We left on Thursday night by bus and headed to our hostel in Sorrento. Our hostel was called Seven Hostel and it was amazing for a first hostel experience. We had a great time hanging out on the hostel's rooftop bar and terrace.
We woke up early on Friday and headed to Pompeii.
We had a choice of taking a guided tour of Pompeii, or just wandering around ourselves. I decided to take the guided tour, which was really beneficial. I learned so much.
Pompeii is the town that was utterly destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Surprisingly, there was no lava or magma when the volcano erupted; our guide informed us that it just rained ash over the entire city and covered the city 100 feet deep. The city was left alone for hundreds of years until someone decided to uncover it. When it was uncovered, the city was surprisngly intact. Many artifacts and even dead bodies were found. Houses were left untouched with paintings still inside. We even saw a brothel with stone beds and erotic paintings that stayed intact for hundreds of years. It's quite eerie to walk around, but very cool.
Remains of a fresco inside a house
Dead body filled with plaster to preserve it
Building preservedLater, we drove to Mount Vesuvius. Our bus was able to take us up to a landing point, but we had to walk up the steepest parts of the volcano from there. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did!
It took about thirty minutes to get to the top of the volcano. Interestingly enough, it was easier to walk up the volcano, than down. I slipped several times going down as it was very dusty and dirty and I was stupidly wearing flip flops (no one told me I'd be hiking up a volcano this weekend!) Overall, it was an awesome experience to have made it to the top of a volcano. It's something I never would have pictured myself doing (especially since I thought I'd be relaxing on a beach all weekend!) but I'm so glad to have done it.
On the way up the volcano
Erica and I made it to the top!Has anyone else ever been to Pompeii? Did you have a good experience there?
Posts
5 comments:
Ohh don't you love Sorrento? One of my favorite italian cities :)
Pompeii was interesting, thats for sure! The brothel was closed though when I was there and i was very disappointed. There's another site similar to Pompeii, called Herculaneum, that we tried going to but it ended up being closed. You might want to try to check that out, I heard thats pretty interesting as well.
Mt Vesuvius was awesome though! The climb was intense, and it was sooo hot the day i went (actually, i think i was out there at this exact time!). I got sooo sunburnt.
I'm so jealous of your travels in Italy. Can't wait to read more!
I also loved the guided tour of Pompeii. You learn so much more that way and the stories behind everything make it mean so much more.
But yes, climbing Mount Vesuvius was a pain!!! Of course we had to walk the steepest part. Ouch! It's too funny that we were there just days after you lol
I love me some Pompeii.
"Chris is Starving!"
prominence http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Polar-Monitors/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Popcorn-Machines/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Garage-Door-Openers/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Area-Rugs/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Omeprazole/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Vacuum-Cleaners/default.aspx http://blogs-new.bestfriends.org/members/Annuity-Calculator/default.aspx
Nice post. I love Amalfi coast, is something that I have never seen. It is narrow and is side to the cliffs. I am really happy that I got to see this hilarious, splendid, gorgeous and fascinating place.
Post a Comment