Travels with Alyx: Pompeii

July 8

I had no plans today except walking around Naples, but Lindsay had other ideas. She wanted to do something active since she didn’t yesterday in Messina. One of the very aggressive taxi drivers waiting outside of the port suggested Pompeii. For €70 round trip each we decided to take the offer since he said he would wait for us and bring us back and that we didn’t pay until after the trip was complete. It was a setup. He drove us to Pompeii, pointing out various places and points of interest during the drive. He pulled up in front of a tourist information office when we arrived in Pompeii and this is where the setup begins. I’m sure he has a deal with those particular people since he parked his cab in front of the office. Oddly enough, this is where I had my first taste of real Italian espresso, as there was a man giving out samples inside of the tourist office. (FYI- if you want regular coffee in Italy, you have to ask for cafe Americano or you will automatically get espresso.) We ended up paying €16 for a map and two radios that would provide us with information as we walked through the ruins of the city. Then we also had to pay €32 for tickets into the ruins. We saw many buildings in various stages of destruction. Some of the buildings still had original frescos, tile work, and columns.

Mural on the wall of one of the houses in Pompeii

Detail on the ceiling in one of the buildings

Mural on the exterior of a building

We also walked into the amphitheater where the gladiators once did battle, and into the gymnasium. The ground is black here because it’s all volcanic soil. Along the way we ran into Ross and Jay, who had taken a bus into Pompeii, but didn’t have the benefit of a map or radios so we walked together for a while to try to find the area where bodies were said to be preserved. We finally found it, but I was unimpressed. You couldn’t really tell they were bodies. There were also some bones that are preserved under glass.

Digging up bones!

We did some minor shopping in Pompeii, got some unsatisfying sandwiches that we didn’t really eat at a street shop and got back into the taxi with Vincente to come back to Naples. We asked that he drop us off in the main square, which is about five minutes away from the cruise port because Lindsay was still hungry. This is when we learned that because we had taken extra time on our tour we needed to pay more, even though he hadn’t actually given us a time limit, so we gave him €85 each and exited the cab. Naples is beautiful, but like so many other large Italian cities, very filthy with litter. Also -and this was evident the entire way to and from Pompeii— drivers here have no concern for their lives nor any one else’s. They zoom in and out of traffic with impunity. Overall Pompeii was interesting just because of the history, but that’s it. We spent approximately two hours there, and got to explore very little of the ruins. If you go, make sure you have plenty of time and plenty of water. And try to avoid the overly aggressive vendors. Naples itself is not something I’ll need to do again.