Campania

This weekend, I headed south to the province of Campania to visit Naples, Herculaneum, Pompeii and the island of Capri. The weekend started early yesterday morning. I left Rome at about 6:30 AM via train to Naples. About 3 hours later, I arrived and headed straight to the Naples Archaeological Museum, which houses many of the finest artifacts in all of Rome. Many of the statues in the museum had previously aligned the enormous Baths of Caracalla in Rome, which I will visit this Tuesday. Also, it houses the finds of the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Some of my favorite statues are that of Weary Herakles and the gigantic Farnese Bull. Upstairs housed the erotic collection found at Pompeii, having many illicit images and statues of phalluses and fornication. By far my favorite item of the museum was the Mosaic of the Battle of Issus, showing Alexander the Great's defeat of the Persian army in 332 BC. After I left the museum, I hopped on another train heading southbound to Herculaneum. Before I visited the site, I took a bus up to the foothills of Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano which erupted in 79 AD and covered both Pompeii and Herculaneum, which aided in their preservation. It took me about 90 minutes, but I hiked up Mt. Vesuvius and had one of the greatest views of the Bay of Naples. Then, I returned to the bus, which took me back to Herculaneum to explore the site. Herculaneum was marvelous. I'm not a geologist, so I don't know the exact reason, but Herculaneum was covered in a type of ash different from that of Pompeii, allowing some of the multi-storey buildings to stay intact. The site basically allowed free roaming throughout the houses. Herculaneum attracts much less tourists than Pompeii, so it was quite peaceful. Also, Herculaneum was one of the richer cities of ancient Rome, so the buildings and their statues reflected that. The people of Herculaneum must have been able to exact from the eruption, because no skeletons were found on site. After several hours of exploration, I called it a day and took the train southbound for about a half-hour to Sorrento to stay the night. From the balcony of my hotel room, I had an absolutely gorgeous view of the island of Capri, which was to be my next stop. This morning, I took a ferry about 30 minutes to the beautiful island of Capri. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to check out the breathtaking (so I've heard) blue grotto, because I was rushed for time, and the line is always outrageous. Alas, maybe on my next trip back! Anyway, I did take the 2.5 mile hike uphill to see Villa Jovis, which was the emperor Claudius' famous palace of debauchery that he retired to at the end of his life. It's even said that he threw people off of the steep cliffs just for fun in front of the young Caligula, which would have definitely been a major factor in Caligula's later craziness. Anyway, the view of the island from Villa Jovis was just amazing. Then, I preceeded back towards the ferry and made my way back to Sorrento to catch a train to Pompeii. When I arrived, I was completely taken aback by its sheer size. I've read about it and heard many stories, but nothing at all compares to witnessing Pompeii in person. Walking through the winding streets, I was able to imagine myself as a Roman. The site allowed for that level of realism, well besides from the massive groups of tourists who interrupted all of my pictures. Just like the Colosseum and the Athenian Acropolis, Pompeii is a must-see for all people, no matter what their interest level or understanding of what their witnessing may be. Among my favorites, as is with so many others due to the massive line I waited in, was the Lupenare, the main brothel of Pompeii. Although it was the main one, there were at least a dozen more scattered throughout the city. Couple that with the artifacts displayed in the museum, and its easy to see why so many view Pompeii as being the sex capital of Rome. However, I tend to believe the Romans were just naturally sexual beings not just those from Pompeii. Anyway, the Lupenare had wall-paintings of all the different sexual positions, which were on the "menu". Then, I went to see the Garden of the Bodies, which had casts of some of the original bodies found during excavations. These people of Pompeii all died instantly without prior knowledge that a volcanic eruption was going to happen. Thus, we have a snapshot into the everyday happenings of a Roman city. Before I left for Rome, I grabbed dinner at a local pizzeria in Naples and had one of the best pizzas I've ever consumed. Naples is the birthplace of Pizza, and apparently they still know how to do it right after several centuries!