Pompeii

getting to pompeii

pompeii ARCHAEOLOGICAL site

getting to pompeii

The regional train from Naples to Pompeii can be rough when crowded with standing-room only. It's about 35 minutes.

Even during off-season, our train to Pompeii was standing-room only for a while.

The Pompeii station is quite small, with only two platforms, one on each side of the tracks.

We visited on a rainy day during off-season. There was no queue to get in.

Pasta Carbonara, a must-try in Italy. It has eggs, guanciale (cures pork cheek) and Parmesan cheese in it. It got mixed reviews at our table.

Pizza with anchovies. It was salty.

Pompei Scavi Villa Dei Misteri is the train station for visiting Pompeii.

Back in Rome, the train station is very modern and large.

Mercato Centrale Roma (Central Market Rome) is connected to Roma Termini station and is hugely popular for both lunch and dinner.

This beer I randomly chose was so good! Flea Bastola Imperial Red Ale. Nutty, fruity, strong yet smooth, almost like a cross between beer and red wine.

The metro train to west of Tiber river is on the other side of the Termnini station, connected to the main part via underground tunnel.

There are three ways to get to Pompeii: (1) by train, connecting at Naples, (2) by car, self driving, and (3) guided tour with passenger vans. We chose to go the train route as Ivan was feeling a bit under the weather and wasn’t comfortable with the 5-hour round trip drive, but with the delayed trains and standing-room-only regional trains coming back, we would’ve been better off driving ourselves. It would’ve been a much cheaper option for a group of five also.

Voyagers tips: (1) Once arriving at Naples from Rome, look for the “Circumvesuviana” sign to get to Pompeii. You have to go out to the main area of the train station, turn right, then left around the bend to go downstairs. It’s best to ask information desk if necessary, it’s a bit confusing. (2) A good restaurant choice in Pompei is Ristorante Pizzeria Pompei, only around the corner from the archaeological site entrance, has good quality food, and is cheaper than the places right next to the train station or right outside the entrance.

pompeii ARCHAEOLOGICAL site

The column and the entire sight is so much better preserved than, say, the Roman Forum in Rome.

The Great Theater. Maren was performing to a less than enthusiastic crowd. Maybe her singing is ahead of her time.

The great theater is so well preserved.

The statue in the Pompeii Forum. Like the Roman Forum, this is the most important place in town.

The temple of Apollo, right next to the forum.

The temple of Jupiter. Jupiter (equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology) is the king of the gods in Roman mythology, so his temple is right at the head of the forum.

A marble bathtub inside the grand bath. It looks really nice, I wouldn’t mind taking a bath in it!

Four inspiring gladiators.

This is the hot bath in the public bath area. The Roman baths include hot, warm and cold baths. The hollow area underneath is for them to burn things to heat up the water.

This was supposedly a big pool.

The bodies left cavities that remain long after the bodies decomposed. Plaster was pumped into the cavities to create these casts.

The courtyard of the public bath facility.

A city wouldn’t be complete without a place for the oldest profession in the world. This brothel was small but surprisingly well preserved with vivid pictures.

The wall art left no doubt about the purpose of this building.

The "bed" inside one of the small rooms in the brother.

This place is massive!

The mosaic floor in this building is perfectly preserved.

There were baths, temples, restaurants, and many are probably just people’s homes. They do take some imagination to bring it to life.

A big pond in their yard, perhaps? This was obviously a rich person’s home, but I don’t know what this was exactly. It looked really cool though.

The amphitheater was used for gladiator fights and circus events. It is believed that other amphitheater such as the colosseum are modeled after this one since it’s the oldest.

Cartwheel time!

No idea what they were doing.

Mount Vesuvius is the volcano that erupted. You can see the outline but it was a bit muggy.

Pano shot from the center of the amphitheater. We had the amphitheater all to ourselves for a few precious minutes.

Pompeii, a city destroyed and buried by the ash of a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D., was forgotten until the rediscovery in 1748! The ancient city is very well preserved. The day trip from Rome was long and tiring, but the site was absolutely stunning. One of the most amazing sights of our world tour so far.