Today Bomerano is shrouded in mist and rain is forecast. Severiano wisely changed the order of our itinerary so that we had the best weather and visibility for Vesuvius and The Path of The Gods. Originally there was a choice of visiting Capri or Herculaneum today. Capri is now off the agenda as the weather is too poor.
It seems that the decision to visit Herculaneum today is a good one. As we descend to the coast we find ourselves below the clouds with reasonable visibility. Rain threatens but never actually materialises and the sun peeps out on a couple of occasions.
Herculaneum is very different to Pompeii. Pompeii was engulfed by a pyroclastic flow of billowing clouds of 700°C gas, ash, and rock travelling at up to 725 kilo-meters per hour. This incinerated and demolished almost everything in its path. The pumice rained down destroying the second floors of virtually every building. As a result few of the buildings in Pompeii remain intact. By contrast, Herculaneum escaped the initial eruption but was buried by the second phase where rivers of ash and mud poured down the volcano. The town was buried under 25 metres of mud and ash which preserved and sealed it beautifully. Consequently, the houses are largely intact, paintings and murals still have vibrant colours and bodies were well preserved. It is definitely worth visiting both sites if you have the time. Pompeii is vast; Herculaneum is much smaller but it makes sense of Pompeii.
I was surprised by my first view of Herculaneum. When you look down on it and can see the whole town and can tell how deeply it was buried. As we entered the town our first view was of the old harbour and merchants stores. People were buried alive here with little or no warning of the impending catastrophe. The bodies shown below are plaster casts of the originals but their posture and placement is identical.
Next we crossed the waterway to stand above the shops and look down across the harbour. We could see excavations taking place and wanted to know what had been discovered. I was a long way off but pretty impressed by the zoom on the iphone. I was astonished to see the ribs of a boat and also, perfectly preserved, the hip, spine and femur of an unfortunate victim. Quite something to be one of the first people to see this after nearly 2000 years.
Below is a taste of the treasures of Herculaneum. Particularly impressive are the numerous mosaics on the floor and vibrant colours on walls and paintings.
Damage to windows from the mud slide…
Below are photos of the well preserved male and female baths.
Particularly well-preserved is the College of Augustals shown below.
The mosaics in Neptune and Amphitrite House shown below.
Some street scenes….
Although Herculaneum was smaller than Pompeii we felt we could have spent longer here. All too soon we had to leave and make our way back to the hotel. The drive back up the mountain was scary. A thick fog had descended and it was very hard to see the road ahead.
Leave a Reply