Capri and surrounding sister lands, Part II.

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The second half of the weekend consisted of Positano, Amalfi, and the ruins of Pompeii.

On Saturday, we took the bus to Positano where Laurel and I sat on the beach for hours.

Ninety percent of the people on the beach were American kids traveling with and/or separate from the group we had come with. This made me a little irritable, as I was sick of hearing, “It’s like spring break!” or “Who likes whiskey?” as the throng of MTVites made their cocktails in empty soda bottles. I was thrilled when it was time to catch the ferry to the Amalfi. Luckliy, the herd stayed behind.

Amalfi was beautiful, but we unfortunately only had about 45 minutes there. When we arrived, a group of guys were playing a crazy water sport with kayaks. Laurel and I strolled around the town the whole time, and I picked up a souvenir for a sister. I was elated in Amalfi. There were minimal tourists, it was quaint, it seemed less exploited than other coastal towns, the shops seemed more authentically Italian, and a few older women I saw reminded me of Nanny Ida. I wish I could have stayed there all day.

There was a beautiful sunset on the way back to Sorrento. When we got to Sorrento, Laurel bought me a birthday dinner at the campsite’s restaurant, and we then went back to our cabin with a bottle of wine. Our German neighbors were hanging out on their porch as usual, and we stopped to chat with them (I failed to mention that earlier, we walked onto their porch and almost accidentally went into their cabin, thinking it was ours, while they watched us and laughed from their other cabin. I also failed to mention that, earlier, they asked us for a corkscrew and when we couldn’t deliver, we essentially mutilated their cork trying to push it, unsuccessfully, into the bottle). We ended up hanging out with the German boys late into the night (I only remember the names Sebastian and Stefan), which made my birthday! It was fascinating. We talked about music, politics, cultural differences, stereotypes and assumptions, and traveling. It was a lot of fun. Afterward, we went to bed and were to drive to Pompeii on Sunday.

Pompeii was amazing! The brief story: Pompeii was a functioning town between the 7th century BC and the 1st century. In the 4th century, it had become a Roman city. On August 24, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius, the nearby volcano, erupted and buried Pompeii in 19-23 feet of sediment and volcanic ash. The city had been destroyed, abandoned, and forgotten. However, because it was ash and not lava that covered the city, everything, including bodies, had remained intact. Pompeii was only rediscovered in 1599 and had begun to be unearthed in only 1748, so it would be 1,827 years until the city saw the light of day again.

The drive to Pompeii, with Mount Vesuvius in the distance.

The ruins and the beast.

An amphitheater. There was also a larger amphitheater in the ruins that the modern-day city of Pompeii uses for plays on certain nights in August.

Within the ruins remained a brothel that visitors could walk through. It was fascinating. Our guide explained that there were frescoes (wall paintings) with sexual imagery so that patrons could point to the painting that indicated what they wanted, and off they went. The rooms were small with beds made of stone, but they most likely would have had hay on top for comfort.

Streets of the old city. The circular blocks in the road are stepping stones created purposefully so that when it rained heavily and the streets would run with water, people could step along these to cross the street.

Divots in the road, worn away from centuries of wagon wheels. Wagons were also tall enough to go over the stepping stones.

A wine shop. The wine would sit in the terra cotta pots that are sunk into the counter.

An ancient bakery with a brick oven. Preserved bread from Pompeii is housed in the archaeological museum in Naples.

Here is part of Pompeii that is still buried. Three fourths of the city has been excavated, and one fourth remains. The project continues.

The interior of the house of a wealthy person.

Frescoes in the doorway of the same house.

Centuries and centuries ago, the ingenious Romans had running water. These are original lead pipes that carried water throughout the city. An American archaeologist discovered that the people of the town did not get lead poisoning because the water was so rich with calcium that the calcium clogged the pores in the lead, shielding it from the water.

A mantle in the indoor garden of another house.

A fresco on the wall of the garden. The painting was supposed to the surrogate for an actual vista.

A detail for texture of the remains of another fresco.

Standing in an intersection, this is the view to the left.

And to the right.

A ‘Beware of dog’ mosaic designed into the ground of the entrance to a house.

We eventually got to a storage unit where we could see artifacts.

As the volcanic ash settled on Pompeii, thousands of inhabitants that didn’t evacuate died from suffocation and toxins. The ash hardened before the bodies decayed, leaving a mold of the victim’s forms. Plaster of Paris was invented sometime during the excavations, and from that point on, plaster was poured into the cavity that the decayed body left behind, encasing the preserved skeletons, and creating forms of the victims exactly as they had died. Over 200 casts have been made, most of which are housed in the archaeological museum in Naples. However, we were able to see some bodies at the ruins.

A pregnant woman shielding her face.

The city’s forum. The floor of the entire forum was originally marble tile. However, in very early excavation, as with many discoveries of the sort in earlier centuries, material like marble was collected from the site and recycled for their present marble needs.

Part of a site that shows that the excavation of the ruins is still a work in progress.

I loved Pompeii, every single detail was fascinating.
The End.

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