3 October '05, Monday.
Herculaneum, smaller, less ruined, lacks the "grandeur, and is less famous than Pompeii, but it came out of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in much better shape. As I mentioned in yesterdays journal, Herculaneum was destroyed in the same eruption of Mt Vesuvius as Pompeii. The major difference was that Herculaneum was completely covered by a red-hot avalanche, or pyroclastic flow, that sped down the mountain at over 100 miles an hour. In about 4 minutes it completely over-took Herculaneum and buried it in nearly 60 feet of hot mud. In cooling, it turned almost to stone, and froze the moment in time. Again, like Pompeii, Herculaneum was a small seaport, but now the sea has recessed about 1/2 mile out. Because of the type of covering and the speed of it, there are more buildings that are intact, with a lot of detail, just as they were in 79AD and before. As we looked down into the base of the mud wall and the revived site, we could see the arched areas that were the boat houses. From that point, it was all rising up the hill from the shore. Some of the buildings were single story, and many others were as much as 3. A funny thing that Louise pointed out to me, was "if you look at the "ruins" and then follow upward into the town of Ercolano it is hard to tell where Herculaneum ends and Erolano starts". From the style, color, and feel, it is like they are still "one". As Herculaneum is much smaller, it only took us about an hour and a half and we were heading to the train again. This time we were heading into Naples. First, I've just got to say, "this is the dirtiest cities we have been in" !!! Not only the city of Naples, but all the surounding areas as well...trash of ALL types, graffiti everywhere, smells, "old", ... Now having said that, when we arrived in the city center we found nothing has changed from what I have just pointed out, but it came "alive". This is the most "Italian" city we have or probably will enter. Everything is "Italian", and that is wonderful !!! They wear their lives on the sleeves. You always know where you stand, and it is mostly just where you want to be. There is no doubt, they do have areas where you don't want to be on a dark night and by yourself, but they also have some of the most colorful and delightful "streets" (I would call them skinny alley's). The trains are very plain, dirty, painted with every color and design of graffiti, noisey as hell, shakes like it is going off the tracks, and harbors every type of individual you can imagine on each car...yet, they have a feeling of "your safe"... Now I do know that they have a lot of people out there looking for the "easy pick", but if you keep your self "aware", chances are you will be just fine. Arriving in Naples by train, riding the esculators up for ever, walking in corradors that have half the lamps burned out, and finally finding yourself outside and every car, vespa, and bus trying to run you down...hell, aint it great !!! You learn to addapt real quick. Red lights mean nothing to those that want to go, and that is just about everyone in a vehicle and vespa. Crossing a street reminds us of Cairo...it takes guts and street smarts... otherwise, make sure that you have a "local" on the on-coming side as you keep pace with them as they cross. That way, if someone gets hit, it unfortunately, will be them first. We pulled out a "walking tour" in one of Rick Steves books and headed out. Unfortunately we were wondering through Naples in the rain. We were dressed for it, but it would have been nice to not have the rain. We walked our legs off, and had a good time doing it. I was not really looking forward to seeing another "big" city, but I'm glad we did. We saw some incredible buildings, most from the very early to late 1800's . The Piazza Principe Umbrerto, the Galleria Umbrerto II, the Palace, and the Castle Nuovo are some of the most interesting stuctures I have ever seen...absolutely wonderful !!! We also found one of R.S.'s favorite haunts for "special treats"...it's called Gambrinus. They have some very fancy delicasies of which I had to try two...all I can say is THANKS R.S. !!! It's getting dark and we've got to catch our pumkin back to Pompei. It is amazing how when you just seem to be getting the hang of things, they turn right around and kick you in the butt. We "thought" we caught the right train, but we didn't...it fortunately went in the right direction for about 6 or 7 stops, and then it stopped...we still had a long way to go, and it stops??? Well another train came along, so we jumped on...things are good...wait a minute, it just felt like we took a turn to the left and we should be going straight...hell, we've got to get off. A half hour later, we were heading back to the last station and looking for a train to carry us to Pompei. Making a shorter story of this, about an hour and a half later and we finally were walking down the path towards our campground...and dead tired !!! Tomorrow...The bus ride along the Amalfi Coast
Herculaneum, smaller, less ruined, lacks the "grandeur, and is less famous than Pompeii, but it came out of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in much better shape. As I mentioned in yesterdays journal, Herculaneum was destroyed in the same eruption of Mt Vesuvius as Pompeii. The major difference was that Herculaneum was completely covered by a red-hot avalanche, or pyroclastic flow, that sped down the mountain at over 100 miles an hour. In about 4 minutes it completely over-took Herculaneum and buried it in nearly 60 feet of hot mud. In cooling, it turned almost to stone, and froze the moment in time. Again, like Pompeii, Herculaneum was a small seaport, but now the sea has recessed about 1/2 mile out. Because of the type of covering and the speed of it, there are more buildings that are intact, with a lot of detail, just as they were in 79AD and before. As we looked down into the base of the mud wall and the revived site, we could see the arched areas that were the boat houses. From that point, it was all rising up the hill from the shore. Some of the buildings were single story, and many others were as much as 3. A funny thing that Louise pointed out to me, was "if you look at the "ruins" and then follow upward into the town of Ercolano it is hard to tell where Herculaneum ends and Erolano starts". From the style, color, and feel, it is like they are still "one". As Herculaneum is much smaller, it only took us about an hour and a half and we were heading to the train again. This time we were heading into Naples. First, I've just got to say, "this is the dirtiest cities we have been in" !!! Not only the city of Naples, but all the surounding areas as well...trash of ALL types, graffiti everywhere, smells, "old", ... Now having said that, when we arrived in the city center we found nothing has changed from what I have just pointed out, but it came "alive". This is the most "Italian" city we have or probably will enter. Everything is "Italian", and that is wonderful !!! They wear their lives on the sleeves. You always know where you stand, and it is mostly just where you want to be. There is no doubt, they do have areas where you don't want to be on a dark night and by yourself, but they also have some of the most colorful and delightful "streets" (I would call them skinny alley's). The trains are very plain, dirty, painted with every color and design of graffiti, noisey as hell, shakes like it is going off the tracks, and harbors every type of individual you can imagine on each car...yet, they have a feeling of "your safe"... Now I do know that they have a lot of people out there looking for the "easy pick", but if you keep your self "aware", chances are you will be just fine. Arriving in Naples by train, riding the esculators up for ever, walking in corradors that have half the lamps burned out, and finally finding yourself outside and every car, vespa, and bus trying to run you down...hell, aint it great !!! You learn to addapt real quick. Red lights mean nothing to those that want to go, and that is just about everyone in a vehicle and vespa. Crossing a street reminds us of Cairo...it takes guts and street smarts... otherwise, make sure that you have a "local" on the on-coming side as you keep pace with them as they cross. That way, if someone gets hit, it unfortunately, will be them first. We pulled out a "walking tour" in one of Rick Steves books and headed out. Unfortunately we were wondering through Naples in the rain. We were dressed for it, but it would have been nice to not have the rain. We walked our legs off, and had a good time doing it. I was not really looking forward to seeing another "big" city, but I'm glad we did. We saw some incredible buildings, most from the very early to late 1800's . The Piazza Principe Umbrerto, the Galleria Umbrerto II, the Palace, and the Castle Nuovo are some of the most interesting stuctures I have ever seen...absolutely wonderful !!! We also found one of R.S.'s favorite haunts for "special treats"...it's called Gambrinus. They have some very fancy delicasies of which I had to try two...all I can say is THANKS R.S. !!! It's getting dark and we've got to catch our pumkin back to Pompei. It is amazing how when you just seem to be getting the hang of things, they turn right around and kick you in the butt. We "thought" we caught the right train, but we didn't...it fortunately went in the right direction for about 6 or 7 stops, and then it stopped...we still had a long way to go, and it stops??? Well another train came along, so we jumped on...things are good...wait a minute, it just felt like we took a turn to the left and we should be going straight...hell, we've got to get off. A half hour later, we were heading back to the last station and looking for a train to carry us to Pompei. Making a shorter story of this, about an hour and a half later and we finally were walking down the path towards our campground...and dead tired !!! Tomorrow...The bus ride along the Amalfi Coast