Pompeii!!

It conjures up images of ancient Rome, of volcanoes....I've wanted to visit since I was a kid, and learned that most of what we know about the Roman empire was discovered from these pristine excavations. 

We took the 8am train from Sorrento,  and arrived at Pompeii Archaeological Park for its 8:30am opening. It was a gorgeous, though cold morning- about 30°F- but the utter lack of visitors aside from us and two small Japanese tour groups made the chill worth it. Ordinarily, Pompeii receives about 5 million visitors per year, mainly in July and August.  Frankly,  I think a crowded, hot summer visit sounds as much fun as stabbing my other eye out, so color me happy we toured the site in January. 

Pompeii is massive- it covers about 170 acres, yet most of the artifacts are still unexcavated underground. But what is excavated is pristine, spectacular, and not just a little overwhelming to see in a single day. 

In 79AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted for 18 straight hours, utterly obliterating Pompeii, which was an affluent, advanced metropolis of 15,000 people.   Ash 20 to 80 feet deep buried the city, and about 2,000 citizens who didn't evacuate. The ash and lava sealed the city from air and moisture,  preserving mosaics, frescoes, buildings, and even the bodies. 

Pompeii was rediscovered in the 18th century, and the find was so extraordinary that archaeologists invented a process to recover the decomposed bodies: The body's impression in the ash was filled with plaster, recreating people in their final moments.  It's eerie and tragic and fascinating. 

Simply put, this park is a treasure trove of history and architecture.

The park is separated into multiple sections, including the public forum, where the city's shops and civic life happened; the amphitheater on the edge of the city; the rich citizens' palazzos; the homes of the working class; and various shops and services.  

I'd be amiss here if I failed to mention Pompeii's most famous, trafficked shop: The brothel.  Apparently tourists flock to this house en masse to giggle over some phallic art, but frankly the place is incredibly small, and the best erotic art of Pompeii is cloistered away in the Naples Archaeological Museum. But penises!!

In the ritzy section, the volcanic preservation brought the rich folks' pads to vibrant life. They furnished their homes with intricate mosaics and bright, elaborate frescoes- most of which still exist in the house, or are kept in the Naples Archaeological Museum. A few years ago we visited the ruins of the Biblical city of Ephesus in Turkey, which I thought was the finest ancient city I'd seen.  With its unique preservation, Pompeii surpasses even that.

We spent about six hours exploring the site (even picnicking in the Forum, which was an amazing lunchtime  view). Even in the chill, we both managed sunburns. But it was an absolutely unforgettable experience. 

What an ash hole.