Day 11 Rome/Naples/Pompeii

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

We didn't have time to do anything in Rome before our train to Naples aside from getting some breakfast in the station. What did we eat? You guessed it, pastries again! It's very difficult in the cities we have visited to find a place that serves eggs for breakfast - even McDonalds didn't have the option! Our train to Naples was a regional train rather than one of the super speedy ones so our journey took about 2 hours.

Our first impression of Naples was... interesting. The city is pretty dirty - overflowing trash cans, garbage and cigarette butts littering the sidewalks, and graffiti everywhere. As we walked to our hotel, we learned you have to be very assertive when crossing the street. Cars will not stop for you and there are Vespas everywhere weaving in and out of traffic which can easily blindside you. We followed in the shadow of locals at first but then got the hang of it. Naples has even more of a South American vibe to it than Rome did. There are little family run shops lining the streets, specializing in everything from household goods to video games to frozen foods.

Our hotel is actually an apartment and it's giant. We have a slight view of Mt Vesuvius off in the distance from the bedroom balcony. Yet with all this space they still decided to make the shower only about six square feet. Anyway, we were fortunate enough to be able to check in early and then we immediately headed back to the train station to spend our afternoon in the ancient city of Pompeii. We rode on the cheap local train to get there - the Circumvesuviana. Finding the platform, acquiring the tickets, and surviving the ridiculously crowded train cars was quite the ordeal, but it was a fun adventure and it got us to Pompeii from Naples for just under 3 Euros each!

The city of Pompeii thrived from around 500 BC until 79 AD, when Mt Vesuvius erupted and covered the city in 30 feet of ash. The city was rediscovered in 1599, and excavations began in the mid-1700s. I didn't really know what to expect before our arrival, but my first impression was that it reminded me of a European version of Machu Picchu. Pompeii was so advanced for its time - they even had running water through their aqueducts. The walls of Pompeiians' homes were covered in frescoes (some still visible, many more extracted and preserved in the archaeological museum in Naples) and the floors were covered in mosaics. Just how much has been preserved is astounding. We saw fancy houses, the bakery, baths, toilets, the basilica, so much pottery!, theatres, and even a brothel including faded frescoes depicting the "services" offered therein. 

Good thing this isn't a Zelda game

I'm a star!

Ancient fast food restaurant

The only place we hit awful crowds was at the brothel - we somehow ended up smushed in the middle of several giant cruise ship tour groups - boooo! 

A couple other things stood out to me. First, the stone paving of the roads in Pompeii has not been replaced. As a result, there are many places where you can see deep grooves in the roads, worn down by the chariots driving through. 

Second, archaeologists were able to create plaster molds of several  of the Pompeiians who fell victim to the volcanic ash - seeing them in their death positions was a harrowing sight. 

Okay, on to happier things like pizza! We took the train back to Naples after finishing in Pompeii. Pizza was at the top of our agenda for dinner. Naples is the home of pizza and we went to the home of pizza within the home of pizza, L'antica Pizzeria da Michele. It's featured in the Michelin guide and claims to be the original pizza. There are only two options: pizza marinara (basically, pizza crust and marinara sauce, no cheese) and pizza margherita (tomato sauce and mozzarella with a touch of basil). Mark and I both opted for the margherita and brought it back to our apartment to eat for dinner. Naples pizza is more similar to U.S. pizza than in other parts of Italy - the crust is thick and chewy rather than crispy. We really enjoyed our pizza and the basil added a lovely touch!

Mark was pooped so we called it a day. We took our COVID tests with a certified guide online with the kits we had brought along (thanks, Abbott!) and are now officially cleared to fly back home in a couple days!