (being a stone vault instead of a wood structure). There was a waiting room, a cold bath, a steam room and a warm bath. Needless to say time at the spa was considerable - not unlike today. Coincidentally, the woman's bath next door had only three rooms - the waiting area, the steam room and the warm bath - guess women don't need cold baths (SMART!!)
The brick oven in the bakery was another interesting site - considering they use the same bricks and style of construction for pizza ovens in Italy today. They also have timed the eruption to have been sometime around lunch as there were 5 loaves of bread and a couple of chickens perfectly preserved in the oven when it was unearthed.
We then continued down mainstreet towards the temple and finally the storehouse. The storehouse was one of the more heartwrenching sites. Although victims were located elsewhere in the city, the storehouse contained the body of a child - clearly struggling to breathe, with his/her hand up to there mouth. It kind of put everything into perspective.
At that point we left Pompeii and headed back to our floating resort. Needless to say Aaron and I were incredibly tired this evening - headed to dinner and basically hit our beds. It may also have had something to do with the fact that we had to get up even earlier the next day to head into Rome.
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