9/7 - Pompeii-Naples (Part 1)
Even in famously rude Rome I didn't see people getting MRTed. At the most people squeezed past as the last few people came out of the train.
In Rome when motorists see you crossing the road, they speed up and swerve towards you (especially those on scooters).
It has just occured to me that museums have no right at all to restrict non-flash photography or impose other funny restrictions (eg no commercial use), since copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author. Even more reason to spite the incorrigible ones which try to increase postcard sales by restricting visitors' rights.
The hostel staff asked where we were from. When I said that Singapore was clean, too clean and sterile, one said, "You've come to the right place. Naples - the city of rubbish."
Hostel Alleyway
It looks very run down, but turn left at the church and you faced a modern, clean building - the hostel. Nonetheless, this did not inspire confidence.
A 3 day transportation and attractions admission pass in Naples cost €18 for youth (<26), and both of us wanted to get one. However, the hostel only had 1 left, so I let Andrew have it. When we got to the central train station, I tried to buy one, but was refused since Italy had no reciprocal arrangement with Singapore on such matters (Malaysia, on the other hand, did so Andrew could've gotten his for that price at the kiosk. Damn). Maybe Singapore has no culture and so is rebuffed when it tries to make these arrangements. Or maybe whoever at STPB is in charge of these things figures that Singaporeans who go overseas won't care about this sort of thing anyway. Ah well. What's a holiday without getting screwed, one way or another? We got to Pompeii quite late, mainly due to mishaps on the Circumvesuviana train line, so it was hot and crowded already. The houses of Amorini Dorati, Ara Massina, Menander and suburban baths all needed reservations with at least 1 day's notice. Wth.
View from what seemed to be the main entrance. From other sites, where the tourists are going seems to be the Porta Marina, and the closed area is the suburban baths
Looking at the Porta Marina from the path.
Pericolo tratto sdrucciolecole reggersi ai passamani and path
Casa di Trittolemo
Temple of Apollo
Forum
Temple - back of Forum
Roman toilet
Road, Ins occidentalis
Courtyard of house along Via Consolare
Ruts in road (Via Consolare)
Buildings along Via delle Tombe
Tombs along Via Tombe
Villa di Diomede
Plaster casts of people in Villa of the Mysteries
Villa of the Mysteries
Vicolo di Modesto street
Via di Mercurio
Tower in city wall
Domus Agellini
Casa dei Dioscuri
Casa della Fontana Piccola
2 US girls were taking pictures with one of the few fountains in Pompeii. Maybe they were so happy to finally find one.
In the souvenir shop near the Forum, Andrew decided to take a spy shot, since it was very appropriate - notice the live woman in the photo and the woman in the reproduction mosaic:
Unfortunately, he wasn't very skilled in the art of discretion, despite having a Canon Powershot G3 with a swivelling screen. While he was viewing the shot, the woman had sneaked up behind him to look at what he was doing. In the end he developed the picture and mailed it to her, and she told us the woman in the mosaic was Sappho (of Lesbos fame).
Casts in Macellum
Macellum
Andrew: "How come there're no topless girls?... Maybe the girl in the blue bra will take it off" (One girl had taken off her top and was swinging it around, her topclad only in a blue bra); this is one of the possible redeeming factors of visiting Europe in Summer, and during a heatwave too.
Tempio di Vespasiano (Aedes genii augusti)
I was looking for mosaics and frescoes, but there were very few of them. They were probably all in museums, and mostly not replicated. I imagine that the visit to Pompeii would be much finer and atmospheric if replicas of all or even most of the artefacts carted away to museums were placed in-situ.
Stones to cross the street
There was a long queue to enter the brothel which, as in ancient times, is still one of the most popular attractions in the city.
Brothel frescoes
Brothel cubicle
Vicolo storto panificio (food stall). It looks too new to be Roman - how could it have been so well preserved?
Ovens
I was looking for the plaster cast of the dog, but maybe that was in one of the places reservations for which were needed.
Basilica
If I could I would've visited more villas, but I didn't have reservations time and energy were limited and for some reason we hadn't been given maps of the place at the ticket counter. I settled for visiting the recommended places in the guidebook (which somwhow I hadn't read carefully -before- the visit).
Tempio della Fortuna Augusta
Faun in Villa of the Faun
Alexander Mosaic
I messed up the photo-taking angles, so the stitch was screwed up. Luckily I have a picture of the original later.
Villa of the Faun
Graffiti
Cast
Terme stabiane (Baths)
Paintings on buildings along the street, IIRC
Political campaigning graffiti
Amphitheatre
And then I was done.
Near the exit nearest the amphitheatre, I bought a small replica of the faun for €15. The merchant offered €20 at first (despite the price tag reading "€25"), but I bargained it down. I should've settled for €12 or even €10, but I had to get to Naples quickly and my feet hurt.
I'd paid €3 for a menta granita slightly smaller than a 7-11 small Milo freeze in the cafeteria in the ruins. So when I exited the place and saw a €2 granita, I was very happy. But then the cup he gave me was the size of those tiny white plastic ridged cups used for punch at BBQs/parties. Bastard. I should undercut him by selling granites for €1/thimble.
I saw one of those stupid mouth fortune telling machines. Looks like people in Pompeii are gullible too. Or maybe it's for tourists.
I then went to the Tomb of Virgil.
Naples from the Tomb of Virgil
Tomb
Unfortunately the tomb was raised and inaccessible. A staircase led up but the door was closed. Damn.
Inscription
Diagram of tomb
Bust of Virgil
Entrance to Crypta Neapolitana - the "metro line of antiquity"
In the same compound there's a "monumental epigraph in praise of the properties of Flegrian mineral water, placed there by the Spanish Viceroy Pedro of Aragon in 1668". Uhh.
Travel tips:
- Just like it's better to say that you're Canadian than American (outside of Quebec and America), it's better to say that you're Malaysian than Singaporean
- When you're on holiday, you'll get screwed, one way or another, so suck it up. But in any case, if you get screwed in one way it makes getting screwed in the other more tolerable!