On Saturday, our last full day in Italy, we packed three historical sites into our itinerary.  In the morning we visited an ancient Roman amphitheater and a volcanic crater called Solfatara, both in Pozzouli. In the afternoon Sam went to the airport to pick up his now finacee (congratulations!!) Marianne, while the rest of us found our way to the archaeological sight of Pompeii.

Early Saturday morning Sam was able to lead us the three blocks from our hotel to the amphitheater in Pozzouli.  It’s the third largest Roman amphitheater in Italy, but if you weren’t looking for it, it would be easy to miss. It’s surrounded on all sides by modern-ish (built in the last century or so) apartment complexes.  Around the perimeter is a tall fence and trees, and the structure is built into the ground a little.  Its capacity was around 20,000 spectators, and it was built around 80 A.D., even older than the Metrodome, and Met Stadium put together!  (Maybe the new one will last longer).

The coolest part to me is that we were allowed to walk all over the amphitheater with very few barriers or roped-off sections.  In the lower level we could see the rooms used to house prisoners, gladiators, and wild animals.  There was an interesting system of trap doors and pulleys used to lift participants into the stadium with its remnants still visible today.  Surprisingly, there was only one other person visiting at the same time as us.

Solfatara is a little farther away, so Sam drove us up to the entrance, where, strangely, there is a campground.  I say strangely because as soon as we stepped out of the car, the rotten egg smell of sulfur was all around us.  I don’t know how anyone could think it’s healthy to sleep in area with that smell, but as we walked through we learned since ancient times people believed there were health benefits to breathing in lungs full of sulfur.  The volcano crater has been actively emitting steam and sulfur fumes since recorded history.  In the Greek and Roman times it was believed this was the entrance to Hades.  The crater is completely surrounded by the urban area, but remains a park because no one has been dumb enough (yet) to build a house on a volcano crater emitting sulfur fumes.  The crater area is a large barren plane, inhospitable to plant life. There are a couple fences around the bigger vents, but for the most part it is open and dangerous.  At one point Melissa, who was wearing sandals, said she could tell the ground suddenly had gotten hotter.  Luckily, though, no one fell into any vents.

From Solfatara, Sam drove us all to the airport where he would wait for Marianne to arrive, and the rest of us would navigate Italian public transport to Pompeii. Our first leg was a bus to the main train station, that at one point was driving in a lane with oncoming traffic on both sides of us.  It dropped us off in what looked like an empty lot.  Luckily there were two other Americans on the bus that let us follow them the two blocks, through a little bit sketchy looking of a neighborhood, to the train station.

The first thing we saw when we walked into the train station were ticket booths and automatic ticket machines.  You’d think this would be where you’d buy a ticket to Pompeii, but Sam had told us that there are two systems of trains and to go to Pompeii we have to find the ticket booths on the lower level.  The train to Pompeii leaves once an hour, and luckily we caught it just before it left.

Pompeii is probably the most famous archaeological site in the world.  It was a thriving resort city of the Roman Empire with approximately 11,000 inhabitants, until, in 79 A.D., the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted covering the city in ash, wiping it off the map.  Excavations didn’t begin until the 1700’s, and even today there are areas still buried, and tremendous amounts of knowledge still being learned.

After disembarking the train at the Pompeii station it was a half mile walk to the ruins.  Jim and Lee had visited the site before, and told us the first thing we should do, after getting a map, is decide what to see, because it is literally an entire city’s worth of sights.  We planned a path from the entrance near the amphitheater, down a main street, to an exit near the city’s forum.

The ancient amphitheater is slightly smaller than Pozzouli’s, but in much better condition.  In the center was a small temporary structure housing an exhibit of bodies excavated from the city.  It is a bit disturbing to see the suffering of their last moment of life, but humanizes the ruins to think of the people that lived and died there.

Our walking path took us through multiple houses, restaurants, and a bath house.  Similar to the amphitheater in Pozzouli, I was surprised at how free everyone is to walk through the ruins, with very little roped off or protected.  The guide book given to us at the entrance had a wealth of knowledge down even to who owned what house, and what they did for a living.  It never occurred to me that Romans had restaurants, so I thought that was interesting.  The restaurants were on the main street with counters, and big vases used to hold the meals.  Other cool things were the plaster, paint, and frescoes still on walls, and that they had plumbing systems for the houses and bath house.  Walking around I couldn’t help thinking that Pompeii is probably still better looking and more advanced than some parts of the world.

The walk through Pompeii was hot and sunny, without much shade, so after exiting we found a cafe to rest at before making our way back to the train station.  We took trains all the way back to Pozzouli, only having to make one confusing transfer at the main station in Naples.

Back at the hotel we met Marianne for the first time, and had fun getting to know her. (We can let the rest of the Diedricks know she’s alright if we see them first).   For dinner we found a pizzeria by the waterfront, then had some authentic Italian gelato, and finished the night with limoncello on the hotel terrace.

On Sunday our flight left at 10:30 a.m. and on the way back we flew very close to Mont Blanc.  Sam’s job in Naples is short term and almost over, but if he ever decides to move back, it would be great to visit again.

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