We purchased our tickets, entered the site, and were immediately impressed by the size of the town. With the gorgeous view of Mt. Vesuvius in the background it is no wonder the unsuspecting citizens of Pompeii built their town here. It is also crazy to think that this town was a port town right on the Bay of Naples until the eruption from Mt. Vesuvius filled in the bay.
We used Rick Steves' walking tour to guide ourselves through the immense complex and definitely got a lot more out of the visit than if we'd walked through on our own. There is so much to see that I think it would have been beneficial to have a tour guide, but this made a good second option. For instance, we learned that these stones served two functions: 1) as crossing stones when the streets were flooded daily to clean them and 2) to indicate traffic flow: one stone was a one-way street, two stones a two-way street, and three stones was a busy thoroughfare. All chariots were manufactured with standard axle measurements so the wheels always fit around these stones!
We discovered that many Pompeiians did not cook in their small houses so there were fast food counters such as these all over. The holes in the counters held pots of food and there are still grooves in the stone doorways where the shop's accordion doors closed. Pretty neat!
We saw the House of the Fawn, and I was really glad we had made the sidetrip to Naples yesterday to see the original statue and mosaics.
We also visited the Forum Baths, which were cool. There were three parts that one would visit after working out at the attached gymnasium: the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). There were also separate sections for men and women. I most enjoyed learning about how the caldarium worked. There is a double floor, which you can see by peering down into one of the floor grates, and it was heated from below. There are also double walls with terra-cotta tiles that held the heat. The caldarium contained a large fountain on one end (pictured) that poured water onto the heated floor creating steam. In order to keep the condensation from dripping down onto peoples' heads, the ceiling was fluted, which carried the water down the walls. Such ingenuity!
We made it about 2/3 of the way through the walking tour before we began encountering large sections of the complex that were closed off for restoration and we were no longer able to continue the tour. It was probably a good thing though. It was noon by that time and getting quite warm and as we turned back onto the main thoroughfare we could not believe how crowded it had gotten! The number of tour groups must have increased by tenfold. So we decided that it was time to leave and headed back to the Circumvesuviana and back to Sorrento.
Before our trip we had been told by so many people that the island of Capri was incredible and not to be missed, so we decided to take the ferry across the bay for an afternoon visit. What we learned is that you really need a full day to experience it. The ferry ride is about 20 minutes each way (and rather expensive- €72 round-trip for two people!) and leaves about every 20 minutes. Our timing was off so we ended up waiting nearly 20 minutes to catch the next ferry. We had wanted to give ourselves as much time there as possible so we opted to eat lunch on Capri rather than before the boat ride. This may have been a good thing because I get very seasick, even on motion sickness medicine, but it also caused me to be on the verge of hangry when we arrived. Thus, we ate at one of the very touristy places right off the dock. I was so glad that I had ordered our food in Italian because we had the really upsetting experience of understanding that the waiters were yelling across the tables rudely making fun of another tourist. Granted, Capri was also one of the only places that we saw tourists not even making any sort of effort to speak Italian and assuming everyone spoke English, and that must be a frustrating daily occurrence for these people. But, still, the experience of watching their attitude and reaction was just kind of gross.
It felt like it took forever to get our food, and after quickly scarfing it down with the intention of wandering around for awhile before catching the ferry back, we realized that we weren't actually in Capri town and in order to get there we had to take a funicular. By the time we purchased tickets and rode the funicular up to the town we had very little time before we intended to take the ferry back to Sorrento for an evening commitment. We took a quick turn around the ritzy shopping area, which was far too rich for our budget, and then waited in line to take the funicular back down to the dock, making it just in time to take the ferry back.
Capri was a pretty place, but, sadly, I don't think we had the opportunity to experience the wonder that so many people had shared with us. It would have been much better to have dedicated a day to the visit and to have been able to see Villa Jovis, the ruins of Emperor Tiberius' villa, and the second town of Anacapri, situated higher up on the island.
In any case, we returned to Sorrento with plenty of time for our evening commitment: a gelato making class! This class turned out to be more of a demonstration than a hands-on class, but it was still fun, and I got to scoop the lemon gelato that we made out of the gelato machine. (Small pleasures!) We left the class with certificates, recipes, and free cones of gelato. Their almond gelato was absolutely the best gelato we had in all of Italy! (Though with regards to the other flavors I still think Suso in Venice is my new favorite gelato shop!) Now we just need to acquire the right tools and we'll be making gelato back home!
We also visited the Forum Baths, which were cool. There were three parts that one would visit after working out at the attached gymnasium: the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). There were also separate sections for men and women. I most enjoyed learning about how the caldarium worked. There is a double floor, which you can see by peering down into one of the floor grates, and it was heated from below. There are also double walls with terra-cotta tiles that held the heat. The caldarium contained a large fountain on one end (pictured) that poured water onto the heated floor creating steam. In order to keep the condensation from dripping down onto peoples' heads, the ceiling was fluted, which carried the water down the walls. Such ingenuity!
We made it about 2/3 of the way through the walking tour before we began encountering large sections of the complex that were closed off for restoration and we were no longer able to continue the tour. It was probably a good thing though. It was noon by that time and getting quite warm and as we turned back onto the main thoroughfare we could not believe how crowded it had gotten! The number of tour groups must have increased by tenfold. So we decided that it was time to leave and headed back to the Circumvesuviana and back to Sorrento.
Before our trip we had been told by so many people that the island of Capri was incredible and not to be missed, so we decided to take the ferry across the bay for an afternoon visit. What we learned is that you really need a full day to experience it. The ferry ride is about 20 minutes each way (and rather expensive- €72 round-trip for two people!) and leaves about every 20 minutes. Our timing was off so we ended up waiting nearly 20 minutes to catch the next ferry. We had wanted to give ourselves as much time there as possible so we opted to eat lunch on Capri rather than before the boat ride. This may have been a good thing because I get very seasick, even on motion sickness medicine, but it also caused me to be on the verge of hangry when we arrived. Thus, we ate at one of the very touristy places right off the dock. I was so glad that I had ordered our food in Italian because we had the really upsetting experience of understanding that the waiters were yelling across the tables rudely making fun of another tourist. Granted, Capri was also one of the only places that we saw tourists not even making any sort of effort to speak Italian and assuming everyone spoke English, and that must be a frustrating daily occurrence for these people. But, still, the experience of watching their attitude and reaction was just kind of gross.
It felt like it took forever to get our food, and after quickly scarfing it down with the intention of wandering around for awhile before catching the ferry back, we realized that we weren't actually in Capri town and in order to get there we had to take a funicular. By the time we purchased tickets and rode the funicular up to the town we had very little time before we intended to take the ferry back to Sorrento for an evening commitment. We took a quick turn around the ritzy shopping area, which was far too rich for our budget, and then waited in line to take the funicular back down to the dock, making it just in time to take the ferry back.
Capri was a pretty place, but, sadly, I don't think we had the opportunity to experience the wonder that so many people had shared with us. It would have been much better to have dedicated a day to the visit and to have been able to see Villa Jovis, the ruins of Emperor Tiberius' villa, and the second town of Anacapri, situated higher up on the island.
In any case, we returned to Sorrento with plenty of time for our evening commitment: a gelato making class! This class turned out to be more of a demonstration than a hands-on class, but it was still fun, and I got to scoop the lemon gelato that we made out of the gelato machine. (Small pleasures!) We left the class with certificates, recipes, and free cones of gelato. Their almond gelato was absolutely the best gelato we had in all of Italy! (Though with regards to the other flavors I still think Suso in Venice is my new favorite gelato shop!) Now we just need to acquire the right tools and we'll be making gelato back home!
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