Inter Rail 1987 Day 18

Tuesday 16th June 1987
We tiredly worked out that to get to Pompeii, the quickest, cheapest way was to go on the private, narrow gauge Circumvesuviana railway line that goes between Naples and Sorrento. We bought our tickets at the Stazione Centrale and made our way to the departure platform via a moving walkway.

We almost saw the sunrise over Mount Vesuvius and arrived at Pompei Scavio station, which is a 40 minute ride from Naples and 50m from the Pompeii entrance, at about 6.15am.

Needless to say, at this time of the morning, nothing at all was open. We had to sit around, without a bite to eat, until about 8.00am when we managed to get ourselves a cup of coffe and a trip to the loo.

We then stood around for about 20/25 minutes waiting, with the content of some tourist coaches, for the Pompeii national heritage site to open. It was well worth the wait. Pompeii is amazing.

The tourist guide book we had to buy in order to change a travellers cheque was quite helpful in giving us a potential route to explore the ruins. Everything was so intact having been preserved under many meters of ash and pumice. The ruins were discovered quite by accident in 1748 after the catastrophic volcanic eruption on 24 August, AD 79.

We must have spent a good 3 hours at the site and saw the Temple of Apollo, The Forum, The House of the Dancing Faun, the brothel (with its pictures of different sexual positions above the doors so the visiting sailors could point to their own preferences), the Stabian Thermal baths, the Large and Small/Odeon Theatre, the Arcaded Court of the Gladiators, the Amphitheatre (an 18,000 seater) plus loads of mummified "bodies".

The most impressive things we saw were the famous dog lying on its back plus the man lying head in arms face down.

We decided to go back to Naples and on from there to Rome. Naples is a pigsty (but not as bad industrialised smog conditions as in Bilbao). The good thing was that they were still celebrating winning the Seria A football championship.

The train to Rome was an expresso and a very modern and comfortable train (for an Italian one that is). The "in-flight entertainment"" came in two halves.

a) Listening to an Aussie lass called Rebecca (in Europe for 3 years) jabbering away supposedly informatively to two Americans and a Swede.
b) The same Aussie lass, arguing in Italian (language and style) with the train guard.

She and her friend claimed they hadn't been told that a return ticket was valid for 3 days. They had stayed for four. They refused to pay the extra it would cost on the train and were therefore put off the train at the next stop. A Canadian Lass, reading history and a book on Marxism and Feminism decided to pay.

We got into Rome at 3.45pm and were accosted, but nicely, in the station by accommodation sellers. Eventually we haggled and got a price reduction on a room. Two nights in a pension at 30,000 lira a night. It was close to the station, clean with hot showers, a friendly woman in charge plus a great old lift up to the 6th floor.

We got washed and brushed up and then headed out into the city. We knew we had to get a number 64 bus but didn't know from where. Bought some tickets that were valid anywhere between 2.00pm and midnight and eventually located the right bus stop.

We passed an impressive set of buildings which we photographed having no idea what they were.They turned out to be the Palazzo Venezia from which Mussolini made speeches from the balcony and Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II which houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We finally arrived at St. Peter's Square, which was slightly smaller than I was expecting. St Peter's Church was amazing. The sight as we entered the main part of the church was awe inspiring. Sunlight was pouring in from the dome plus the organ was playing and choir boys were singing. A shiver went down my spine and both Jon and I were practically speechless.

The throne of St. Peter was spectacular and there is a casket in front of the papal altar which supposedly contains some remains of St. Peter himself. There is also a statue which one is supposed to reverently kiss the foot of. We decided to decline that offer.

I was very, very impressed by Micaelangelo's sculpture, La Pieta, of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. I stood stock still staring at it for a good 10 minutes. Jon had to walk back and find me. That's the first time a piece of sculpture has inspired such an emotional response from me.

We made our way outside and after a bit of searching finally found some Swiss Guards in the Archway of the Bells. We bought some postcards once we'd worked out which levers to pull and I sent one back to me and one to Dinos (as a thank you). The Vatican has its own stamps and postal system.

Caught our bus back to the station and thus our hotel. Dropped of our bags and headed of to a local restaurant selected becasue it took placky. I was buying because we were celebrating Owwen's birthday, therefore I did all the ordering which confused the waiter dreadfully. He didn't write anything down and forgot we'd ordered mushrooms. Had antipasto misto which was all sorts of stuffed vegetables fried in breadcrumbs. Jon had beef and I had veal marsala with chips and green salad.

Getting the cappuchino after the lights went off for a bit proved a little difficult but was finally accomplished. By now we were completely knackered after last nights lack of sleep so it was straight to bed and no setting of the alarm clock.

Pompeii

Rome 1

Rome 2

Swiss Guards