pompeii

I flew in to Naples to meet Joe for a few days in Sorrento & the Amalfi coast. Top of the agenda was Pompeii - one of those gruesome biblical-like places that I've heard about as a child, and have always wanted to visit. This prosperous Roman town was buried in 25 metres of ash and rock by a sudden eruption of the volcano Mt Vesuvius about two thousand years ago. Much of the town is still well preserved.

Only when we got there did I realise just how big the place actually is! It seems obvious now but not everyday do you visit a tourist attraction that covers an ENTIRE city!  We were literally walking in a ghost town - complete with government buildings, temples, theatres, bathhouses, and an ampitheatre, and lots and lots of streets & houses.

In the streets of Pompeii, every few metres or so there are these huge stepping stones built into the road linking the sidewalks. Pompeii did not having a proper stormwater drainage system, and hence when it rained, the roads would flood - requiring the sidewalks to be raised and connected by these stepping stones.

There are two theatres in town - this is the bigger of the two.

A rather marvelous looking house with some wonderful mosaic tiling...

... including this "beware of the dog" mosaic at the entrance to the house

Yep, that is what you think it is... a penis shrine!

When Pompeii was excavated, the archaeologists found within the depths of hardened volcano ash, these empty voids with human bones in them. These voids were formed when Pompeii's victims, buried in volcano ash, decomposed while the ash hardened around their shape - preserving the victims' forms. One archaeologist had the bright idea of pouring plaster into these voids to create plaster body casts. Some of the casts contain a surprising amount of details - you could see the folds in the fabric of the victim's clothing, and the shape of the sandal on their feet. Creepy!

Can't remember what this building was for, but it has a very nice ceiling.

Wall murals in a rich person's house.

Pompeiiens loved to bathe and there were a few bath-houses in town.

Details of a marble bath.

The wall of the bath-house change room

This is probably a market/shop that sold hot food - the food are cooked and kept warm in those holes in the benches.

Pompeii's ampitheatre

Overlooking Pompeii from the edge of town. My feet were dying by the time we walked from one side of town to the other.

The sun setting near the main area of the town, which contained the government buildings and temples.

I highly recommend going to Pompeii in late autumn/winter - as we did. The temperature was mild and the crowd thin. (I imagine the atmosphere is probably less than "ghost-town-like" during the peak summer season) Comfortable walking shoes are also highly recommended. Also, the novel "Pompeii" by Robert Harris is a good one to get into the feel of the last days of Pompeii.

rome

I made it to Rome! Although only for a short time, but so happy to be here and find out what I can. Looking for inspiration to be encouraged about ancient history, I was happy and none too surprised to discover that there is cool stuff EVERYWHERE in Rome. And there was no way I was going to be able to see it all!

Right near my hostel I found the The Lateran Basilica, or the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Consecrated in 324, it's actually a very important building, claiming to be the oldest and ranked number one of all other catholic churches in Rome, including the mighty St Peters in the Vatican. I wasn't staying in the Vatican, the surrounding area is actually rather ordinary! But here it sits.

With barely more than a day thanks to a heavy night on the town, I hit the streets in search of my chosen destinations. There is a distinctive feeling to the streets of Rome. The buildings are high and bulky, yet the streets are narrow and busy. There is plenty of smog and grime on the walls and cobbly pavement, yet it all seems somehow clear and fresh. Armed with a map and a terrible sense of direction, I made my way towards the Pantheon.

PANTHEON. I absolutely loved this place. As soon as I saw it I had to stop and just admire it. Its just got such a presence, those huge columns and the darkness beyond. It certainly looks as old as it is; it's been sitting here for a pretty long time.

M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT or "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this building when consul for the third time". This Facade is outdated however! for it is from the previous building which was built in 27 BC, which was destroyed. Its current form was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in 126 AD. There is a little bit of uncertainty over who originally designed it and what its purpose is, which makes me like it even more.

Inside reveals a large round room covered by a concrete dome, with a hole in the top and usually a beam of sunlight shining through it. The word Pantheon means All Gods, and there were once many Statues of ancient Gods decorating it. I could sit in here for ages!

Its like an eye looking to the heavens, the people inside are the tiny optical receptors, and those collective opinions are the mind of the brain called humanity! So cool!

The outside wall is pretty interesting as well! Ahh what a place!

From the Pantheon I weaved my way towards a certain church I knew of, which has highly decorated and illusionistic interiors. I had trouble finding it, as the exterior is almost camouflaged in it's grey concrete surroundings!

On the inside however, it was very colourful! This is the Sant'Ignazio Church, which contains some very large and awesome trompe l'œil ceiling paintings.

The ceiling and many other paintings in the church were done by Andrea Pozzo. It feels as if the paintings are taking over, as though the churches modesty was somewhere put aside in favor of the very pretty and colourful decorations.

When seen in the room the real architechture of the room where wall meets ceiling is blended with the fantasy content of the painting, making a compelling illusion especially when seen from a vantage point in the centre of the room.

You can see the distortions when inspecting it far from the intended viewing point!

Theres a lovely dome over there.

Moving closer, yep dome.

But when you look from the side, ah hah! its a painting!

Ok moving out, I felt rather strapped for time. I forced myself to go to the Trevi Fountain, which from my imaginary high horse called thunder, I was rather tempted to skip - but it since I was in the area! And it is a beautiful fountain. But...

Oh dear. All those euros, thousands every day. Of course it is all collected and used for something charitable!

Decending down the spanish steps, through the hordes.

I continued on through the much richer streets and across the river Tiber.

After a bit of a walk and coffee with some entertaining italian barristas, I arrived at the lovely space of the St Peters Square in Vatican City.

St. Peter's Basilica is truly massive. It was finished in 1626 and took 120 years to design and build. And its huge.

ST PETER: Welcome to my Basilica!

So big!

To be absolutely honest, to a fatigued me at the time, it was like every other church, only much bigger. I'll have to revisit it with more time and research to better appreciate it and learn from it!

The Vatican putting on a show as I left.

To squeeze a little more out of my visit, I went for a late visit to Castel Sant'Angelo. In contrast to the earlier elegance enjoyed by the higher powers of the Roman Catholic, this fortress was used by popes when someone was trying to kill them! There is an elevated corridor called the Passetto di Borgo running the 800m from Vatican City to the Castle. Originally however, the fortress was built by Roman Emperor Hadrian, who also rebuilt the current Pantheon, as a Mausoleum for himself and his family. I guess a tomb is a fitting prison for a pope!

Well it was suitably unpleasant inside, all of the ancient heratige had been squandered hundreds of years ago, and I had little interest in bits of Popes clothing left there, like a change of clothes in case of an extended stay. Although it is a fortified castle, which is always an interesting place to be! The museum operators were hasseling me to get out so they could go home.

With so few days, I think I got what I wanted out of Rome - a taste for more! I'll be back one day.

UNTIL NEXT TIME, ROME!

florence

Getting the train from Venice, I arrived to the leather shops and markets of Florence! 

Conveniently I was staying at a nice hostel right next to the Duomo! It was completed in 1436. Unfortunately this photo misses the huge brick dome on top, however the distictive fasade and Giottos tower are pretty amazing as well. The whole building orients you, if you get lost, just head for the Duomo - you can usually see it.

From a distance! Its easy to miss the significance of domes and how difficult they are to construct, especially at height in the 13th century. Brunelleschi had to do all kinds of clever tricks to build it, as well as convince others that he was the man for the job. To this day it is still the largest dome in the world which is constructed of brick.

Inside you can see the paintings on the inside of Brunelleschi's dome, which was started by Giorgio Vasari in 1568. It took the small team of artists 10 years to paint this, but unfortunately the scale and detail is very far away from the viewer to appreciate! But I guess you can't steal the show from Brunelleschi - you can really feel his presense here, the years of the work put into this cathedral... or maybe its because he is buried in the basement!

After the strangely quiet streets of late November Venice, in Florence it felt as though there were thousands of tourists all of a sudden! The streets are very well suited to the traffic, and in tandem give the place a nice lively feel.

Random street art guys - unfortunately no perspective distortions!

Lamb! You quickly get used to seeing all of the religious stuff in Italy.

This is the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which having been consecrated in 393, is one of the oldest cathedrals in Florence! The existing design is by Brunelleschi, and the building houses various other archectectually interesting works such as the Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy and Michelangelo's Laurentian Library. The libary contains thousands of old books collected by the Medici family. This mostly escaped my attention however, I just gawked at it like a silly tourist!

Garden inside the Basilica where no doubt members of the Medici family moped about while owning everything. Nearby was a cellar containing various antiques and religious artefacts. This area of Florence is very much covered in stone, tiles and markets, it seems a shame this garden isn't more public and accessible.

Money wall! I believe this is left over from a public street artwork.

I just need a ladder.

The streets are really quite nice for walking! And the city centre isn't very large so it's quite comfortable. I made my way towards the Uffuzi Gallery.

There are some cool statues on display at the Loggia dei Lanzi - this is Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus. Beating him with a club.

The Rape of Polyxena.

Its quite a nice sculpture to explore actually - lots of angles to see from.

Perseus with the head of Medusa!

I always think these Medici lions look sad, probably because lions should look ahead ready to kill and eat things. But no, eyes up to heaven.

A short walk away is the Uffuzi gallery, which I went to the next day. In 1560 it was originally an office building! (Uffuzi means Offices) designed by Giorgio Vasari, who was an archetect as well as a painter (he was one of the small team painting Brunelleschi's dome as well).

Nearby stands the Ponte Vecchio. Above the bridge, there runs part of the Vasari Corridor, which connects his Uffuzi Gallery to the nearby palace Palazzo Pitti, draped over various houses and towers in its path.

Walking accross the bridge.

The brown river Arno!

I found a nice little lookout point and climbed out to it for what was actually some rather mediocre photos. It was a nice place to stand for a while though, watching the river splashing below. It was also a little resting point before climbing up a popular lookout nearby.

A green mouldy David greeted me after a brief climb to Piazzale Michelangelo! As you might expect, there are actually a few davids positioned around town.

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo as I caught my breath after the brief climb.

Further up the hill is the San Miniato al Monte, where the view is slightly better! Unfortunately the church was closed on this seemingly regular day - I think it was a Monday.

Looking away from the city, its almost a picture of Tuscany! My quick tour of Florence sure has given me the appetite for more, and I hope to revisit Florence some day, armed with more time and organisation. As for now, onto Rome!