Dear reader–
Welcome to the travel edition of this blog. This weekend, I traveled a great deal, visiting Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, and an amazing hike called the Path of the Gods. Without further ado, I present pictures and anecdotes for your viewing pleasure.
Pompeii:
We visited Pompeii on Friday. Our tour guide was an archaeology professor at Sant’Anna who has worked as an archaeologist at Pompeii for nearly a decade.
Before the eruption, Pompeii was a thriving Roman city. It covered more than 60 acres of land. So far, we’ve only unearthed about 40. According to our guide, it will take centuries to finish all the excavations. A single building can take decades to unearth.
This photo may not look like much, but that low wall you see is the old dock of Pompeii. It used to be a coastal town, but the explosion filled the sea with rock and so moved the coast several miles away.
Archaeologists have so far found 89 of these “fast food shops” that would have served a kind of vegetable soup to the inhabitants who were out and about.
We visited this arena and a smaller amphitheater. Both had an acoustic “sweet spot” in the center. When you stand there and talk, you sound as though you are using a microphone. I do not exaggerate.
This painting, found in the dining room of one of the richest houses in Pompeii, has not been restored. The original colors are faded but preserved.
The “bodies” seen here (from behind glass, hence the reflection of my hand in the picture) are actually plaster casts. When the inhabitants died, their bodes were buried under the ash. Eventually, the soft tissue decayed, leaving an empty space in the rock. Archaeologists fill in these empty spaces with plaster to create a cast, as you see here. Even though these were not the actual bodies, seeing the casts was still very shocking. It was a reminder that Pompeii, while an archaeologist’s dream, was also a tragedy. These people died as they tried to escape. The place where they were found is called “The Garden of the Fugitives.”
Mount Vesuvius:
Saturday was dedicated to Vesuvius. We took a bus most of the way up, then walked the last stretch. Yes, it is still an active volcano.
Path of the Gods:
The Path of the Gods (in Italain, “Il Sentiero degli Dei”) is one of the most beautiful hikes in all of Italy. It is also not for the faint of heart. The path leads across the top of the massive hills that border the coastline. It starts in (or rather, above) the town of Amalfi and ends outside the town of Positano. (You may recognize these names. They are generally used as synonyms for “the most beautiful places on earth.”) From that great height, one has stunning views of lushly vegetated cliffs and the Mediterranean Sea.
We began our trek early, departing on the 8:30 bus. Between riding in buses, changing buses, and waiting for buses, it was 12:30 before we started the hike itself. First, we stopped in the town of Amalfi. With some time to kill before our next bus left, we wandered into a town square. I turned a corner, and there in front of us was the Cathedral of Sant’Andrea.
It took my breath away. We were lucky enough to be able to spend some time admiring the interior as well.
Here you see one of my friends wearing a large piece of paper as a cape. In Italy, especially at the important churches, they prefer that women have their shoulders covered. They handed out these sheets of paper to women with bare shoulders so that they could go inside as well. I felt enormously under-dressed in my hiking clothes, but was fortunate enough to be allowed inside anyway.
While I was overjoyed to have the chance to explore the cathedral, the wait meant that we started hiking in the afternoon. The heat was intense. For these views, though, it was worth it.
At one point, we found large area that had been filled with stacks of rock. It seemed that, as people were hiking, they would stop here to leave their own little cairn as a memorial. It was surprisingly beautiful.
In all, the hike took about 3.5 hours to complete. We were all glad when we reached the little shop selling cold drinks at the end.
Then there were the stairs. We were on top of a small mountain, after all, and needed a way to get down to the bus stop. So we took “The Thousand Stairs” down to Positano. As it turned out, 1000 was a rough estimate. There were really about 1800 (we counted). I’ve never been so glad to get off of a staircase in my life. I pity the people whom we passed going up.
In all, it was a very adventurous weekend. I’m looking forward to getting back to the (much easier) schedule of classes during the week!
Until next time,
Beatrice