Naples and Pompei

Naples, Our Last Cruise Port of Call…

We arrived in Naples early in the a.m. and docked so quietly I doubt that anyone felt it. There were lots of tour options for today, but many of them involved a 9 or 10 hour bus ride. That was Bill’s sole criteria for tours….no tours longer than 4 hours. So, we chose a trip to Pompeii with a local guide.

First, a bit about Naples. Naples is the third largest city in Italy, with a population of about 1.5 million people. Naples is in Campania and is the place where Pizza was invented (at least the thin crust pizza), and Enrico Caruso, a wonderful tenor, was a native of Naples. It is in the middle of two volcanic areas, Mt. Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields. Naples was founded by the Greeks, though I am pretty surprised that the Venetians didn’t get there first. It was part of ancient Greece and then part of the Roman Republic, where it was a favorite resort of wealthy Romans. It was the capital city of the kingdom of Naples from the 13^th century until 1816, when it formed a union with Sicily. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. So many different civilizations (the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Normans and Germans) have stopped, fought and taken over in Naples, each adding to a pretty rich history, that it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Naples was badly damaged in WWII and again in a major earthquake in 1980. These two periods of destruction in modern times have allowed Naples to rebuild in a more modern way and a new city is rising on the edge of the Eastern Harbor.

Naples taken from the ship

Both Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities destroyed by volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. are located outside of Naples. Of the two, though Herculaneum is much smaller, it is better preserved than Pompeii.

We boarded our tour bus, once again, no leg room, and heard a brief history of Naples from our local guide, Vito. He joked that his last name is Corleonne….I don’t know. It didn’t take long to go the 14 miles to Pompeii; again I was struck by how many apartment owners have as much greenery as they can cram onto their patios.

We export the best!

We arrived at Pompeii and were lucky to be early into the site, so no heavy crowds yet. Pompeii was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe. The last eruption took place in 1944 and Vito says they seem to occur about every 60 years, so they are overdue. Bill was glad no eruptions occurred while we were there!

Pompeii Necropolis we saw on the path…

The volcanic eruption buried Pompeii under 60 feet of lava ash and mud, and it was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. The forum, the baths, many houses, and some villas remain surprisingly well preserved. We know the exact date of the eruption (August 24^th, 79 A.D.) because Pliny the Younger provides a first-hand account from his position across the Bay of Naples, in a version which was written 25 years after the event. Perhaps it was so memorable because he lost his Uncle, Pliny the Elder, during the eruption.

Giuseppe Fiorelli took charge of the excavations in 1860. During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. It was Fiorelli who realized these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies. He developed a technique of injecting plaster into them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. What resulted were highly accurate forms of the citizens who failed to escape, in their last moment of life. Hydrogen Sulfide gas from the volcano killed most almost instantly. This technique is still in use today, with a clear resin now used instead of plaster.

Plaster cast of a victim

The remnants of “The House of the Faun” are well-preserved and have beautiful mosaics in some inner courtyards. The house belonged to an important Roman family and is named for the bronze statue of a dancing Faun in the courtyard. There is evidence that after the great earthquake in AD 62, the House of the Faun was rebuilt or repaired, but was ultimately rendered unusable by the eruption. The layers of ash covering the abandoned town preserved artworks, like the mosaics of the House of the Faun, which would have otherwise been likely destroyed or decayed due to the passage of time.

Dancing Faun

House of the Faun, interior courtyard

The Roman baths are also in very good condition and Vito spent a great deal of time telling us how the baths were designed to work. The water for the public baths (men and women had separate baths) came from one of the great Roman aqueducts. There was a cold plunge pool, a steam room and a hot pool.

Roman Bath

The last thing we saw was the Forum, which was very interesting because I thought the pillars were carved from marble, but in fact they were bricks stacked in a pattern and then plastered over. A lot easier and cheaper to do than marble.

Pillars of Forum with Mt. Vesuvius in background

Once again, I was sad to see to many stray dogs of all ages, obviously not cared for, living in the ruins of Pompeii.

Tomorrow it is back to Rome for three nights before we go home!

Athens (Socrates lived here!)

Athens

Benjamin Disraeli said, “Never apologize and never explain,” but I don’t know how many friends he had nor how often he blogged. At any rate we are apologizing for the delay in the last stops of our trip. It was Athens, Naples, Rome, just like that and then in Rome we decided another day at the Vatican Museum was a must and then we were just plain tired and then we were home and then I came down with the flu. So, we’re late, we’re sorry.

Athens

I am not sure why Celebrity called our stop “Athens” since we were in Piraeus, the largest harbor near Athens, not Athens itself. Piraeus is about 7 miles from Athens and it is actually and pretty nice community with gorgeous water views.

Solstice, our ship, at dock in background

Athens is the Capital of Greece and its recorded history goes back at least 3,000 years. According to legend, the goddess Athena gave the city an olive tree as a token of her protection of the city and the god Dionysus gave the vine tree. Athens was named for Athena. Athens was the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and other philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is often called “the cradle of civilization” because of its cultural and political impact on Europe during the 5^th and 4^th centuries B.C. (the Golden Age). The Roman Empire took control of Greece in the 2^nd century and it stayed that way until Rom fell to the Byzantine Empire in 476 A.D. Then came the dark ages, 500 years of misery, which must have been pretty awful for a country that produced Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euripides and Aeschylus. The Turks ruled Greece until the 19^th Century, when there was an 8-year war of independence and in 1834; Athens was proclaimed the capital of the new, independent Greece.

The one reason I can think of to go to Athens (unless you are here to change planes to go to Santorini, Mykonos, Crete or Rhodes) is to see the Acropolis, which is exactly what we did. We started our tour with a stop at the Panathinaikon Stadium where the first modern day Olympics took place in 1896. It is built entirely of marble, and I don’t believe any other stadium in the world can boast that. After more than 100 years, the Athenians were thrilled to hold the Summer Olympics here in 2004.

Show stadium pic here

From there, we moved (very slowly because the traffic in Athens is unbelievable) to the Acropolis, which people often think of as being one place, when really it features many monuments. The day we chose to visit, so did approximately 5 million other people from all over the world. I don’t know if it was really 5 million but it felt that way, in the heat, when we were waiting outside the acropolis because the gate was closed, because there were too many people already in there! Our local tour guide found us a little shade, which we needed, it was really hot. In addition it gave her a chance to greet her sisters and her cousins, all of whom are also local tour guides.

The Acropolis

When we finally were admitted we started the long climb into the Acropolis (I think it is about 150 steps up and you are climbing from approximately sea level to about 490 ft. Lest anyone thing that the number of steps is the big thing, let me tell you that the steps are marble and very slippery even in dry weather. In addition, when you get higher, you are climbing on the ancient steps, uneven, marble, and very high in between steps. Our guide says they often close the Acropolis when it is raining because the steps are treacherous.

The Acropolis is a World Heritage Site and consists today of the remains of four ancient buildings: the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion and the Propylaea.

Parthenon

The Parthenon was built by Pericles in the fifth century B.C. as a monument to the achievements of the people of Athens. It was home to a giant statue of Athena and took 9 years to build. It is probably one of the most recognized structures in the world. The restoration work there has been going on for 30 years and they want it to be perfect so it may go on a lot longer than that.

The Erecthion sits on the most sacred site of the Acropolis. According to legend, Poseidon and Athena Nike (this is her battle persona) fought over who would be the patron of Athens at this site.

Erecthion

Athena was the victor. This building contains the porch of the maidens or Caryatids, which are now copies as the originals have been put in the Acropolis museum. The fifth maiden was carried off to England by Lord Elgin…who knows if she’ll ever come home.

There is an amazing view of the city from up here, even through the smog that all big cities now have.

Athens taken from Acropolis

There is a small temple, called the Thission, built in 449 B.C., below the summit of the Acropolis. It is believed it was a temple to Athena. In later years it was used as a church, dedicated to St. George.

Also below the Acropolis is the theater of Herod Atticus, built by the Romans in 161 A.D. and still used today for classical concerts.

We got off the bus in the center of Athens, near the government buildings, so that we could walk into the Plaka, one of the oldest areas of the city, narrow cobblestone streets, old houses, taverns and shopping. We had a great Gyros and a Greek beer here before going off to do a little shopping for worry beads. Loved this statue in front of a church in the Plaka and the information contained at the bottom.

Eastern Orthodox Priest - see his quote about how priests are to be executed below! And his support for the jews.

We’re off to Naples tonight!