Pompeii

Pompeii needs no introduction.  A spectacular town south of Mount Vesuvius of approximately 20,000 inhabitants, the town had a sprawling market centre, 2 amphitheatres, a gladiator training centre and many properties even had their own olive groves and vineyards.

As Vesuvuis had never erupted in generations, the inhabitants had assumed it to be a large mountain.  As explained in my previous post, it was also much larger than it is today.  The earthquakes and tremors people felt did not have any significance to them as they didn't understand what was lurking on their doorstep.

If you can, make the effort to book an independent guide.  Many package tours allow for 2 hours and, when the place is busy, this simply isn't enough time to truly appreciate the splendour of this place.  A tour guide will set you back a few pounds, but they will give you an extra hour which I believe is well worth it, taking you to some places off the beaten track.  You're also free to wander at leisure afterwards, instead of being herded onto a bus to your next tourist enclave.

There are lots of little gems that you learn, from what all the rude drawings and statues represent, to the grooves in the shop doorways, to the meaning of some of the mosaic tile works and how the shops were laid out.

However, one of the eeriest things is seeing the plastercasts of the bodies; there is a whole section that explains it further, but in effect the teams could make out hollows where bodies had been, but only skeletons were found.  They filled these hollows with plaster and this gave them an idea of the positions of the people when they died.  You can see bits of skulls and teeth showing through as well, so while it is macabre it is also rather fascinating.  All I could think about was, what was going through their minds when they realised they couldn't escape from the rocks, poisonous gases and lava flows?

I really hope you get the chance to visit one day, if you've not been already.  I have far too many photos of the place, but here's a few of my personal favourites.

The next blog will start to visit the Amalfi Coast.  Until then, enjoy your travels.

More About Capri

One of the highlights of visiting Capri is going up in the chair lift.  You get stunning views across the island, across the Bay of Naples and back out to sea.  To get there, you must catch one of the regular buses up to AnaCapri, along the 'mama-mia' road which is named as such because of the sheer drops beneath you as the bus ascends.

The chair lifts are single person and look a touch scary if this is your first time, but there are people around to help you onto and off the lift at either end.  The views are spectacular, as you can see. 

If you like your walking, there are a couple of tracked routes available for you to descend back to AnaCapri.

There is a wonderful hidden garden with a stunning stone built gazebo.  I am sure the gardens looked far more spectacular at one time, but they have been neglected over time which is a real shame.  However it is still worth the diversion and views of the faraglioni fingers.

This was a very fitting end to our stay on the island, as we then headed off to the Amalfi Coast.

Next - a special feature on Pompeii.

Another useful link is Italy Heaven which has a page on Capri and getting around.

The Island Of Capri

Hello,

The island of Capri is wonderful and definitely worth a visit.  However, don't just settle for a day trip, as the place is heaving for much of the day.  Try and stay over for a night or two if you can.  My friend and I stayed in a lovely apartment which was part of the old monastery of AnaCapri and it was lovely.

We walked the Pizzolungo trail, which takes you past the famous arch and the Faraglioni (the three fingers)

This is a lovely trail, but there are over 270 steps to climb if you travel the wrong way round.  So we started from the centre of Capri town and headed straight for the arches, then followed the coastal path down towards the Grotto, past the pink house that looks like a large boat.

As you can see, the arch was undergoing maintenance when we visited - to prevent it from falling down they are pumping concrete into it.  It is a beautiful walk that takes a good couple of hours to complete, but it's well worth it.

You can also take a trip along the other side of the island, along the old walk of the forts.  They have all of these tiles that explain what wildlife you can find on the island, along with some history about the forts.  The trip is supposed to be 3.5 miles, but you spend so long reading the tiles that it takes much longer to traverse than you realise!

There is a little cactus garden hidden along the route, which is a pleasant surprise.  The scenery is stunning and sometimes you don't feel like you're on a Mediterranean island at all.

You know you're getting close to the end of the walk when you can see the lighthouse in the distance.  Ambling through the trees and looking down on small blue lagoons, the views are amazing and the walk well worth it.

We timed our walk so that we'd be able to chill out and watch the sun go down, before catching a bus back to Ani Capri for the night.  Another reason to stay the night, if you can.

We had planned to visit the blue lagoon, but due to the high tides it was not possible for us to go on this trip.

More about Capri to come on the next blog.


Some useful information can be found here.
http://www.capri.com/

Villa Oplontis - An Unexpected Gem

Hi readers,

Thanks for coming back to my blog to read about my holiday to Italy last September.

This time, I'm going to show you a little gem that my friend and I visited.  It is called the Villa Oplontis (or the Villa Poppaea) and has been so wonderfully preserved and restored that I guarantee that you won't be disappointed if you visit.  I could really imagine what it might have been like to live there.

We travelled from Sorrento to Torre Annunziata by train and it was a short walk from the station, which was clearly signposted.

The villa was lovely and peaceful with few visitors, which is what I think makes this such a gem.  As you walk down towards the villa you get a real feeling of its sheer size.  It's huge!

There are a number of frescoes on the walls from different time periods.  Some were found like this but others have been very carefully restored to give you a real glimpse of the beautiful decorations that adorned this property.

The house was built over two floors, so the people that lived here were wealthy.  It is thought that the villa had been damaged in an earlier earthquake back in AD62, with construction work being undertaken when the volcano finally erupted in AD79.

I love this central water collection area, which is believed to have had a fountain in the middle.  This would have been an impressive addition to any home.

There was a large square, possibly for a garden (shown top).  There was also space for what looks like some form of swimming pool or spa pool (bottom).  It is uncertain what this pool would have been used for, but I liked to imagine that the villa might have been home to a bunch of Gladiators and they used the villa for training purposes.  I may have watched far too much Spartacus, though!

They found these doors in the villa, which had been beautifully preserved in the lave mud flow.  They haven't been cleaned up as they would probably fall apart, but it gives you a real sense of the place.

They took a lot of effort to adorn the front of the property as well, with this façade being painted in a similar way to the indoor rooms.  It was absolutely stunning.

What gets me the most is that this property was almost completely engulfed in lave mud, ash and pretty much everything else a volcano has thrown at it.  Yet it has survived so spectacularly.

To read more about this and other villas in the area, please try this web page
http://www.oplontisproject.org/


Next Time: Walking Round Capri