January 30, 2015 • 0

Pompeii and Herculaneum

The forum in Pompeii with Vesuvius in the background…it is still active

The ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum attract millions of visitors per year and with good reason – they are like stepping into a time machine. The two sites have similarities but as Herculaneum was a small, exclusive Roman resort town and Pompeii was a large, thriving city, visiting one is really not enough.

First, Herculaneum – easily reached by the Circumvesuviana train line from Naples, you get off at Erculano Scavi station and walk for ten minutes or so downhill, through the modern town, to the site. In fact, you can see the ruins from the raised walkway without even purchasing a ticket. The site is compact but I would still recommend hiring a guide in order to get the most out of your visit. We paid 40 euro for two hours with Carlos, an amazing man of 73 who had so many stories…he has guided for Meryl Streep and Jean Paul Getty junior…needless to say he was worth every penny. Guides are hired at the ticket office. There are also toilets here and a left luggage facility (free).

Highlights were the abundance of frescos (although the best, according to Carlos, are in the Naples museum), the amazing mosaics in the bath house and the clear wealth of the town. Unfortunately, most residents perished in the eruption, many bones can be seen in the marina area as people scrambled for the boats but were caught out before salvation.

Herculaneum from above…you can see it was once a port

A bakery

Houses usually had painted frescos on the walls

Back to Erculano station, make sure you board a train on the correct line, the one to Sorrento. The ruins are at Pompeii Scavi station. Once again there are toilets and a left luggage facility (also free) and many tourist stands. There are also a couple of nice, reasonably priced restaurants at the railway station..the calzone is highly recommended. We actually took a different line into the new town of Pompei (although it is right near the ruins and has an entrance gate, it is quite a walk up to the main area). We spent the night in the new town at a wonderful hotel, B&B Eco, enjoying the beautiful old church and quaint cobbled streets. It was good to recharge as we spent 4 hours in the ruins the next morning. Our hostess AnnaMaria, kindly drove us to the marina gate (this was handier for storing luggage and to catch the train on to Sorrento when we were done).

Once again, we decided to hire a guide, you can join a guided tour, team up with others or have the guide to yourself. The price is much higher than Herculaneum – around 120 euro for 2 hours, but our guide Nicolas has been guiding in Pompeii for 45 years (his clients include Danny de Vito and Bill Clinton) and was so knowledgable that we were happy to splurge. He took us to the amphitheatres, bath houses, bakeries, shops, brothels and many private homes both large and small before leaving us at the Forum with instructions to see the villa of mystery before we left.

Pompeii was a big town and it is easy to get a sense of the day to day life, so different to most ruins as usually they are the remains of monuments or buildings for the wealthy. This is like a snapshot in time. From the grooves worn into the roads from many years of chariots passing by, to the many public drinking fountains (many still working), to the fast food shops and advertising on the outsides of buildings, you feel a part of history for a short time.

Once we left our guide, we did indeed visit the villa of mystery only to find it full of renovators and therefore not accessible…still, we caught a glimpse of the most beautiful frescos. From here, rather than backtrack to the forum, we chose to walk around the outside of the ruins. Following a bike path that closely skirts the cit walls. Here there were fewer tourists and a some good vantage points over the entire site. We followed all the way to the arena, a very large stadium that could almost be put back into use, to the cemetery, with large crypts still standing as timeless reminders of past lives. From here we closed our circuit, arriving back at the first amphitheatre. An incredible place and one that should be on your bucket list.