We started our day with another plentiful breakfast with great views of the ruins of Pompeii. After this we took a bus to another town that was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. However what’s different about Herculaneum, is that it was buried under sixty feet of rock. Simply put, the view of Herculaneum was breathtaking. The town was placed on a steep hill and the walls of concrete surrounding it gave a very interesting perspective to how deeply covered  Herculaneum was.

After the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, Herculaneum was covered in mud at first, as opposed to the ash in Pompeii. This preserved an amazing amount. Archeologists have discovered carbonized wooden beams and even food. Although Pompeii is more well known, Herculaneum is equally as important because of these finds. 

In Herculaneum, we looked into the House of the Deer. Because of the way that the city was preserved, we saw just how the house was when it was lived in. In the colonnades, there were beautiful frescoes that retained much of their color like the ones we studied in Pompeii. This was a very interesting insight into the way that people lived their lives in a slightly different part of the Roman Empire than what we have previously learned. 

Afterwards, we went down to the boat sheds where the coastline used to be (it has since been extended much further). During the eruption, people fled there in an attempt to escape, but tragically not everyone did. Those people’s skeletons had been preserved there. Our group looked on in silence, and it was clear that seeing this had affected everyone. It is one thing to learn about these disasters in books, but it is an entirely different experience to see the damage with your own eyes. 

After this we headed to lunch in Naples. We continued using newfound Italian skills to order more pizza. We walked from lunch to the Naples Archaeological Museum to see some of the many priceless marble statues, mosaics and paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

One interesting artifact we saw was the mosaic of the battle of Alexander the Great versus Darius the Persian King. This mosaic came from the House of the Faun which we had seen a recreation of in Pompeii. It was made with close to a million tiny tiles. Another artifact we saw was a massive statue of Hercules with his trademark lion skin. We could really get a good perspective on how heroically the Romans perceived him. After many selfies with the statues of Roman emperors we took a bus to Rome. 

On the peaceful bus ride we were able to stop at a rest stop and get real kinder eggs. So overall a great day.

Tomorrow: on to the Forum!

Rowan and Alex