One Day in Pompeii: A Do-It-Yourself Tour

Do you know anything about the history of Pompeii and what momentous event happened there in the past? Since you’re here reading this you probably know that it’s about a king's bastard son named Jon Snow taking on a Roman senator and an active volcano in a battle to the death. Right?

No?

Okay, I didn’t mean to insult your intelligence my dear wonderful and genius readers. To you, whose intellect far surpasses my own. I apologize. But everybody knows that Jon Snow knows nothing! So let me give him, and maybe you, a quick little history lesson about Pompeii.

Pompeii Theather

Sometime around 79 AD, roughly 20,000 inhabitants of Pompeii went on about their daily business. You know, doing important things like writing lewd and lascivious graffiti on walls, drinking wine, being promiscuous, chasing rats out of the grain house, et cetera - See? I fucking know Latin so I’m qualified to tell this story.

Just one day in Pompeii

So they went on about their daily sinful ways and then by divine judgment, consumed by fire and brimstone. Errr. Pompeii was a glorious city built by a bunch of genius engineers. You know the ones that get straight A’s and are obviously full common sense.

They thought it was a good idea to build the city next to an active volcano. I mean, hello, it’s an active volcano! You can have a sauna and cook your meals at the same time right there. Brilliant! But, on a fateful day on August 24^th, the Volcano (Mt. Vesuvius) had a plan of its own. It decides to go nuclear and spew out an apocalyptic river of destruction leveling Pompeii along with most of its inhabitants. The city was buried under 20 feet of pumice and ash.

Pompeii Town Center. It would have been crowded just like this back in the days.

Centuries would pass later and the city was forgotten until 1748 when Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre excavated it after the discovery of its sister city, Herculaneum in 1738. Due to it being buried in pumice and ash, the lack of air and moisture preserved much of the artifacts (and some people) to this very day. It’s an amazing archeological find, so much so that some 2 million people, like me, come to see it every year. And now you, want to see it for yourself too.

There are several ways to explore Pompeii

1. You can go on a pre-booked guided tour (made for tourists).
2. Hire a guide on the spot @ €100 (made for suckers).
3. Hire an audio guide that hawkers in the entrance are selling. It’s just a recording of Pompeii’s Little Red Book (made for level 2 suckers).
4. You do-it-yourself (only for geniuses). The ticket includes a map and small pocket guide to the site. There’s even an app for the iPhone so you can have in the palm of your hands. But I’m going knock you down a few notches from a genius for owning an iPhone. Did I tell you that the city was built by geniuses but somehow couldn’t build an app for the Android? WTF?

My Buddy Ryan Haggling for Pompeii Audio Guide

So you don’t want to be bogged down with a group of tourist with their gargantuan heads and giant iPads blocking the views? You don’t like dealing with hawkers with their incessant hawking (Stephen is a genius)? And you obviously could use €100 for other things besides giving it to some glorified guide on the street, right?

You picked #4 - You Want a Do-It-Yourself Tour of Pompeii!

Congratulations! You’re a genius!

As mentioned, the ticket includes a small pocket guide and a map of Pompeii. While you’re at it, download the Pompeii – A day in the past app if you have an iPhone. The app even has a location service that will guide you from important points on the site (requires the internet). This should be all you need to discover all the not-to-be-missed sites around the city.

Here’s how I recommend you do it

Enter the site from Porta Marina entrance. Get your maps, guides, and the iPhone app if applicable. From there, make your way over to the Forum. This was the commercial, religious, and political center of Pompeii. Near the forum are the grain stores where you can still see a human-shaped plaster cast of Vesuvius’ victims. Go ahead, take selfies and be morbid.

Human Body Cast in Pompeii

Once done, you should head out on the Via dell’Abbondanza and navigate your way to the Amphitheatre. Gladiators once had deadly battles here while around 20,000 spectators watched much like the Colosseum in Rome (Are you not entertained?!?). By the way, if watching gladiators battle it out in Rome makes you hungry I highly recommend another tour: Rome Food Tours.

Colosseum Walls

Wander on this end of Pompeii and then navigate your way back to the Porta Marina entrance via the Necropolis. There are tombs and gardens here worth checking out.

There are other noteworthy points, but none is as unique and amazing as Pompeii's ancient graffiti. Bar none. Bring a Latin dictionary with you. You won’t regret it.

Just check these ones out:

APOLLINARIS, MEDICUS TITI IMPERATORIS HIC CACAVIT BENE.
Translates to: “ Apollinaris, doctor to emperor Titus, had a good shit here”

SUSPIRIUM PUELLAM CELADUS THRAEX.
Translates to: “Celadus makes the girls moan.”

I wish this guy was still around. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from him. Not that I need to learn much from the guy, I’m a pretty learned dude. But, you know it’s good to have somebody to exchanges ideas with…ahem! But you know, it's probably written by Celadus himself!

DOMINUS EST NON GRATUS ANUS RODENTUM!
Translates to: The boss isn’t worth a rat’s ass!

THEOPHILE, NON FACIUNT ORALIS SEXUS SUPER PUELLAS ADVERSUM CIVITATEM MURUS, TANQUAM CANEM.
Translates to: Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog.

That…paints quite a picture...

There are interesting paintings as well. Very interesting...

Interesting Paintings in Pompeii

The stories told here are true to the best of my knowledge, except maybe the story about engineers building a city next to an active volcano, that’s just unbelievable.

GETTING TO POMPEII

• By car: Take the A3 motorway Napoli-Salerno (exit Pompei west) or A3 motorway Salerno-Napoli (exit Pompei est).
• By train: On the Naples-Sorrento line, exit at the Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri. On the Naples-Poggiomarino line, exit at the Pompei Santuario.
• By bus: There are buses from Salerno or Naples to Pompeii. The exit is Pompei (Piazza Esedra).

TOURIST INFORMATION

• Pompeii is open daily, 8:30 am to 5 pm from November through March. Pompeii is closed on Christmas Day, New Years Day, and May 1st
• A single day ticket is €11.
• At the Porta Marina entrance, you can buy an audio guide in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish for €6.50.

READY FOR POMPEII?

 

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : Pompeii Tour

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