Return to (normal?) Life

It’s true that even in Italy you need a vacation from vacation. Class today was a welcome reprieve from the excursion to Campania, even though the last two days has been spent frolicking on the beaches of Positano. Though I believe the last week or so deserves a little bit of discussion! We set out for Campania on Friday morning at 7, taking a Mercedes-Benz charter bus (who knew they made those? Not me) to the site of Paestum, along the Bay of Naples. Paestum is the place to go if you want to see some of the best examples of Greek temples in the world… because who would purposefully go to the middle of southern Italy to destroy some temples? We began our tour of the town in the local archaeological museum, which housed mostly building fragments in various forms of preservation. Then we traversed the actual site, on which there were 3 temples (2 main ones). They were astonishing in how well they were preserved and how complete their histories were. After a refreshing run through the rain onto the bus (note sarcasm), we headed back to our hotel, Motel della Misteri. We stayed literally at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius and directly next to Pompeii and the nearby Villa of the Mysteries (hence our motel). A joke that got thrown around more than once was “We’re probably going to get buried by the volcano while we sleep, just fyi.” But we made sure that if we did indeed get covered with pyroclastic flow, we would at least have gone swimming in the amphora (vase/urn) shaped swimming pool. And we did.

Temple of Athena at Paestum


Saturday was spent looking at a town decimated by hot gas and small volcanic pebbles. Nothing is left above the 1st floor in Pompeii because the pyroclastic flow wiped out everything above 10-15 ft, which gives an eerie feeling to the entire town. What makes it even more creepy are the plaster casts of the victims of the eruption. There’s a crouching person, covering his face; a tethered dog straining to get off his leash; and the most impacting- a man in obvious pain with the back of his skull and his toe bones actually intact. His face is contorted in a horrible grimace, and you can actually see the outline of teeth. Very surreal moment. The rest of the city (or should I call it a necropolis?) was very interesting and fun to look around, and I can see how a week at the site wouldn’t be enough to see everything. Later that night we went to the Villa at Oplontis, once owned by Nero’s second wife Poppaea. Luckily it was closed during the eruption, so no remains found there.

Cast at Pompeii

The early sun of Sunday saw us leave Pompeii and head for Naples, where we spent the morning in the archaeological museum. Lots of great statuary, frescoes, and art- all housed in the Palace of the Bourbon kings. But we couldn’t linger in Naples because of the ridiculous crime rate of the city (one of the highest rates of murder in the world), so we hopped a train to Sorrento, and then a bus to our vacation spot in Positano. After negotiating the local buses- which is rather difficult when no one speaks enough English or Italian to communicate effectively- we finally made it to Hostel Brikette, our home for the next two days. These were technically vacation days, but I have never been so tired in my life. The town is situated on the side of a mountain and overlooked the Bay of Naples, so it was absolutely breathtaking. However, the climb down to the beaches was a killer… imagine climbing Tallulah Gorge about 3 times each way, and you have the climb. We spent the days on the beach and taking in the scenery, and the nights attempting to sleep on the worst beds in the world (no more hostels in my future, no matter how cheap!). But it was, all kidding aside, the most astonishingly beautiful place I have ever seen.

View of Positano from beach

After all of that traveling, class today was a great break. We got to see Santa Maria del Popolo- the church that houses the “Demon Hole” and the Chigi Chapel from Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. It was AWESOME to imagine all of that happening in the very place I was standing. Other highlights of today were Caesar’s Forum (not much left) and the Ara Pacis- the monument dedicated to peace, built by Augustus. It makes absolute sense that not much would be left of these buildings, but there is so much standing here that it makes one wonder why houses from the 1800s are so difficult to come by in the States.

"Demon Hole" of the Chigi Chapel


One thing I will miss when I come back: the abundance of blood oranges.