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Today we’ve been walking from 10am to 5pm! That’s me, Wez, Laura1, Laura2, Alberto and José. We got up at around 8:50 to fetch our free breakfast which consisted of a chocolate croissant and a coffee from the coffee machine (I managed to pour myself an Italian coffee which is only half a cup!). We then set off for the ruins in Pompei, entered with a student discount and started to look around. I had no idea that Pompei was so big and most of it hasn’t been excavated yet!
We walked and walked and saw everything from people frozen in poses as they were killed by the pyroclastic flow to amazingly preserved “election posters” painted on outside walls. It was stunning how much intricate paintwork has been preserved but at the same time, as we excavate it we are surely shortening its life. The restoration of ruins like these has its upsides and downsides, as we learnt from the bodged origiinal restoration in the Acropolis which is taking years to rectify.
The ruins were truly stunning and by the time we got to the exit after seeing the houses, market place, baths, auditoriums and amphitheatre it was really getting late and Wez and I had to catch a train to Napoli (Naples) and then Roma (Rome).
We stopped off at the supermarket for some cheap food, swapped email addresses with our new Spanish friends and set of for the train station on foot. Two trains and two buses later (oh we spoke to a Canadian girl doing Eurail on the bus) we reached the camp site and pitched our tents. I cooked pasta and bolegnese sauce with my gas burner and mess tins which came out great and we had a peach for dessert. It’s hot here even at 2am, I’ll try to get to sleep. Tomorrow we do Rome in a day!