I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
Monday, 4 February 2013
Days 11 and 12: Paestum, Velia, Baia and Bacoli
Days 11 and 12 were very intense days of visiting archaeological sites, and to be honest, after a whole week of it, we were all a bit ruins-ed out!! A great quote going around is 'another day, another Ostia!!'
I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
Day 10: Naples Museum, trains and shopping!
Day 10 was definitely a fantastic day, full of adventure, new experiences and really, really cool artefacts. The day started with a trip into Naples by train, which is always an interesting experience!! We arrived at the National Archaeological Museum first thing and went straight into the huge museum and definitely my favourite museum experience so far!!
The museum itself is built inside a palace from Naples' heyday, and full of artefacts that once belonged to the King that had come from places including Rome, Pompeii and Greece. Our first part of the day was browsing through the beautiful wall paintings that were taken from villas and houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum (this makes my inner archaeologist cry a bit, but life goes on). The sheer number of the frescos is just astounding, the colours are still so vibrant and the pictures still crisp and beautiful. Something I really loved seeing was the Alexander Mosaic on the wall. We had seen a replica of it when at Pompeii but it was evident that the mosaic was definitely better off in a museum and away from the open elements. That said, it was amazing to finally see something so famous in real life!!
After our look at the wall paintings, we headed down to the Farnese Collection, the personal collection of a wealthy Neapolitan family. The sheer amount of artefacts that these people had in their possession is ridiculous, especially considering only a fraction are on display. There was a hall of busts that was reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, and held the familiar faces of many great and not so great emperors and figures, including........ Another Domitian!!! We also saw our first Caesar. We all were feeling a little silly so we took self shots with our favourite emperors and posed badly to have a laugh. It is amazing how laid back staff are at these museums, especially given that as a whole our group was pretty noisy!!
After browsing through some other not so exciting things, we were free to run around Naples for the afternoon and then make our own way back to the hotel. I can definitely say that it was an experience and a half considering we got a little lost on the way back home, what with catching the wrong train, walking the wrong way and then ending up at the station we were not intending to.
Luckily for us we had some very helpful and nice people give us a hand in catching the correct trains, my friend Michael asked a man for directions and it turned out he was off to the same place as us, so he got on and off trains with us until we were on the right one. At this point we were a little stressed because we were late for a lecture that was meant to be happening that night, so when we arrived at the Ercolano station, which is quite a walk from our hotel, we flagged down a very nice taxi driver and were back at Villa Signorini in no time, and for the huge price of 2€ each! Was the cheapest taxi ride I have ever had! Despite the stress about missing the lecture, it turned out that only a handful of people were back, we discovered this as the taxi pulled into the driveway at the same time as a large group of our people were walking up the driveway.
It turns out that all the trains were broken that afternoon so we had been stressed over nothing!!
Our lecture was postponed which was good, because it was an excellent presentation from Jo Berry of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.
Day 10 was definitely one of my favourites, it was real fun seeing an amazing museum and shopping in a city as lovely as Naples. That said, I still prefer Rome to Naples, but it is very difficult to compare them to each other.
Attached are some photos of the day:
Also mum, there is a chicken mosaic from Pompeii, thought you would appreciate this haha
The museum itself is built inside a palace from Naples' heyday, and full of artefacts that once belonged to the King that had come from places including Rome, Pompeii and Greece. Our first part of the day was browsing through the beautiful wall paintings that were taken from villas and houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum (this makes my inner archaeologist cry a bit, but life goes on). The sheer number of the frescos is just astounding, the colours are still so vibrant and the pictures still crisp and beautiful. Something I really loved seeing was the Alexander Mosaic on the wall. We had seen a replica of it when at Pompeii but it was evident that the mosaic was definitely better off in a museum and away from the open elements. That said, it was amazing to finally see something so famous in real life!!
After our look at the wall paintings, we headed down to the Farnese Collection, the personal collection of a wealthy Neapolitan family. The sheer amount of artefacts that these people had in their possession is ridiculous, especially considering only a fraction are on display. There was a hall of busts that was reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, and held the familiar faces of many great and not so great emperors and figures, including........ Another Domitian!!! We also saw our first Caesar. We all were feeling a little silly so we took self shots with our favourite emperors and posed badly to have a laugh. It is amazing how laid back staff are at these museums, especially given that as a whole our group was pretty noisy!!
After browsing through some other not so exciting things, we were free to run around Naples for the afternoon and then make our own way back to the hotel. I can definitely say that it was an experience and a half considering we got a little lost on the way back home, what with catching the wrong train, walking the wrong way and then ending up at the station we were not intending to.
Luckily for us we had some very helpful and nice people give us a hand in catching the correct trains, my friend Michael asked a man for directions and it turned out he was off to the same place as us, so he got on and off trains with us until we were on the right one. At this point we were a little stressed because we were late for a lecture that was meant to be happening that night, so when we arrived at the Ercolano station, which is quite a walk from our hotel, we flagged down a very nice taxi driver and were back at Villa Signorini in no time, and for the huge price of 2€ each! Was the cheapest taxi ride I have ever had! Despite the stress about missing the lecture, it turned out that only a handful of people were back, we discovered this as the taxi pulled into the driveway at the same time as a large group of our people were walking up the driveway.
It turns out that all the trains were broken that afternoon so we had been stressed over nothing!!
Our lecture was postponed which was good, because it was an excellent presentation from Jo Berry of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.
Day 10 was definitely one of my favourites, it was real fun seeing an amazing museum and shopping in a city as lovely as Naples. That said, I still prefer Rome to Naples, but it is very difficult to compare them to each other.
Attached are some photos of the day:
Also mum, there is a chicken mosaic from Pompeii, thought you would appreciate this haha
Days 8 and 9: Herculaneum, Oplontis and Pompeii!!
After much anticipation from all involved on the tour, we were finally about to see volcanic ruins! I guess none of us really knew what to expect from the two little known towns of Herculaneum and Oplontis. We were in for an absolutely amazing experience.
We walked from our hotel to Herculaneum excavation site, where we were fed sweets and made to drink coffee. After an introduction to the site and the main archaeologists involved in the project, we investigated a makeshift museum, full of naval finds, with an almost perfectly preserved ship, fishing gear, anchor and even a leather bag. It was here we learnt of how harsh Vesuvius was to the small community, with about 350 skeletons found around the city so far (only a third of the town has been excavated as the ash that fell on Herculaneum is much harder than that in sites such as Pompeii). The people trying to escape would have had no chance, with the heat waves coming from the volcano at a heat of at least 450*c, this would have killed them immediately with muscles spasming and organs basically liquefying and flesh being completely stripped from the bodies. Due to the ash burying the bodies, archaeologists have been able to see the positions that the civilians died in, all horribly contorted and twisted. The only saving grace about such an awful death is that it would have been extraordinarily quick, so at least they weren't in pain for long. We had the opportunity to see these skeletons that were found in boat sheds, presumably attempting to escape. Many had possessions with them such as jewellery, swords and even a bag full of coins. The saddest instance was a woman, 8 months pregnant, her child's skeleton is visible inside hers. Despite all the sadness, the ruins we saw were astounding, because of the sorts of ash that fell on Herculaneum, many biological things have survived such as wood and leather.
As well as wood and leather, the frescos of many houses have also survived. These paintings were amazing, and we saw the best examples of them in the Villa of Popeia, Nero's wife in Oplontis. The villa is huge and has absolutely stunning frescoes, mosaics and rooms. Some photos of the boat shed from Herculaneum and the frescos from Oplontis are at the end of the blog. This was definitely an amazing day, and it will be one that will be very hard to top!
Day 9 we went to Pompeii. Before I write anymore I really need to point out the disappointment I experienced in Pompeii. It is much more famous than Herculaneum, but really, it is in such disgusting disrepair that it actually made me feel like crying, the Herculaneum Conservation Project is why the sister site to Pompeii is just so much better. It is such a shame to see the disrepair of the buildings that, with the proper care should not be crumbling down around itself.
Despite this disappointment and sadness, the site still holds its beauty and it is certainly understandable why the site is so famous, but again, I feel it is just a tourist trap rather than a site of historical and archaeological significance. That said, the necropoli in Pompeii are amazing, with varying sizes and classes of mausoleums visible. I really love funerary monuments as they offer such a great insight to the people of the towns and how they wanted to be remembered. My personal favourite was a tomb that a man made for himself and his wife, she outlived him and mustn't have liked his mausoleum because she built herself a bigger and nicer one!! Despite this she still dedicated it to him as well.
The absolute highlight of our visit to Pompeii was definitely out stop at the Villa of Mysteries, just outside the city gates. The mysterious fresco in this villa was the first thing I learnt of Pompeii at uni and I remember the lecture quite fondly, as I had no understanding of the Pompeiian wall painting styles or of its most famous fresco. The mysterious scene on the wall was absolutely breathtaking in real life.
Overall, the experience I had of Herculaneum and Pompeii was amazing and one I will never forget, I just hope that archaeologists can continue to conserve the two sites.
We walked from our hotel to Herculaneum excavation site, where we were fed sweets and made to drink coffee. After an introduction to the site and the main archaeologists involved in the project, we investigated a makeshift museum, full of naval finds, with an almost perfectly preserved ship, fishing gear, anchor and even a leather bag. It was here we learnt of how harsh Vesuvius was to the small community, with about 350 skeletons found around the city so far (only a third of the town has been excavated as the ash that fell on Herculaneum is much harder than that in sites such as Pompeii). The people trying to escape would have had no chance, with the heat waves coming from the volcano at a heat of at least 450*c, this would have killed them immediately with muscles spasming and organs basically liquefying and flesh being completely stripped from the bodies. Due to the ash burying the bodies, archaeologists have been able to see the positions that the civilians died in, all horribly contorted and twisted. The only saving grace about such an awful death is that it would have been extraordinarily quick, so at least they weren't in pain for long. We had the opportunity to see these skeletons that were found in boat sheds, presumably attempting to escape. Many had possessions with them such as jewellery, swords and even a bag full of coins. The saddest instance was a woman, 8 months pregnant, her child's skeleton is visible inside hers. Despite all the sadness, the ruins we saw were astounding, because of the sorts of ash that fell on Herculaneum, many biological things have survived such as wood and leather.
As well as wood and leather, the frescos of many houses have also survived. These paintings were amazing, and we saw the best examples of them in the Villa of Popeia, Nero's wife in Oplontis. The villa is huge and has absolutely stunning frescoes, mosaics and rooms. Some photos of the boat shed from Herculaneum and the frescos from Oplontis are at the end of the blog. This was definitely an amazing day, and it will be one that will be very hard to top!
Day 9 we went to Pompeii. Before I write anymore I really need to point out the disappointment I experienced in Pompeii. It is much more famous than Herculaneum, but really, it is in such disgusting disrepair that it actually made me feel like crying, the Herculaneum Conservation Project is why the sister site to Pompeii is just so much better. It is such a shame to see the disrepair of the buildings that, with the proper care should not be crumbling down around itself.
Despite this disappointment and sadness, the site still holds its beauty and it is certainly understandable why the site is so famous, but again, I feel it is just a tourist trap rather than a site of historical and archaeological significance. That said, the necropoli in Pompeii are amazing, with varying sizes and classes of mausoleums visible. I really love funerary monuments as they offer such a great insight to the people of the towns and how they wanted to be remembered. My personal favourite was a tomb that a man made for himself and his wife, she outlived him and mustn't have liked his mausoleum because she built herself a bigger and nicer one!! Despite this she still dedicated it to him as well.
The absolute highlight of our visit to Pompeii was definitely out stop at the Villa of Mysteries, just outside the city gates. The mysterious fresco in this villa was the first thing I learnt of Pompeii at uni and I remember the lecture quite fondly, as I had no understanding of the Pompeiian wall painting styles or of its most famous fresco. The mysterious scene on the wall was absolutely breathtaking in real life.
Overall, the experience I had of Herculaneum and Pompeii was amazing and one I will never forget, I just hope that archaeologists can continue to conserve the two sites.
Day 6 and 7: Pantheon, Theatre of Marcellus and trip to Naples.
Days 6 and 7 were not as crazily busy as the previous days we experienced in Rome, but they were definitely still exciting!!
The first event of Day 6 was a visit to Hadrian's Pantheon, an absolutely stunning piece of ancient architecture. It is in the great condition it is in as a result of it becoming a Catholic Church and hence, escaping the destruction that many other buildings faced. It is quite ironic to think this considering it was the religious centre for Rome, celebrating paganism. Despite the political and religious changes that the Pantheon went through, the architecture of it is absolutely astounding- the columns are massive and made of stone that would have had to be imported from Egypt. The most amazing part is that unlike many other ancient pillars, these are not made up of segments, but instead are monoliths! The roof inside is also amazing, it is so big that you can fit the roof into the room again underneath it like a sphere, but the design of the room is so that you can see the entire room with your peripheral vision, making it seem less dwarfing than the domes at St Peter's. In its new form as a Church, the Pantheon houses the bodies of many Italian kings and queens and a very famous name of art- Raphael!!! It is amazing that his sarcophagus is on display still! I have attached a couple of photos of the pantheon and Raphael's grave.
After our pantheon adventures, we walked through the Jewish Ghetto to the Theatre of Marcellus. The theatre is noted as the architectural inspiration for the Colosseum, which I'm sure you will see from the photo attached. After we looked at the theatre in awe for a while we were free to roam Rome until our dinner at BSR. The highlight of that afternoon was our visit to Burger King and my friend Korina getting stuck in the toilet, the locals must have thought we were crazy, we were freaking out that she couldn't get out of her cubicle!!
Day 7 was our trip to Naples and our new accommodation in the little town of Erculano. The 3 hour bus trip was much appreciated after a very busy week of walking everywhere!! (My feet are still aching from that first week of walking!!) Naples is definitely a huge change from Rome, it's much dirtier and has a confusing layout of streets, not to mention fewer ancient monuments in the town itself!! We arrived at our beautiful hotel (Villa Signorini) in Ercolano, unpacked and then we were off to the train station for a trip into Naples for the afternoon! We wandered around for a while, which annoyed all of us immensely as it was 3pm and we still hadn't had lunch! One of our lecturers, Luca (a great lover of Naples) found us a very good pizzeria. We're pretty sure it's run by a mob, but the food was amazing and so cheap! A magharita pizza was the whole of 4€!!
After investigating a few churches around the city we headed back to the hotel where we were greeted by our hosts from the Herculaneum Conservation Project/Centre. We had a prep talk about the upcoming days which looked absolutely fantastic and exciting! After a large meal we were off to bed to prepare for a jam packed few days!!
The first event of Day 6 was a visit to Hadrian's Pantheon, an absolutely stunning piece of ancient architecture. It is in the great condition it is in as a result of it becoming a Catholic Church and hence, escaping the destruction that many other buildings faced. It is quite ironic to think this considering it was the religious centre for Rome, celebrating paganism. Despite the political and religious changes that the Pantheon went through, the architecture of it is absolutely astounding- the columns are massive and made of stone that would have had to be imported from Egypt. The most amazing part is that unlike many other ancient pillars, these are not made up of segments, but instead are monoliths! The roof inside is also amazing, it is so big that you can fit the roof into the room again underneath it like a sphere, but the design of the room is so that you can see the entire room with your peripheral vision, making it seem less dwarfing than the domes at St Peter's. In its new form as a Church, the Pantheon houses the bodies of many Italian kings and queens and a very famous name of art- Raphael!!! It is amazing that his sarcophagus is on display still! I have attached a couple of photos of the pantheon and Raphael's grave.
After our pantheon adventures, we walked through the Jewish Ghetto to the Theatre of Marcellus. The theatre is noted as the architectural inspiration for the Colosseum, which I'm sure you will see from the photo attached. After we looked at the theatre in awe for a while we were free to roam Rome until our dinner at BSR. The highlight of that afternoon was our visit to Burger King and my friend Korina getting stuck in the toilet, the locals must have thought we were crazy, we were freaking out that she couldn't get out of her cubicle!!
Day 7 was our trip to Naples and our new accommodation in the little town of Erculano. The 3 hour bus trip was much appreciated after a very busy week of walking everywhere!! (My feet are still aching from that first week of walking!!) Naples is definitely a huge change from Rome, it's much dirtier and has a confusing layout of streets, not to mention fewer ancient monuments in the town itself!! We arrived at our beautiful hotel (Villa Signorini) in Ercolano, unpacked and then we were off to the train station for a trip into Naples for the afternoon! We wandered around for a while, which annoyed all of us immensely as it was 3pm and we still hadn't had lunch! One of our lecturers, Luca (a great lover of Naples) found us a very good pizzeria. We're pretty sure it's run by a mob, but the food was amazing and so cheap! A magharita pizza was the whole of 4€!!
After investigating a few churches around the city we headed back to the hotel where we were greeted by our hosts from the Herculaneum Conservation Project/Centre. We had a prep talk about the upcoming days which looked absolutely fantastic and exciting! After a large meal we were off to bed to prepare for a jam packed few days!!
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