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Pompei is a city and comune in the province of Naples in Campania, southern Italy, famous for the Ancient Pompeii. As of 2010 its population was of 25,671 : Istat 2010. (...) (from Wikipedia)


      

Pompei Trips

From Trip: Italy-Sorrento-Pleasure
By: snehatrivedi

Pompeii Ticket Info
Single ticket: €11, valid for 1 day
Access to 5 sites (Herculaneum, Pompeii, Oplontis, Stabiae, Boscoreale): €20, valid for 3 days
Sogno Pompei (Pompeii Dream) – Travel back in time two millennia, to the days just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Lights, sounds, and smells bring to life the yystery of ancient Pompeii.
 The only active volcano on the mainland of Europe, Mount Vesuvius is famous for the calamitous eruption in 79AD, which buried the towns of Herculaneum and Pompe

Day 1: Taking bus to go around the coastal line of amalfi...

POI's:From Trip: Switserland and Italy
By: dupendup

Town was covered by ash.

From the main
entrance, you can follow a concrete path around the outside of the
Pompeii ruins. It leads to a more wheelchair-friendly part of Pompeii.

We suggest
renting an audio guide or requesting one of our private licensed guides
for tours of Pompeii. Pompeii is partly wheelchair accessible.

The Herculaneum ruins are much more wheelchair friendly than the nearby Pompeii ruins. Although Pompeii is 10 times the size of Herculeaneum, disabled tourists have much more to see in the disabled accessible Herculeaneum ruins than in Pompeii.

Two wheelchair ramps lead to an accessible bridge that brings you
over the ancient Herculaneum shoreline and into the city./p>Once
you get into the city, you can see the interiors of many of the
buildings that were buried in the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption. Because
Herculaneum was buried deeper than Pompeii, many of the buildings’ upper
stories are intact.I gave Herculaneum disabled access a 4 Star Sage Accessibility Rating because
it provides step-free access to many of the ancient streets, sidewalks,
and buildings. It did not get higher accessibility rating because some
of the sidewalks have uneven terrain and some of the buildings have a
step to get into them.

The day after I toured Pompeii, I went back down the coast for a
second look at ancient volcano ruins; ten minutes closer is the
fascinating partially-excavated ruins of Herculaneum, a town about 1/5 the size of Pompeii that was also frozen in time by the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D.
Herculaneum is and, I think, always will be only partially excavated
because the modern town is built literally right on top of the ancient
town.  I’m not sure, but I’d also guess that it must be an absolutely
massive and dangerous undertaking to excavate any further, as
Herculaneum was buried under an astounding 30 feet of pyroclastic flow.
(Pompeii was found under around 13 feet of ash.)  After walking down a
gently sloping curve, I caught my first view of the ancient town:

It’s a particularly dramatic view, seeing the modern town right atop
the ancient one, and gaining an immediate sense of how thick the
pyroclastic flow was; you’re looking down from the top of it, to where
the city once stood.
Two piazzas near the bottom of the picture used to sit above the beach, but now face a sheer face of carved-out flow.

After walking down a long, steep tunnel (which reminded me a little of the 3rd infiltration tunnel I visited in Korea last year) and across a suspension bridge, I found myself in the first of those two piazzas, the Terrazza di Marcus Nonio Balbo.
This is where I learned about Marcus Nonio Balbo, the dude who basically ran the joint.









Herculaneum: Small-Town Pompeii
March 13, 2012 in 45 Days in Italy


The day after I toured Pompeii, I went back down the coast for a
second look at ancient volcano ruins; ten minutes closer is the
fascinating partially-excavated ruins of Herculaneum, a town about 1/5 the size of Pompeii that was also frozen in time by the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D.
Herculaneum is and, I think, always will be only partially excavated
because the modern town is built literally right on top of the ancient
town.  I’m not sure, but I’d also guess that it must be an absolutely
massive and dangerous undertaking to excavate any further, as
Herculaneum was buried under an astounding 30 feet of pyroclastic flow.
(Pompeii was found under around 13 feet of ash.)  After walking down a
gently sloping curve, I caught my first view of the ancient town:

(By the way, you should be able to click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)
It’s a particularly dramatic view, seeing the modern town right atop
the ancient one, and gaining an immediate sense of how thick the
pyroclastic flow was; you’re looking down from the top of it, to where
the city once stood.
Two piazzas near the bottom of the picture used to sit above the beach, but now face a sheer face of carved-out flow.

The arches below were where ships docked to load and unload cargo.

After walking down a long, steep tunnel (which reminded me a little of the 3rd infiltration tunnel I visited in Korea last year) and across a suspension bridge, I found myself in the first of those two piazzas, the Terrazza di Marcus Nonio Balbo.
This is where I learned about Marcus Nonio Balbo, the dude who basically ran the joint.

That’s him.  This is the first time I remember seeing marble laid
over plaster – or at least I think that’s what’s happening here.
 Interesting…maybe something I saw in Art History class years ago and
forgot about.  Dude had some abs, right?
The Terrazzo is also where I learned about the trade-off of being
here in the off-season: on the bright side there are no lines to wait in
or throngs of tourists to wade through, while on the downside more of
the sites are closed for restoration.  Herculaneum’s baths, housed just
off the terrazzo, sounded amazing on the audioguide, but I didn’t get to
see any of it.

Yes, I went full-on tourist and got the audioguide!  It was hilarious
to watch everyone, including myself, walking around with cordless
phones glued to their ears, nodding and gawking into the silent air.
 The guide made the ruins far more interesting though, I’m sure, and I
wished I’d rented one for Pompeii the previous day.
There are 47 major sites here, and I can’t possibly get through all
of them, but let me give you some of the highlights that I found most
interesting.

The gymnasium is enormous, and this shows just one wing of the place.
 The columns on the right opened onto a huge central square, where games
and gladiator fights took place while spectators crowded on the sides.
 Notice again, how the modern town sits right on top.









Herculaneum: Small-Town Pompeii
March 13, 2012 in 45 Days in Italy


The day after I toured Pompeii, I went back down the coast for a
second look at ancient volcano ruins; ten minutes closer is the
fascinating partially-excavated ruins of Herculaneum, a town about 1/5 the size of Pompeii that was also frozen in time by the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D.
Herculaneum is and, I think, always will be only partially excavated
because the modern town is built literally right on top of the ancient
town.  I’m not sure, but I’d also guess that it must be an absolutely
massive and dangerous undertaking to excavate any further, as
Herculaneum was buried under an astounding 30 feet of pyroclastic flow.
(Pompeii was found under around 13 feet of ash.)  After walking down a
gently sloping curve, I caught my first view of the ancient town:

(By the way, you should be able to click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)
It’s a particularly dramatic view, seeing the modern town right atop
the ancient one, and gaining an immediate sense of how thick the
pyroclastic flow was; you’re looking down from the top of it, to where
the city once stood.
Two piazzas near the bottom of the picture used to sit above the beach, but now face a sheer face of carved-out flow.

The arches below were where ships docked to load and unload cargo.

After walking down a long, steep tunnel (which reminded me a little of the 3rd infiltration tunnel I visited in Korea last year) and across a suspension bridge, I found myself in the first of those two piazzas, the Terrazza di Marcus Nonio Balbo.
This is where I learned about Marcus Nonio Balbo, the dude who basically ran the joint.

That’s him.  This is the first time I remember seeing marble laid
over plaster – or at least I think that’s what’s happening here.
 Interesting…maybe something I saw in Art History class years ago and
forgot about.  Dude had some abs, right?
The Terrazzo is also where I learned about the trade-off of being
here in the off-season: on the bright side there are no lines to wait in
or throngs of tourists to wade through, while on the downside more of
the sites are closed for restoration.  Herculaneum’s baths, housed just
off the terrazzo, sounded amazing on the audioguide, but I didn’t get to
see any of it.

Yes, I went full-on tourist and got the audioguide!  It was hilarious
to watch everyone, including myself, walking around with cordless
phones glued to their ears, nodding and gawking into the silent air.
 The guide made the ruins far more interesting though, I’m sure, and I
wished I’d rented one for Pompeii the previous day.
There are 47 major sites here, and I can’t possibly get through all
of them, but let me give you some of the highlights that I found most
interesting.

The gymnasium is enormous, and this shows just one wing of the place.
 The columns on the right opened onto a huge central square, where
games and gladiator fights took place while spectators crowded on the
sides.  Notice again, how the modern town sits right on top.

Domestic goddesses, behold!  A well-preserved clothes press (a huge
iron, basically).  The clothes were folded (into pleats?), laid between
the two planes at the bottom, and then the top plane was cranked down
from above.

Unlike at Pompeii, Herculaneum has a surprising amount of wood still
intact, though charred to a near-petrified state.  This is the remains
of a front door.  Notice how it seems to be melded into the wall; maybe
the heat of the pyroclastic flow sealed them together?









Herculaneum: Small-Town Pompeii
March 13, 2012 in 45 Days in Italy


The day after I toured Pompeii, I went back down the coast for a
second look at ancient volcano ruins; ten minutes closer is the
fascinating partially-excavated ruins of Herculaneum, a town about 1/5 the size of Pompeii that was also frozen in time by the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D.
Herculaneum is and, I think, always will be only partially excavated
because the modern town is built literally right on top of the ancient
town.  I’m not sure, but I’d also guess that it must be an absolutely
massive and dangerous undertaking to excavate any further, as
Herculaneum was buried under an astounding 30 feet of pyroclastic flow.
(Pompeii was found under around 13 feet of ash.)  After walking down a
gently sloping curve, I caught my first view of the ancient town:

(By the way, you should be able to click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)
It’s a particularly dramatic view, seeing the modern town right atop
the ancient one, and gaining an immediate sense of how thick the
pyroclastic flow was; you’re looking down from the top of it, to where
the city once stood.
Two piazzas near the bottom of the picture used to sit above the beach, but now face a sheer face of carved-out flow.

The arches below were where ships docked to load and unload cargo.

After walking down a long, steep tunnel (which reminded me a little of the 3rd infiltration tunnel I visited in Korea last year) and across a suspension bridge, I found myself in the first of those two piazzas, the Terrazza di Marcus Nonio Balbo.
This is where I learned about Marcus Nonio Balbo, the dude who basically ran the joint.

That’s him.  This is the first time I remember seeing marble laid
over plaster – or at least I think that’s what’s happening here.
 Interesting…maybe something I saw in Art History class years ago and
forgot about.  Dude had some abs, right?
The Terrazzo is also where I learned about the trade-off of being
here in the off-season: on the bright side there are no lines to wait in
or throngs of tourists to wade through, while on the downside more of
the sites are closed for restoration.  Herculaneum’s baths, housed just
off the terrazzo, sounded amazing on the audioguide, but I didn’t get to
see any of it.

Yes, I went full-on tourist and got the audioguide!  It was hilarious
to watch everyone, including myself, walking around with cordless
phones glued to their ears, nodding and gawking into the silent air.
 The guide made the ruins far more interesting though, I’m sure, and I
wished I’d rented one for Pompeii the previous day.
There are 47 major sites here, and I can’t possibly get through all
of them, but let me give you some of the highlights that I found most
interesting.

The gymnasium is enormous, and this shows just one wing of the place.
 The columns on the right opened onto a huge central square, where
games and gladiator fights took place while spectators crowded on the
sides.  Notice again, how the modern town sits right on top.

Domestic goddesses, behold!  A well-preserved clothes press (a huge
iron, basically).  The clothes were folded (into pleats?), laid between
the two planes at the bottom, and then the top plane was cranked down
from above.

Unlike at Pompeii, Herculaneum has a surprising amount of wood still
intact, though charred to a near-petrified state.  This is the remains
of a front door.  Notice how it seems to be melded into the wall; maybe
the heat of the pyroclastic flow sealed them together?

Here, a wonderfully preserved mosaic frieze in vivid blues and reds,
adorns the fountain in a small courtyard.  (The Romans loved their green
spaces and almost all the houses had at least one, squeezed even in the
smallest alcoves.)  The fountainhead is in the lower center, while the
upper section is a big cistern that held the water that flowed through
the fountain with the help of gravity.  I would guess that the cistern
caught rainwater for this purpose, but I don’t know if it was
supplemented with other water sources.  I believe the recesses on left
and right used to hold statues.  The top cistern is decorated with
masks; these kinds of details are much better preserved in Herculaneum
than in Pompeii.

On a wall in the Casa Sannitica, I was taken with this partially
destroyed wall fresco, where the layers are visible.  In the grey
section on the left, you can see how the fresco’s design was scored into
the plaster.  I don’t know how this helped when the next layer of
plaster went over it…a wee bit of an oversight there, Roman artisans.
 Geez.

There was just enough time to head up to Mount Vesuvius before the sun
sank for the night.  I drove several windy, switchbacked miles past
hotel after hotel, restaurant after restaurant, even nightclubs clinging
to the side of the mountain!  Alas, when I got to the place where road
becomes walking path (the last half mile or so to the summit), the path
was closed and I could go no further.  Maybe because of the snow on the
mountaintop?


Today I visited probably the most famous site in southern Italy:
Pompeii.  Bustling city of 20,000, reduced to a barren, lifeless pile of
flaming ash on August 24, 79 A.D.  Rediscovered in the 1500’s,
excavation started in the 1700’s and still goes on today.  Those are the
facts…and I’m not sure where to begin on the rest of my experience
there.
The city itself is overwhelming, and seems to go on for miles even
though it’s only 163 acres, about a quarter of a square mile, in size.
 (For Sacramentans, compare with the downtown railyards area, which is
240 acres.)  I wandered happily through the streets for six nonstop
hours, guidebooks and map in hand, the total tourist.  Not my usual
M.O., as I generally prefer to “be a traveler, not a tourist”
but there’s just so much to learn in and about Pompeii, I wanted to
wring the day dry and get as much juice as possible.  As a result,
there’s far too much to share here, but I’ll see what I can do.
For starters, let’s say that this picture represents at least 50% of what I saw today:

Roofless ruins of small rooms stacked behind one another, shards of
pots or columns or table legs here and there.  And ancient green plastic
garbage bags…wait, how’d that get there?  Dang it…oh well, that’s my
best picture of a general Pompeiian view, so I’m sticking with it.
March was a great time to visit the site; despite the clouds and wind
it was a very comfortable day in the mid-60’s, and there were
relatively few visitors.  I arrived at 10am and walked right through the
turnstiles at the Porto Marina entrance.  Once again Rick Steves’
self-guided tour oriented me immediately.  Some of the most famous sites
in Pompeii were closed for restoration, including the Casa Dei Vetti
(the most well-preserved private dwelling) and the Brothel with its
famous erotic artwork.  What??  Le sigh.  Here, therefore, are some highlights of my PG-rated trip to Pompeii.


From Trip: Rediscovery trip
By: PaulinaVallejo

5th of April

 

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