Pompeii

Okay, okay, I know that this is a blog about Rome, but how can a Classics student visit Italy and not see Pompeii? And how can anyone visit Pompeii and not fall in love? My day trip to Pompeii actually consisted of a visit to Mt. Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii. After an early train ride from Rome to Napoli Centrale, I had to get on a separate train that took tourists and locals alike from Naples onward to the Amalfi Coast. There is a little office right outside of the train station of Herculaneum, a hole in the wall that seems too shady to be anything other than a secret money-laundering front. There, you can buy tickets for the bus that takes you as far up Mount Vesuvius as you can get on wheels. The wait for the next bus-cum-van is a pleasant one, since the full noon sun is not up yet. When the bus does finally come, the driver is a swarthy Italian grandpa, who directs you with the authority of Mussolini to a seat.

The ride is gorgeous, if not bumpy and nauseating. Aside from seeing the locals on the outskirts of Naples, the ride up the volcano provides scenic views of the ocean and the Amalfi coastline. The sky above the coastal towns seem to shimmer and gleam, like the very essence of Italy seems to rise from the ground.

^^^View from Vesuvius (June 2009)^^^

All semblance of poetry disappears after the first ten minutes of trekking up Vesuvius. The only things to be concentrated on are breathing and putting one dusty shoe in front of the other. Occasionally, there are huge chunks missing from the wooden banister or from the trail itself. It is probably safe enough, but the ominous crunch of gravel each time you slip a little would strike fear into anyone. Up near the top, there is a little cabin, where one can purchase trinkets and postcards and jewelry crudely made from the igneous rock which the volcano spurts out every once in a while. I settle for a ice cold coke that costs me 3euro. A peep into the crater is disappointing. Twenty five minutes of near-vertical hiking for this? There isn't even smoke. Pompeii proves to be more promising.

The entrance to the ruins is ridiculously close to the train station. Not close enough, however, to render obsolete the long entourage of salesmen and merchants, hawking their overpriced wares. Need a map of Pompeii? Yours in every language imaginable, DVD included. Mind you, a DVD that won't work anywhere besides Italy, but that's beside the point, eh?

But the annoyances of modern day merchants dissipate upon exploring Pompeii. To call them ruins is an insult. There are still roofs and frescoes, beds and pillars, even fossilized loaves of bread. There are normal houses, and homes of the rich, whore houses and holy temples. You can even see the basic rudiments in an ancient bar. From the broken pillars of the forum, you can even see the hulking mass of Vesuvius, the bringer of death itself.

^^^Pompeii (June 2009)^^^

Despite the obvious years and the sense of fossilization which permeated the city, the most vivid memory I carry involves a dog very much alive. There are fountains located throughout Pompeii, where you can fill up a water bottle, wash your hands or wet your hat on a searingly hot day. There was a mangy dog sniffing around one, obviously a stray. He jumped up onto the ledge of the fountain, to try to reach the spigot. When he couldn't reach, he tried jumping up on the other side. In the end, I had to hold down the lever for him, so that he could drink. I think it is very cool, that even among the supposed ruins of a two millenia old city, there is life.

^^^Pompeii (June 2009)^^^