Sorrento, Italy - Day 3

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

This morning, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I got moving early (for us), leaving our airbnb apartment by 8:30am. We made plans to visit Pompeii today, an ancient city that was destroyed in 79 AD when a nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted. No one but Andi was interested in eating breakfast before we left the apartment this morning as we all felt too stuffed from our big cooking class dinner last night. In fact, I had a belly ache all through the night from eating too much food.

The ancient city of Pompeii is located about halfway between Sorrento and Naples. Andi and I decided to take the Circumvesuviana train to get there since the train station is located two minutes from our apartment, and we’d read that the train stops right in front of the Pompeii archaeological site entrance.

Not exactly sure where we were going, or how long the lines would be, we arrived at the train station around 8:45am hoping to be on the train by 9:30am. Buying train tickets proved to be simple, and there weren’t nearly as many commuters as we expected to be on the train this morning. The kids were upset they had to stand the whole ride since all the seats were taken by other passengers, but other than that our journey went smoothly.

It was a 30-minute train ride from the Sorrento station to Pompeii. We planned to meet the guide that Andi hired to tour us through the Pompeii ruins at 10:00am, so we had about 30 minutes to wait until then. This gave us time to buy our entrance tickets to Pompeii and grab a coffee before it was time to begin.

Andi and I were a little confused as to where we should buy the entrance tickets to Pompeii. There were signs all over the bus station and outside the archaeological site advertising them, but what we came to realize is that all of those sites were setting tours with the tickets. We didn’t need a tour since we’d already booked one, and we wanted to make sure we weren’t charged for the kids as we’d read that children under 18 are free admission.

In the end, we figured out the best place to buy tickets to Pompeii was at the entrance of Pompeii — go figure! Sometimes, we overcomplicate things! But, in Andi and I’s defense, it wasn’t very clear with all those other vendors selling tickets, too. It cost €18/per adult for entrance into Pompeii; children under 18 years old are free. We worried we’d have to show some sort of documentation (that we didn’t have) to prove Tory and Aden were school-aged, but we didn’t.

With entrance tickets in hand, we still had about 15 minutes of extra time before our walking tour began. Andi wanted an espresso, so we sat down at one of the cafes across the street from the Pompeii entrance to wait. Surprisingly, it wasn’t ridiculously expensive for a coffee and a pastry. There was still a coperto charge of €2 because we sat down at a table. We overheard the waiter tell another customer that “no Italian would ever order an espresso before breakfast.” Oops! Guess we’ve been doing that wrong all week.

I found the Pompeii ruins to be really fascinating! We all did, actually (well, except for Aden who I think may have been a little young to fully grasp the history of the ancient city). Tory’s favorite school subject is history so she was really interested in our visit.

First of all, our tour guide was fantastic. Her English was super clear, and she spoke slowly enough that the kids could understand what she was saying. That’s a problem on many of the tours we take as Tory and Aden have a hard time interpreting the guide’s words through their foreign accents. I end up translating a lot of what is being said to them afterwards. It’s kind of a crap-shoot what kind of guide you’ll get though. You can read all the reviews you want, but it’s hard to really know what the person’s demeanor is like, or how quickly they speak. For this experience, Andi booked our two-hour tour through a website called Get Your Guide. It was a shared tour with three other couples and as I said, this tour guide happened to be great.

Our first stop inside Pompeii was the Porta Marina. In 79 AD, the Bay of Naples was right outside the city of Pompeii, making it an excellent location for commerce. (Today, the shores of the Bay of Naples are 6 miles away from here). The old port is still visible as visitors enter into the city gate and eerily enough, Mount Vesuvius looms in the background — the very volcano that erupted and covered the ancient city under 20 feet of ash and debris.

Inside the city gate on the main street of Pompeii, we passed by many stores. Archeologists know these entrances were businesses and not homes or other types of buildings, because there is a stone lip and track worn into the street where big doors were pulled open and closed. Pompeii was a large, bustling city at its peak with a population of 20,000 residents and additional visitors arriving daily from the sea port.

Close to the entrance of the city was the Basilica, which was the courthouse used to carry out city business and acts of justice. Its grand pillars made of tufa stone suggest where judges and a peanut gallery of courtroom observers may have sat. The stucco walls are made to look like large blocks of marble.

Our guide explained that the ancient ruins were heavily looted since their early discovery in the 1700 and 1800’s. Early archeologists attempted to rebuild or replicate the ancient buildings. Everything seen two-stories high is a replication, she said, as it would’ve all been leveled or covered up in debris from the volcanic eruption. The attempted re-build does give visitors an idea of what the structure might’ve looked like before the devastation.

Next, we visited Foro Civile di Pompei, or the Civil Forum. This is the “main square” of the city where all the regular happenings of life in Pompeii would have taken place. The floor of The Forum was covered in marble, though looting over the years has only left a few chunks remaining. On the north side of the square, parts of a temple remain where city residents worshipped the goddesses of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

Our tour guide said we were very lucky to be visiting Pompeii on such a sunny, beautiful day in March. During the peak summer months, she said there are so many tourists crowded into The Forum that you can’t even see what remains of the temple unless you’re standing right in front of it. Pompeii is one of the top tourist sites in Italy with 2.5 million people visiting annually.

Some things never change … Our tour guide pointed out lots of political propaganda around The Forum promoting the names of the two governors of the city. Basically, the messages said something to the effect of “remember who built this beautiful community space for you when it comes time to vote!”

On the northeast corner of The Forum is the Macellum, which was the city’s food market. I found this area to be particularly interesting because it was easy to imagine what this place looked like before the eruption. There are still red, blue, and gold paintings on the wall showing items for sale in the market — bread and fish, as well as more political propaganda. The center ring was used for the sale of fresh fish. Historians know this because fish bones were found in the soil. Archeological excavations also uncovered several jars and even food remains in this area. Interestingly, the jars have pointed bottoms so that they wouldn’t tip over on the ships as they traveled through this area.

There are two plaster casts of human remains on display in the Macellum. Our guide explained that archeologists discovered voids in the ash and debris, and had the idea to pour plaster into the empty spaces to take its shape. From this, we are able to see that those voids were people, and their exact positions when they died during the eruption — down to the small details of their fingers or pieces of their clothing. Many of the city’s 20,000 residents are thought to have escaped the catastrophe, but around 5,000 people perished in the eruption.

Over 91 different “restaurants” were found uncovered in the city of Pompeii. Imagine that homes wouldn’t have had running water or even kitchens to prepare food, so getting food “to go” would have been a pretty common thing to do in that time. Hot food and wine was served inside clay pots in the countertops. In one of the archeological remains, a menu board of sorts was discovered — written in Latin words. Prices for wine ranged from 2-10 Roman coins.

Another area of Pompeii that we found interesting were the bath houses. They were five different bath houses in Pompeii which signaled the prosperity of this community. Only the wealthiest would have had running water in their homes, so most people visited the bath houses every day for exercise and cleanliness. Exercise was very important to the Romans, with messages akin to “strong mind, strong bodies” found in writings and inscriptions on the walls. Inside the spa, there was a garden courtyard thought to be a space for exercising or socializing.

There was also a changing room with lockers to store belongings divided for men and women. So much detail in the bathhouse and a lot of original artwork on the walls and ceilings depicting images of cupid riding horses and other mythical symbols.

Believe it or not, the rooms of the bath houses were even heated using heated running water through the cavities in the wall. There were three rooms for bathing — cold, warm, and hot depending on how close to the fire room each bathing room was. It’s quite impressive to realize how developed this Roman society was for the time in history!

As developed of a society as they were in some aspects, other parts of living were quite primitive. There was no sewer system, so everything — water, sewer, animal waste. etc. — flowed through the streets of Pompeii. Stepping stones were necessary to cross the street without getting your feet soiled. Wagon and chariot tracks are still visible in the stone streets as well. Interestingly, the tracks are exactly 4 feet, 8.5 inches which is the same width that railroad tracks are today.

Only the wealthiest residents of Pompeii had running water, but there was an aquifer which pumped water into the city. There were several public water wells throughout city blocks. Overflow from these public fountains and rain water were the only way the streets were cleaned.

Unfortunately, the pipes which brought the water into the city were made of lead, and the people had no way of knowing at the time that lead was poisonous. Because of this, life expectancy at the time was only around 45 years old.

The final stop on our tour was the public amphitheatre. The Romans had it figured out — they kept all classes of citizens happy by providing them a little grain for food, and free access to the amphitheatre for entertainment. This entertainment greatly increased the social and economic status of the city.

Next to the amphitheatre was a gladiator practice field. Archeologists know this because they found lockers surrounding the field stocked with gladiator uniforms and equipment.

The walking tour concluded at this point, and the tour guide gave us a few more tips for exploring Pompeii on our own. The city is quite large, and it’d probably take three days to see it all by foot. There were other well-preserved sections we didnt see, like examples of homes and villas, more shops, and even a brothel. Andi and I felt like we covered the gist of it though, so we made our way to the exit. On our way out, we stopped into the Antiquarium to view some of the most recent archeological discoveries. Mostly, there were statues, some cups, and a plaster cast of a dog on a lease on display.

Around 1:00pm, the four of us exited the Pompeii Archeological Site and made our way to the train station. Three hours was a good amount of time to spend there. There was more to see if we wished, but Andi and I felt like we got a good sense of it all.

By 2:00pm, we were back in the neighborhood of our airbnb apartment. Andi suggested we either go to the grocery store to buy something to make for lunch, or go to the fast-food kebab place across the street from our house. The kids and I voted for the latter.

Unfortunately, our meals at the kebab restaurant were so disgusting we could barely eat them. Andi said the meat reminded him of the last meal he ate in Morocco before he got food poisoning. That’s what we get for eating something other than pasta and pizza in Italy. We ended up going to the grocery store afterward to buy something to make for dinner — meatballs, broccoli, green beans, and bread.

The kids and I did math & language arts when we got back to our airbnb around 3:00pm. They also journaled about the ruins of Pompeii. I was impressed by how much Tory learned and remembered. She wrote a detailed report about our visit. I helped Aden with his journal entry, and we talked in more detail about the historical place we’d just visited. I hope it made more sense to him afterwards.

Honestly, I was still full from last night’s dinner at the cooking class so I wasn’t very interested in making dinner. Andi was hungry though, so he prepared meatballs and veggies for he and the kids.

After dinner, he and Tory went for a walk while Aden and I stayed back at the apartment. Tory talked Andi into stopping at a gelato shop, of course, so they brought a cup of ice cream back for Aden to enjoy. Outside our apartment building a pop-up bar had set up shop & was attracting quite the crowd of noisy customers drinking on the street.

Tomorrow is a longer travel day as we are leaving Sorrento and going to the central Umbria Region of Italy via train. We plan to spend the weekend in Umbria touring the “green heart” of Italy.