Thursday, February 28, 2019

First Impressions of Rome

We woke up today and started our journey to our final holiday destination - Rome! A 2.5hr train trip with a change of trains in Naples. Once at Rome Termini, we made our way to the metro line B heading to Laurentina. We'd chatted to the girls about safety and being aware of who is around you in relation to pickpockets without trying to freak them out too much.

After standing in a line for over 30mins, we finally purchased our metro tickets only to emerge from the office to a woman screaming and several guys running towards the commotion taking place. We looked up in the direction but couldn't actually see anything and the yelling had ceased. Initially we had thought that someone was being assaulted but then realised that lady had had her bag stolen. If the girls weren't scared before they were now. Not the best of introductions to Rome, hopefully it would get better.

Exiting the metro at Colosseo, we skirted around the majestic Colosseum while being bombarded by guys trying to sell us selfie sticks, tours, bottles of water and trinkets. Our host let us into the apartment even though it was still being cleaned which was nice. We recovered from our morning's journey and had lunch before heading out to explore.

Wandering down via dei Fori Imperiali with roman ruins everywhere was amazing but also fun especially seeing the many buskers - the man without a head, the floating genie, various musicians, the spray paint artists and the girls favourite the bubble man!





At Piazza Venezia, we admired an imposing beautiful white building which we later discover was a monument built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. Every street corner of Rome is filled with history. Across the road from the Victor Emmanuel II Monument is Trajen's Column, a free standing column famous for its spiral bas relief depicting the wars between the Romans and Dacians.

  

We were actually looking for the Time Elevator, a 3D movie about Rome. According to it's website - 

Anyone who enters into Time Elevator enters into the history of Rome, flies back in time to the legend of Romulus and Remus and the founding of the city, seeing victories and defeats, development and decline of the Roman Empire. And then later in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance with the events of the Popes until the Fascist period and the present day..

With memories of our fantastic experience at Edinburgh's Our Dynamic Earth, an interactive adventure of our earth, I was keen to give the Time Elevator a go. We booked into the next available session, giving us 30 mins to explore.

 Off we went again and just around the corner we bumped into the Trevi Foundation and lots of tourists! Man I was glad to be here in the low season. Couldn't imagine what this area is like in the middle of summer! The whistle police were on high alert, blowing their whistles loudly when a tourist stepped out of line. Amazing to think that this fountain depicting Neptune the god of the sea was completed in 1762. It's location marks the terminus fo the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct and is named on its position - at the junction of three roads (tre vie). We jostled amongst the other tourists and took a few snaps before retreating into a nearby gelato store.




Back to the Time Elevator, we were ushered into a small section of chairs, placed our headphones on and the lap bar lowered. The lights dimmed and we were off on our journey. As a movie played on the large three section screen, our chairs moved and occasional burst of air were felt to help create the allusion of flying. The girls enjoyed the movie and overall experience. Andy and I had higher expectations, so were a bit disappointed.



Leaving the Time Elevator, Andy took us on the higher road back to the apartment. As the sunset was setting, the light on and around the Colosseum was magical. Just a pity about the number of young African guys wanting to make friends in order to sell you something.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Pompeii Unearthed

Catching the circumvesuviana train to Pompeii Scavi, the closest station to the Parco Archelogico di Pompeii. Entering the park was easy, no queues and we were able to take in our backpacks - a bonus as it meant we could do a one way tour exiting through the gate at the other end of the park a short walk from our apartment.

Once inside, we looked for a picnic spot and found a great one which happened to be at the Forum. After eating, we planned our route based on the various itineraries. What an awesome orienteering area this would be!


On August 24th, 79 AD, Mt Vesuvius erupted burying Pompeii beneath 3 meters of ash, pumice and other volcanic debris. If the villagers didn't perish during the initial episode, then they were asphyxiated by pyroclastic material and heated gas (nuees aredentes) which reached the city walls by the morning of August 25th. Additional rains of ash and pyroclastic flows continued and eventually Pompeii was preserved under 7 meters of material for the next 17 centuries.  Pompeii was not the only city to vanish. The nearby villages of Herculaneum, Stabiae and Torre Annunziata were also destroyed. The city of Pompeii was rediscovered at the end of the 16th century but explorations only begun around 1748 continuing systematically throughout the 19th century.

The Pompeii archaeological site is huge spreading over 66 hectares - the city walls had a circumference of 3kms! During the excavations in 1858, the city was divided into neighbours and blocks. With Ella in charge of navigating, our tour began in neighbourhood #8 - highlights were Sanctuary of Venus and the Basilica.


A blocked path saw us back tracking to the Forum, the focal point of town in neighbourhood #7. Spread around the edges of the Forum we saw the Sanctuary of Apollo; Forum Granary - it was the fruit and vegetable markets but now houses over 9000 artefacts including lots of amazing terracotta crockery as well as a few preserved bodies that Katy was fascinated to see and the Temple of Jupiter with the majestic Mt Vesuvius in the background.

 


Through the Honorary arches we head for neighbour hood #6 to enter one of the largest houses in Pompeii, The House of Faun. A small statue of the dancing faun standing upon a nicely tiled area greets us as we step in. Further to the back of the residence, we admire the remnants of a mosaic floor picture displaying the battle between Alexander the Great and the Persian King Darius. Both of these pieces of art are copies with the originals on display in the National Archeological Museum of Naples.

 


After wrestling with the fragile map in the wind and folding it appropriately we continued. (Note to self - send Ella to Map-Folding 101 when we get home.) Our intended route has us returning into neighbourhood #7 one again however fencing for restoration work prevents us from doing this. By this stage, Ella was getting flustered with the wind and by having to reroute our course. We continue down via stabiana, hoping to access the areas of interest from the south and stumble across the House of Marcus Lucretius located in the adjacent neighbourhood #9. Paintings adorned the walls of a front room which opened out onto a small garden complete with waterfall and several statues. A great find which hadn't made it on to our list!

 


At the crossroads, we wander through the House of Sirico followed by the House of the Wounded Bear where we walked on a raised see through platform to admire the tiny mosaic floor tiles which led to a colourful mosaic fountain in a garden area with frescoed walls. Next still in neighbourhood #7, we entered the Stabian Baths - the public baths. Divided into mens and womens each area had a changing room followed by cold, warm and hot baths. Interestingly the mens were larger and more richly decorated.

  


Unable to download the recommended guidebook (the website was being updated), we relied on Andy to read about each area of interest from bookmarked sites on his phone as we arrived at that spot. Walking around the Stabian Baths, Katy and I lost Andy and Ella. They had already moved on and surveyed the next point of interest. Quickly Katy and I had a look in - not much to see except for a few small rooms containing stone beds. I pressured Andy for info on this one but he was elusive. Once the girls were out of earshot he told me that the Lupanar was a brothel!!

By this stage we'd been wandering around the ruins of Pompeii for 2.5 hours. The girls were beginning to loose interest and grumble. Into the eastern section of neighbourhood #8 we went to admire the Odeon and took the opportunity for a rest and snack. Large groups of tourists came and went. In a moment of quiet Ella put on a handstand show! Around the corner past the Gladiator Barracks and up some stairs we discovered the larger theatre.




Much of neighbourhood #1 was inaccessible from the east due to restoration works. Wandering along Via Dell'Abbondanza, we stuck our heads through the doorways of the House of Casca Longus; Fullery of Stephanus and the House of the Lararium of Achilles.




Crossing into neighbourhood #2 we saw the House of Octavius Quartio; House of the Venus Shell and the lovely Praedia of Giulia Felice - a villa type residence with an euripus a fountain characterised by a long channel lined with statues and architectural constructions.



Still in neighbourhood #2, we arrive at the amphitheatre, the oldest amongst those known in the Roman world. The amphitheatre had a capacity to hold 20,000 spectators.



 


After a quick toilet break, we made our way through the Necropolis of Nocera Gate - the cemetery with several burial monuments and back into neighbourhood #1 from the south. We found the Garden of the Fugitives - a peaceful place with a large glass cabinet tucked into the back corner. Inside the bodies of 13 victims that were found scattered amongst the vineyard. The quintessential image when one thinks of Pompeii. It is assumed that they had survived the initial eruption but were overcome by the pyroclastic flow while trying to find a way out of Nocera Gate. And that concluded our Pompeii tour.



To the Top of Mt Vesuvius

Yesterday we left Pitigliano early to drive the 380km to Nocera Inferiore where we were required to drop off Belle, our hire car. It was an interesting drive once we left the highway with cars seeming to do whatever they pleased so we were very glad to arrive without incident. From Europcar the station was a few hundred meters away. We boarded the train for Pompeii only 20km away. It was 4pm by this stage and we were all looking forward to getting to the apartment. Unfortunately we had an issue with check in when the host failed to turn up. After a few phone calls to various numbers, a guy standing in for our host showed up 45 mins later. We were relieved after a nervous wait - expecting the worst.

We only had one full day to explore Pompeii. Climbing Mt Vesuvius and visiting the ruins were both on our to do list. After some investigating these famous tourist attractions, we weren't't sure whether it was possible to see both in the one day.

Mt Vesuvius, the dormant volcano, is best known for its eruption in AD79 that led to the burial and destruction of Pompeii. There are a variety of options for visiting the cone of Mt Vesuvius - walking up, driving most of the way up, using public bus, organising a tour or the Vesuvio Express. Each had pro and cons and of course there was the issue that one might get to the top only to discover Mt Vesuvius was closed due to weather conditions. (Internet reviews advised us that tour operators wouldn't tell us of any closures until we had paid for tickets and driven to the gate.)



The day dawned bright and blue so weather conditions looked favourable to summit Mt Vesuvius. We caught the circumvesuviana train from Pompeii to Ercolano Scavi. There we purchased tickets for the Vesuvio Express - 20€ per person - 10€ for the bus trip up and down and 10€ for entry to the national park. The guy looked at Katy and said she could go free if she sat on one of our knees. We happily obliged. I was still nervous about the bus ride ahead with the potential of Ella getting car sick plus the weather at the top (even though when we purchased the tickets, the guy said it was ok and open).

I am in awe of our bus driver who negotiated the congested narrow roads before easily manoeuvring the bus around the hairpin bends. We arrived at the carpark adjacent to the national park entry gate some 25 minutes later and on disembarking we were under strict instructions to return to this spot by 11.45am for the return trip.

It was already pretty windy so we donned our windproof jackets and began towels up the dusty wide path enjoying the impressive views over Naples. To the north we could appreciate Mount Somma, the semicircular ridge, remnants of the old volcano from which Mt Vesuvius grew. Between Mount Somma and Mt Vesuvius is Valle del Gigante (Gaint's Valley). After a few switchbacks, the trail continued to steadily climb as the wind gusts increased in ferocity.


About 25 minutes later we arrived at the top and could peer over the fence into the crater! This crater, which was formed by the 1944 eruption, is massive - 300m deep and 610m across. Photos certainly don't do this volcano justice. Steam could be seen rising from various points on the crater walls. We continued on following the path around the edge of the crater to the other side. The wind was relentless - blustery and forceful whipping our hair everywhere. I wondered at what conditions would warrant the closure of the track. We didn't linger any longer than we needed to and I was glad to be descending back down towards the bus to escape the blustery conditions.
















Monday, February 25, 2019

Cascate Del Mulino

We set out today not sure what the day would bring. Our first point of call was Sovana, another tufo town 9km northwest from Pitigliano. Sovana is much smaller than Pitigliano. The girls were already hungry when we arrived, so we stopped at the only bakery in the main (and only) street and bought two biscuits of unknown ingredients. Ella's looked like an almond type cookie. It was delicious at first but then had a horrible bitter cherry aftertaste rendering it inedible. Meanwhile Katy chose a dense looking cake a type of panforte I think. It was ok but very heavy and sweet. We continued along the street before looping back around on a small dirt road to arrive at the square where we began. Ella and Katy dubbed this town as a failure - nothing to see and the world's worst bakery, but I thought it was nice and quaint.

The next destination on our list was Cascate del Mulino (Mill Falls) located near Saturnia - a town renown for its thermal spas, another 22km west of Sovana. Unfortunately we had forgotten to pack our bathers for the trip and so we had to improvised with undies, t-shirts and running shorts! Of course the girls were adamant they were not going to swim and to be honest we weren't sure if we would either! But I stuck by my motto - better to have them and not use them than not take them and wished we'd brought them!

We had a fantastic view of the the waterfall on the approach into Saturnia. The girls were instantly excited by what they saw!


These thermal waters are rich in minerals, they first flow to the surface at the nearby posh spa resort. From there, the 37 °C warm waters flow downstream through fields until it reaches the waterfall at Cascate del Mulino. The old building was once a mill, using the water source to power the grain mill. Nowdays, people come to this area to relax in the shimmering blue warm waters.


Beside the mill, the water gushes over a waterfall before cascading through a series of natural pools created by the deposition of cancerous rock (travertine) due to the precipitation of minerals from the water. We quickly stripped off, a bit self conscious of our lack of suitable swimmer attire and entered the water. Once submerged in the water we noticed that anything really goes here - a few of the other young ladies had also forgotten some of their swimwear, but they swam nonetheless, much to the shock of our girls!!

Anyway, our girls quickly disappeared, clambering over ledges to explore each of the pools and eventually the waterfall next to the mill. It was really relaxing to float or have a spa under a cascade while overlooking the Tuscany countryside in the beautiful sunshine. Needless to say we spent a long time bathing!