Day 2: Veni Vidi Vici (Ow my Legs)

Day Two brought a very early wake up - 5:30am (it's like I never left Youth Parliament) in order to be in the Piazza to hope on the bus for a full day tour of Pompeii and climbing of Mount Vesuvius. A three hour train trip each way with a stop halfway at the town of Casino wasn't a big problem for me, but it really was a long day. The tour guide, Mike, was excellent, very funny and knowledgeable. The most important thing that we learnt was that the reason Italy is shaped like a boot is because you can't fit all the stuff that's in Italy inside a shoe.

Our first stop on the tour (after the break at Casino) was Mount Vesuvius. It is gorgeous. Geographically and geologically fascinating - a series of craters from the previous eruptions. It is also the most dangerous active volcano in the world, simply because of the number of people living within it's danger zone. Fortunately, the scientists who study the mountain believe they can predict an eruption with up to two weeks notice. Lets just hope they are right.

The part we climbed, which was about a twenty minute walk up a 14 degree slope, was actually nicknamed baby Vesuvius. It is the new peak of the mountain that has grown from inside the crater that developed after the 79AD eruption that destroyed Pompeii. As can be seen from the photo, the crater created by the eruption in 79AD was HUGE and made for a very pretty landscape.

Those hills are the edge of the volcanic crater from 79AD

Course, I had a lot of trouble getting a photo of the view further up due to the clouds

The view was mist-ifying

The climb was pretty tough going, I didn't cruise up there - in fact, I was one of the first up to the top. Well, I didn't go all the way around the crater, because you didn't get a higher view, just a different angle. And it wasn't THAT exciting - look:

It's a hole! That occasionally has jets of steam. And may blow up.

Me at the crater edge

But I did make it to the "top" and as such, ensured I grabbed a postcard stamped to commemorate my achievement. On the way down you could hear a few rumbles and the ground shook a little. A casual reminder that every 2000 years Vesuvius has a spectacular eruption and the last time that happened was 79AD. You do the math.

After that, we went to Naples, who was the lucky winners in 79AD. Had the wind blow in a North East direction that day, instead of South West, Naples would be the ruins I would have been visiting, not Pompeii. So it was pizza for lunch. As someone who, unfortunately, can't eat cheese, I had the Marinara pizza which is literally just pizza sauce on the base and some oil. It was really good. That is something weird about Italian cooking - there is a whole pile of oil used. Even their salads are only dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it's an obsession.

Pompeii is an interesting place, because you THINK you know everything about it, when in reality you know nothing. Despite Hollywood and Doctor Who pretending that Vesuvius showered Pompeii in fire and everyone died quickly, the truth is much more horrifying. At 1:30pm, August 24 79AD, Vesuvius literally blew its top off. It is estimated to have been twice as wide and much much taller than it is today

Vesuvius today - missing its top and some width, apparently.

That all went in the eruption. The eruption was actually caused by a build up of steam as a result of an underground stream meeting the lava below. Witnesses describe a mushroom cloud appearing above the mountain as a result.

The first people who died were slaves and the poor, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they ran away - many to the beach where they drowned because of a tsunami. Those that went to their houses were relatively safe - until the ash and pumice debris started to fall like rain. For four days Pompeii was showered by this ash and rocks - in total 20 feet of debris which buried the town complete. It was relatively harmless, unless you were inside your house when the weight of the ash caused the roof the collapse.

The most lethal part of the eruption descended a few days after the explosion, when people thought they were safe. A cloud of sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide settled across the town, suffocating all inside. These bodies were then buried by the ash which solidified. When the bodies decomposed, they left cavities that allowed archaeologists to create plaster casts of the victims exactly how they died.

One of the more peaceful looking plaster casts

The famous dog - it was found chained up in a backyard

Because there was no burning of the town, the ruins are spectacular. It is as close to intact as we will ever find of 1st century roman civilization. It is a truly incredible place to visit. It's so intact, you can see the menu at one of the brothels, and the graffiti which proves that no one has matured in 2000 years.

After 2000 years, no one has matured

Brothel Menu (and some childish giggling)

Sadly, Pompeii was lost after the eruption. The rescue team sent from Rome could not find the ruins, because Pompeii was a port city, yet as a result of the eruption, the coast line had moved 2 miles out. People spent centuries searching the wrong place for the city because they didn't realise the huge geological impact such an eruption had. The ironic part of it is, the people had no idea of the danger of the mountain, yet their whole lives were adapted around the hard volcanic stone that was the foundation of the city (which resulted in unusual sewer systems to deal with the impossibility of cutting the stone.)

As a final meal in Rome, I again spent my time with Rotem and Rohan, as it was also their last night. My legs were aching from all the walking,  but today was only the beginning. The next day will bring a trip to the Vatican, climbing the Basilica and then a train ride away from Rome to Florence. Just as I have finally got the hang of the city. Still, another adventure awaits.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see the Pantheon due to a lack of time and I did not attempt the Trevi Fountain as I had heard it is currently undergoing renovations.  I did however get some evening time at the Spanish steps (they did not let me drive a Mini down them however).

View down the Spanish Steps (which are actually French)

I did promise photos from yesterday - so here is a selection:

My first gelato of the trip

2014 is the year of renovation - the Colosseum is being cleaned 

One of the many roman archways near the Colosseum

An ancient roman temple that was converted to a church. The green door is floating in space because the ground used to be that high - the flooding of the Tiber River hid the true vastness of the temple.