Italy - Pompeii

Mount Vesuvius over the Pompeii Forum

Ryanair has a nifty new mobile app similar to the ones all the other airlines have now that make checking in a breeze for upcoming flights.  These apps all generate a mobile boarding pass that allows for quick scanning at security, and there’s no hassle with trying to find a library or internet cafe in which to print a boarding pass.  Ryanair has this mobile boarding pass feature on their app, and we thought we were in the clear for our next flight until we found out that it’s only for EU citizens, and Americans still have to print a pass.  Ryanair will kindly print a boarding pass at the airport for a desperate traveler who can’t locate a printer, but it costs $45…per boarding pass…that’s $180 for our family…that $60 more than the dang tickets cost.  We fly to Greece tomorrow, and since we've been living on the side of a mountain for five day with a killer view of the Mediterranean but nary a printer in sight, the boarding pass dilemma was hanging over our heads as we sped down the twisting highway toward the ruins of Pompeii.  

Our host, Michele had agreed to take us to Pompeii for a reasonable fee, and as he handled the sharp the curves like only Italians can, he was also texting and talking on his phone trying to locate an internet cafe for us on the way.  At one point he handed the phone to Deena so she could talk to his buddy Mario who speaks decent English, and he started out with, “You are not in USA, you are in southern Italy on Sunday.”  No kidding.  His point was that it was going to be difficult to find a place with a printer, but to their credit, he and Michele tried their hardest to find a solution for us, but it was not to be, and now we’re hoping we can find a place to print our passes before our bus departs Naples for the airport in Rome tomorrow.  We’ve had difficulty finding an up-to-date computer and printer in most of the places we’ve been so far on this trip, a concept which is hard to comprehend coming from a land where most people have at least three printers in their homes and five or six devices with the latest technology.  Michele made a quick pit stop at his favorite cafe on the way down to Pompeii and bought me a cup of the best espresso I’ve ever had, so I was able to shift my focus to something pleasurable before checking out some ancient ruins with my family.

Michele deposited us right at the front gate of the ancient city where we breezed right by the ticket counter since visits to Pompeii on the first Sunday of the month are FREE.  Just past the entrance in two long glass enclosures resembling greenhouses, lie the plaster casts of about twenty citizens of Pompeii in various throes of death.  These were the ones who managed to die indoors while the rest were vaporized during blasts of intense heat during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD.  The date provided by one of only two eyewitnesses is recorded as August 24, but evidence gathered in recent years suggests that the eruption occurred in November.  That little discrepancy will keep the smart people debating and the grant money flowing for many years to come, but for now, Pompeii is an amazing and harrowing place to visit.  We started our self-guided tour in the well-preserved colosseum, and I was surprised to discover that Vesuvius can’t be seen in this spot, and as we discovered later, the mountain can only be viewed on the far end of town at the back of the Forum.  Every movie and documentary I’ve seen about Pompeii has at least one scene where the gladiators in the colosseum all stop the killing for a second to glance up at the fire and smoke shooting up from Vesuvius before running for their lives.  I guess producers and directors are free to use as much dramatic license as they want in order to get the right effect. From the colosseum, we walked under the canopy of huge umbrella pines that looked like they were pulled from an illustration in a Dr. Seuss book, and continued to the main avenue of ancient Pompeii.

Most of the hotshot archaeologists agree that in 79 AD, Pompeii was still in a period of rebuilding about ten years after a major earthquake.  People settled in the area as far back as 700 BC, and the Romans took control of the city around 300 BC eventually committing a lot of money and effort toward making Pompeii a wealthy resort town.  All of that effort came to a screeching halt when Vesuvius blew up and covered the city with twenty meters of pumice and ash, wiping it out of sight and memory for 1500 years. After five hundred years of excavations, the ruins of this ancient city are captivating in their completeness and detail and haunting in the wonder that these vacant streets and buildings come from the horror of one of the most infamous natural disasters in history.  

We took our time wandering down the stone streets cut with deep grooves from chariot wheels and walked in and out of shops indicated by hand lettering with red paint.  Entire homes of wealthy merchants and politicians were open for touring, and we saw intricate mosaic floors made with millions of quarter-inch stone pieces.  There were frescos still brilliant with color intact, decorating the walls of restaurants, which still displayed the marble inlaid countertops in perfect condition ready for customers two thousand years later.  We sat on the steps of the Forum with a view of huge columns, the ruins of temples, and Mt. Vesuvius ever looming in the near distance.  As we ate our Snickers bars, I studied a marble structure in front of us that had a molding base that looked similar to crown molding that many Americans have in their homes.  The lines and details in the stone were perfect, and I wondered how the Romans could produce the same perfection in antiquity that we produce in mass today.  After a walk around the Forum, we strolled down a few more side streets of the classic Roman grid and made our way back through the umbrella pines.  We agreed that Pompeii was one of the most fascinating and creepy places we’ve been so far, and we were thankful that we had the opportunity to visit a place of legend to which travel is challenging.

We took a taxi back up into the hills, and I kept my eyes on Vesuvius until its summit disappeared into the clouds.  I could see all of the homes and businesses and highways of Naples and the surrounding villages around the base of the mountain, and I wondered why all those people would continue to build and live so close to another potential natural disaster.  The theme of Man vs. Nature is one that spans the centuries of thought and literature, and even though Nature always wins, man is valiant in defeat and resilient in recovery, and the dream of a mountain villa overlooking the Bay of Naples is quite compelling for southern Italians I suppose.  Much like the pull of the San Francisco Bay or the Hollywood Hills back home.  There is now a modern town of Pompei (spelled with one i) that surrounds the ancient ruins with a population of twenty-three thousand, double that of its predecessor.  The primary means of support for its citizens is the tourism industry generated by the demise of the city destroyed by an ominous mountain that still fills the horizon and sleeps for now.

We spent our last night in Furore packing and cleaning the villa as we prepared to leave the Amalfi Coast the next day.  We spent twenty three days in Italy, and we rose the next morning with a long travel day ahead of an arrival in Athens, Greece.  We said goodbye to Anna as we left with Michele who was dropping us off at the bus station in Naples on the way to his work as a mechanic.  Remembering my joy from the excellent espresso the other morning, he insisted on stopping and buying me another round, and we left Deena and the kids in the car and entered the coffee shop where his good time buddies gave us a cheerful greeting.  As the barista placed small saucers all down the bar for the guys and began his artistry on the espresso machine, I felt like one of the boys until the helper tossed a sugar packet into my saucer - an act which drew several snickers from my new friends.  The small cup of espresso with a rich layer of natural crema on top made up for any fun at my expense, and I remembered how disappointed I was when I was served my first thimbleful of coffee at the airport in Milan.  Since then I’ve learned that with the right roast and the right pressure and the right people, it’s enough.  Michele again masterfully navigated the Neapolitan streets full of angry drivers hopped up on espresso and kissed us all on both cheeks when he dropped us off at the statzione with an internet cafe right across the street - thank you Lord.  We said goodbye to a good friend who we’ll likely never see again, and as I leave Italy for the second time in my life, I’m thankful for the memories that include my family walking on narrow streets marveling at the history of a country that’s still terraced and full of vineyards and trees bearing olives and lemons.