While we were planning our Christmas vacation in Italy, I threw out the idea of Rome. Why? There was one particular reason: Pompeii. I had wanted to visit Pompeii since learning about it in school. Little Erika could never have imagined actually visiting.
Pompeii is about two-three hours from Rome. Even though my dad drove through northern Italy, we didn’t really want to take our chances down south. Even the driver in Rome said that in Rome they have “some rules”, but Naples has none. Instead, we decided to take a tour through a company.
It was an early start. We had to meet at our pick-up location at 7 AM, before the sun had even come up. Our tour guide was so nice and kept smiling the whole time, even when telling us it was 0 degrees (Celsius) outside. Unfortunately for us, though, it was really foggy as we drove through the countryside.
Sorrento
Our tour didn’t just stop in Pompeii. We went down to Sorrento, too. Sorrento is a REALLY cute, small town, which is part of the Amalfi Coast known for its colorful buildings and beautiful coastlines. It was still kind of cloudy when we were approaching Sorrento, but then the clouds started to lift, and we saw a bit of sun!
We only had two hours to explore Sorrento, but it was worth it. We walked through the narrow streets down to see the shoreline. Then, we made our way back up to the center of the town and walked down the busy shopping street. At one point, we stopped in a limoncello shop and they were constantly shoving samples of it down our throats. That’s some dedication!
As we were only there for two hours, I can’t give any major recommendations, except you have to see it for yourself. Sorrento was so charming, and I’d love to go back someday.
Pompeii
We then made our way back up toward Pompeii. Pompeii was actually just one of five towns destroyed on that day in 79 AD, but it was the largest. Pompeii was not discovered again until the middle of the 18thcentury when a farmer when to dig a well and found something even better than water underneath.
Pompeii is really incredible. Many things are still in fantastic condition. Most places don’t have roofs because they crumbled under the lava, but you can still see houses and other structures. The roads are the same from the first century – you can even see where the chariots passed through.
One thing I found extremely interesting was that they had “fast food”. There are tons of places with these giant bowl-type things which were used to get food in a hurry to take home. See! McDonald’s did not create the idea. We also walked through one of the old bath houses which is still in great condition. It reminded me of the sauna back in Finland.
Near the bath house is one of the molds of a person who had died. It is really quite amazing. Basically, the lava encased the body, but if they had removed the ash, it would have destroyed the body. So back in the 19thcentury, someone had the brilliant idea to pour plaster into the encasing to create a figure. Most of the figures are now travelling the world on a showcase. I believe as of January 2019, it is in Los Angeles.
The most popular part of Pompeii was the “red light district”. Apparently, sailors used to come up from the docks and needed some fun. But wait … there’s no port near Pompeii. Not anymore. However, after Vesuvius erupted, all of the lava and ash created more land, pushing the sea out further. They have just recently found the docks and hope to excavate it more soon.
Pompeii is huge, and we just saw one portion of it. It was absolutely amazing to see how they dealt with problems with the technology of their day. What I love most about Pompeii, though, is how much left there is to discover. I honestly hope to return one day and see some more of what Pompeii has to offer.
Returning to Rome
After a long day, we made our way north back toward Rome. Everyone on our bus was exhausted. Although the morning had been cloudy and cold, the day turned out to be quite nice and warm; a lovely respite from wearing winter coats the whole trip. As we drove back, we were able to see Vesuvius from the bottom all the way to the top, wondering if there will ever be another Pompeii again.
