Live in Pompeii

POMPEII

Well, well.

I read about the Mount Vesuvius eruption in School and how it completely destroyed the city of Pompeii in a matter of hours. I thought about how disastrous it could have been for all the residents to perish at the same time. I heard that the ruins of Pompeii were discovered. That’s it. I didn’t give it much thought thereafter.

In the year 1999, I remember bunking college on a Saturday. The reason was Channel V, the English music TV channel at that time, was going to show only Pink Floyd Videos that whole weekend. Pink Floyd was and still is my all time favourite rock band and I was not going to miss that at any cost. 

The first show that played was a recording of the 1973 concert of Pink Floyd, which was a concert played in front of an empty stadium (for added effects) at.. you guessed it right…Pompeii. The concert Live at Pompeii had two profound effects on humankind. 

First. It rocketed the ratings of the progressive rock Pink Floyd (hitherto they were doing psychedelic rock) to very high levels; this was soon to be followed by the Album “The Dark Side of the Moon” which is the highest selling album of all time. 

Second. It intrigued many a person including me about the mysterious city of Pompeii. It created a strong urge that I should visit this place sometime. I saw this video first in 1999 remember; I saw it many a time later and wished I could go there someday. 

I did. It was in July of 2019.

How did I plan?

Rome was my base. I had given one a half days for Rome and Vatican City; one day was for Florence and Pisa and the final day was for the trip down south.

I booked Viator tours and travels. The day trip included a trip to the Amalfi coast, lunch at a picturesque place called Positano and a trip to Pompeii. I booked ilthe trip online at it costed me approximately INR 14000. The confirmation was sent on email.

The day.

I had to get up at 0530 am that day, as the hotel I stayed was a distance away, and you could get stuck in early morning Rome traffic. Remember this point. I barely reached in time as there was an accident on the way which caused an even longer delay. The trip started from near the Rome railway station, at the Piazza Republica, a very convenient location. The trip guide was very friendly and gave us information all throughout the bus trip. Amalfi coast and Positano were awesome. The natural beauty of these places could make the subject for another blog. But let’s  jump to the place in contention now: we reached Pompeii at 1430. 

We were now accompanied by another guide. 

The first thing that strikes you is the surreal experience of someplace that belonged to the yesteryear. The dust and ash that buried Pompeii perfectly preserved its ruins. It was like we were walking in the first century AD. (Year is 0079!)

We went first to the Teatro Piccolo, or the small theatre. You could almost imagine yourself sitting among the crowd at sunset, while an artist sang in the theatre designed to have the best acoustic experience. As we came out of the theatre, we passed a narrow cobbled street. I was surprised when the guide pointed out to the drainage system running on the sides of the streets! (No comments on the present day municipalities here) . There were small counters on either sides of the streets, which were probably selling food , relished by the theatre goers. That street was a market place as the houses on either sides were surely shops, one such bakers shop was beautifully preserved, oven and all.

We were then taken to a well preserved house. Architecturally, it was a small masterpiece. The rooms and the gardens were similar to a dainty house. But the thing I liked the most was the open air hall, at the centre of which lay a pool. This pool would collect fresh water for each house when it rained. Remember there was no plumbing back then! 

Next were the Stabian baths. I will not go into details, but the pool, the separate male and female baths, changing room, warm bath areas, cold baths and the gymnasium was worth a gasp. Wow!

We next saw the Temple. Well preserved indeed!

The guide let us free to take photos at the Forum, the large town square and we didn’t move much from the square! The reason was the numerous photo opportunities you got at the square itself, which was lined by architectural masterpieces. The Mount Vesuvius was there standing at the background, the eruption of which buried the town. 

We saw numerous negative impressions of people buried in the ash and it was tear jerking just to see the impressions. This was the only sad part of the day.

Back to the bus stand , with a lot of memories, our group left back to Rome in silence. Everyone was awestruck and lost in introspection.

I personally am not a fan of visiting historic sites where Kings and Queens lived. Pompeii was a exactly the opposite. Common people lived there. Just like you and I.