While nearly everyone has heard of the horrible tragedy of Pompeii, (If you haven’t, read our last blog.), several people had told us that the town of Herculaneum on the coast was equally astounding. Comparatively small with a population of approximately 4000, Herculaneum covered an area of about 50 acres of which only 11 have been excavated. The modern town Ercolano sits on top of it.

As Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, Herculaneum was covered by flows of pyroclastic rock that solidified to an average height of approximately 16 meters, (53 feet). This tragic event created a phenomenal preservation that is absolutely original, nothing at all like Pompeii. Archaeological finds have included plants, fabrics and furniture, structural parts of wooden buildings and even a boat & a fisherman’s basket were recovered from the ancient Marina.

One of the most shocking areas was a line of vaulted rooms used as port warehouses and boat storage opened to the beach. In 1982, over 300 human skeletons were found along with valuables they carried with them as they sought safe refuge at the water’s edge. They were killed almost instantly by the 500°F heat wave and the blazing clouds of exploding gas from the volcano. The vantage point from a walkway over 3 stories above the area that used to be the beach, showed a graphic example of the astounding amount of ash and rock that covered this fishing village.

Wandering through the cobblestone streets we explored the luxurious vaulted Central Steam Baths for both men and women, with cold rooms and dressing rooms. Beautiful homes retained their intricate mosaic floors and well preserved frescoes on the walls. At times it felt like we should knock on someone’s door before entering or that the whole village was just gone for the day. There was a bakery with its interesting millstones and a fast food thermopolium like we had seen in Pompeii.

We even found a laundromat, well, sort of. According to historical documents, clothes were washed in troughs filled with water & soda, and barefoot men were stomping them. Then they were soaked in human or animal urine to bleach them. After they were rubbed with clay to soften them, they were rinsed and hung to dry. Next they were brushed to make them shiny and later put in a wooden crate or cage where sulfur was burnt underneath to make them smell good, (a relative term after being soaked in urine). Finally they were neatly folded and pressed in a device we thought at first was an olive or wine press, but in fact, it was made for clothes. Amazingly, this laundry press survived the disaster and is the only one of its kind preserved to this day.

Excavations at Herculaneum are ongoing with tunnels being bored into cliffs of ash. What was once a beautiful beach is gone. Vesuvius added a strip of land to the oceanfront some 400 meters wide, (1312 feet).

Heading south from Rome we were basically looking for a nice place to spend Gary’s birthday. The ancient city of Pompeii had always been on our list of areas to visit. Monika had been there with her parents many years ago and had fond memories.

Pompeii rises on a plateau of Vesuvius’ lava overlooking the Sarno River Valley at whose mouth was once a busy port. Its origins date back to the 1st half of the 16th century BC. In 62 A.D. a violent earthquake virtually leveled the city. Seventeen years later, still in the process of rebuilding the earthquake damage, Vesuvius erupted on 24 August 79 A.D. and buried Pompeii under ash and rock. It was not rediscovered until the 16th century.

The archaeological area of Pompeii extends for approximately 163 acres of which approximately 111 have been excavated. It is quite amazing what they have uncovered. As we walked the streets in the early morning without the crowds of tourists, it was like strolling through a deserted ghost town. We could see were elegant homes once stood. We ducked under archways and poked around inside public baths. On many walls we marveled at the beautiful frescoes. Intricately designed brick walls and mosaic floors showed the artistic abilities of the original citizens. There were bakeries, fast-food restaurants, fountains and even a couple of houses of ill repute. The open-air great theater could seat 5000 spectators.

In the abandoned granary now used as a warehouse for artifacts, we grimaced at the plaster molds of victims who obviously died horrible and painful deaths.

For a little impression of what Pompeii is all about, scroll through the photos below. They may tell part of the story but much will never be known.

There are a few Cities in the World that truly stand out; San Francisco, Istanbul, Beijing, London, St. Petersburg. Rome, living, breathing and constantly changing, saturated with history, much of it dating BC, is surely among them, but after the Coliseum, the Forum and the Vatican, there is the City itself.

It was sound advice to absolutely NOT drive in Rome, so our trusty Garmin routed us through the narrowest, most congested, most chaotic part of the city it could find during the height of rush hour. At some length, we arrived at a safe RV parking facility just across the street from tram and bus lines, and we never moved. Drivers in Rome are even a bit humorous in their unconventional maneuvers and parking. Add to that thousands of Vespas and their clones and mix in a few hundred big bikes, 1200 cc “fat-tire” “crotch rockets” and it’s a real show.

Fortunately, the center of the city is walkable, and narrow alleys wind around sidewalk cafes and end up at beautiful plazas with spectacular fountains, including the most famous, the Trevi Fountain. If you throw a coin in, it guarantees that you will return. We did. Others, like the Fountain of the Four Rivers and Trione Fountain were positively amazing. How could these solid marble works of art be created with a chisel and a hammer? Often they were even more striking at night. Venders roasted chestnuts and street musicians entertained us.

As the saying goes, “Rome! A lifetime!” Indeed, three or four days gave us only a taste. We will come back someday.

Aside from the Colosseum, the Forum is where all of Ancient Rome happened: Temples, market, craftsmen, debates, justice courts and even murders.

Walking through the ruins that had been built, torn down, destroyed by earthquakes, rebuilt, vandalized, robbed, covered with centuries of rubble and finally, what was left, excavated and to the extent possible, restored, it felt like walking through a small abandon town, complete with a sport’s arena.

Some of the detail on the few columns and statues was amazing, considering that more than 2,000 years had passed. What we thought we could see in an hour took four, and all day could be spent wandering the backside paths.

Like the Vatican, there is only one. There are many sports arenas and coliseums in Italy, but there is only one “Colosseum”. Since the Middle Ages it has been a symbol of Rome, the Eternal City. It had been written, “While the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand but when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall, and when Rome falls, the World will end.”

Started in AD 72 on the grounds of Emperor Nero’s private Domus Aurea and inaugurated in AD 80, the multi-tiered complex could seat over 50,000 people. A wooden floor over the main arena was cover with sand to prevent the gladiators and wild animals from slipping and to absorb the blood. Animals from Africa and Asia including lions, bears, tigers, rhinos, and hippos were pitted against unarmed naked prisoners of war who were destined to be torn apart and eaten, just part of the show. Official numbers can be conflicting, but to be sure, thousands of animals, prisoners and gladiators fought to their death to entertain the cheering crowds.

While we rarely take guided tours, the one for the Colosseum gave us access to the many chambers under the main arena where prisoners and animals were held. Earthquakes and pollution have taken their toll, but one can still imagine the bloody history of this famous structure.

We might reflect on today’s professional football. Great receivers, tight ends and quarterbacks, like successful gladiators, are highly paid and become famous national heroes to fight again and again. The difference is, the loosing team gets to live another day.

To display more photos we added the photo gallery feature. Please click on the first thumbnail (which is not the entire picture) to enlarge it and then use the arrows below the photos to view others. Anytime you wish to return to the blog, just click on the photo. Captions will only display below the thumbnails.

Of course, we had to take a photo to prove we were there.

As the saying goes,” Rome—a lifetime”. We didn’t have a lifetime so what to see in a few days? Of course the Colosseum, The Forum, maybe a few museums and the City itself. But above all, we wanted to see the Vatican.

Thanks to various tips from other travelers we easily found a comfortable guarded RV parking lot just a short walk from the bus and tram stations into town. Arriving at the Vatican, we were quite pleased to learn that we had been invited for a General Audience with Pope Francis I. Well, not exactly alone. We picked up our invitations and joined several hundred others who had been invited.

The Pope and Vatican City are guarded by the Swiss Guard, specially trained volunteer soldiers from Switzerland. This gave us a little advantage since Monika, being Swiss, could walk right up to one of the guards and start a conversation in Swiss German, and from that we learned what would probably be the best place to stand to actually see Pope Francis close-up as he drove around in his Pope-Mobile. We were impressed with his easy going and warm Latin personality. The whole affair ran into a couple of hours and we stayed for the final blessing.

St. Peter’s Basilica itself is as spectacularly beautiful as one might imagine. The Vatican Museum is nearly overwhelming with its treasures of art and historical artifacts, much of which you would need to be a master theologian to grasp all the meanings. On the top of our list was to see the spectacular, (oops, there’s that word again), Sistine Chapel painted mostly by Michelangelo. It took him four years to complete the ceiling (1508-1512). Later he returned to paint the Last Judgment which is, well, you know the word. Unfortunately there are a dozen guards in the Sistine Chapel making sure that no one takes any pictures of any kind. How strange. But when you consider that 25,000 people per day (5 million/year) pack themselves into the Sistine Chapel to tip their heads back in awe, we suppose it would be annoying to have the same crowd snapping pictures. It’s an active chapel, another reason why you can’t take pictures, and it is supposed to be quiet, but that didn’t keep the guards from yelling at anyone who even looked like he was about to sneak a shot with his iPhone.

After strolling through miles of art and sculptures and treasures it was already dark by the time we returned to actually see St. Peter’s Basilica. Fortunately it was fairly well lit and we were able to get some images to share with you.

Feeling quite lucky that we had managed to see most of the Vatican in one day including being blessed by Pope Francis, we stayed long enough to watch the changing of the Swiss Guards which was performed with considerably less pomp and circumstance than the same procedure at Buckingham Palace, but nevertheless quite impressive. Our only choice now was to find a cute café with some nice Italian wine and maybe some fresh pasta with a homemade sauce.

An Italian fellow camper in Pisa suggested we’d visit Bomarzo, the Sacred Grove, on our way to Rome. Colloquially called the Park of the Monsters, it is located in the Province of Viterbo in northern Lazio, Italy.

Quite extraordinary, the Parco dei Monstri was built in 1552! That’s 562 years ago. This alone is quite amazing. Duke of Bomarzo, Nobleman Pier Francesco Orsini (1513-1584), known as Vicino, created the Sacro Bosco (Sacred Grove) as a memorial to his beloved wife Giulia Farnese. Its location is at the bottom of a rather steep damp canyon that explains all the moss covering the larger-than-life sculptures carved out of local stone and bedrock. Unlike most sculptures where the rock is moved and then sculpted, all of the huge figures in the park were created on the spot, the boulders and stones being far too big to move.

There have been various interpretations and much speculation about this strange garden but the reality is, even with inscriptions found, much of Vicino’s precise intentions have been lost, made doubtful, or at least ambiguous by the passage of time. Much of it remains romantic speculation but maybe that is sufficient to satisfy our curiosity and spark our imagination.

New Year’s Eve! Remember we are still catching up. Heading south towards Rome on December 31, we spotted a sign for a supermarket and turned in. Then we saw a sign for parking and campers. Such luck. There were several other RVs from Italy, so we pulled in and quickly made friends with our neighbors. Watching the ball drop in New York’s Times Square was out of the question but we certainly made the best of what New Year’s Eve can be.

The village of San Quirico d’Orcia, Tuscany is of Etruscan origins with its earliest written records dating back to 712 AD. As evening came we wandered into town and saw that many cafes and restaurants were still open. Several fires in raised cauldrons were burning in the streets.

Returning to our camping spot, our new friends from Rome knocked on the door and brought us a taste of their lentil/sausage soup, apparently the traditional food for New Year’s Eve. They explained that lentils symbolize coins, so one better eat as much soup as he can to insure plenty of money for the coming year.

The nearby community had some great fireworks and one of our camper neighbors had a few of his own to entertain all of us. We stood outside as the magic hour approached, popping the corks of some good Italian Prosecco and toasting to each other for a great and adventurous 2014.

In town, the church bells rang to welcome the New Year, and the fireworks went on till the wee hours of the morning. After a good night’s sleep, (no headache), we strolled into town again. Merry makers were sipping coffee and some of the evening’s fires were still smoldering. We did find a cute winery selling their own vintage with tasting, but it was not up to the Tuscan standards we had been spoiled by.

Before leaving we dug out our maps and got some good tips from our experienced RV friends. They warned us about parking on the streets in Rome and gave us some coordinates for some safe camping sites.

On the way to Rome, Siena had never really been on Gary’s main wish list but so many people raved about it we had to check it out. Like Florence, there were a lot of things to see, so we again had to make a careful selection. As it turned out everything of most importance was all in one place; the Cathedral, the Baptistery of St. John, the Cathedral’s Piccolomini Library, the Museum and its attached Tower, and the underground excavations of the Crypt.

The Cathedral (Il Duomo) was as marvelous as expected with its multi-columned midrif. The ornately painted dome could give you a stiff neck just admiring it. The inlaid marble mosaic floor covering the whole Cathedral is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy. The copy of the stained-glass window by Duccio di Buoninsegna was captivating as the sun filtered through it. (The original is safely displayed in the museum, see photo below.) The Cathedral’s Library was exquisite. The frescoes on the walls of the Baptistery had such detail that they seemed lifelike. Of course we had to climb the currently being renovated museum tower for the view.

Despite its name and location, the Cripta is not exactly a crypt – it was never used for burials. It was constructed at the same time as the Duomo – in the 13th century. Expansion work on the choir beginning in 1317 required dismantling the crypt’s vault, while the construction of the baptistery soon destroyed the facade. The crypt was subsequently used as a storeroom for construction materials and then closed up for good.

It lay unseen for nearly 700 years until its re-discovery during routine excavations in the Duomo in 1999. The frescoes had been remarkably preserved. Flash photography was not permitted, but bumping the ASA up to 1600 we were able to get a few impressions.

As a special bonus, we noticed that there was an exhibit by Steve McMurry, the famous National Geographic and Magnum photographer, best known for his memorable portrait of ”The Afghan Girl”. In one word, the exhibit, now traveling around Europe, is “spectacular”! For us, being photographers and especially liking pictures of the people, it was a real education just studying his techniques for taking the amazing portraits he had captured from around the world.

The city of Siena was a delight to wander about. The town is also famous for its hand-painted pottery. The temptation to take some along was met with the probability that it would never reach California unbroken. Before we left, we stumbled upon a little coffee roaster shop and picked up the owner’s favorite blend.

After our pleasant stay in San Gimignano, the romantic City of Florence, or as the Italians call it, “Firenze”, was actually out of our way, but with its reputation for being one of the most beautiful cities in the world, according to Forbes, it was worth the short drive back north. Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called “the Athens of the Middle Ages”. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1982.

On a tip from fellow travelers we found a safe parking place right in front of the San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain) standing atop one of the highest points in the city. The historic center of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, so we didn’t expect to be alone. With so many things to see, we really had to be selective. Fortunately almost everything was within walking distance when we reached downtown.

It was afternoon, and we were hoping we might still catch the Accademia Gallery. Finding the poorly marked entrance, we could see the line was probably two blocks long. Plan B: Come back in the morning.

We were on the doorstep at 7:30 AM in a light drizzle and there were only five people ahead of us. While the Accademia Gallery has many halls full of spectacular art and sculptures, our primary goal was to see the famous statue of David, the masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. His actual name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buanerroti Simoni (1475-1564). No photos were allowed, (David is understandably rather camera shy), but we snuck one anyway. There he was in all his natural beauty, 15 ft tall, the self acclaimed “most beautiful man in the world”, and he never even made the cover of People Magazine!

The real deal, the famous statue of David, the masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo.

As we exited this remarkable museum three hours later, we could see the line already stretching around the corner.

Our next stop was The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary the Flower), the Cathedral of Florence. With its huge Piazza del Duomo commanding the center of town, it seemed to be a meeting place for tourists and locals day and night. An impressive collection of remarkable sculptures are on display including a copy of the famous David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It is really quite astounding when you look at the detail and realize the work was created from a block of stone with a hammer and chisel, one little chip at a time.

We couldn’t help notice that these fearsome warriors battling each other, chopping off heads and wrestled with scimitars, apparently ran around stark naked.

Giving a wave to the copy of David we continued to the Cathedral to marvel at the architecture inside. It was begun in 1296 in Gothic style. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade. Being a little overcast, we resisted the temptation to climb to the top of the Giotto bell tower with its panorama of Florence and the surrounding hills. It can be reached by climbing 414 steps. Enough steps already!

A little surprise on our way back to the truck was the new Museum of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Models created from drawings of his numerous inventions were on display, including a flying machine and a rolling attack tank with revolving canons. What was more interesting was the incredible life this multi-talented man lead, who by the way, painted the famous Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomizes the Renaissance humanist ideal, a man of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. Just to think about it is exhausting!

Getting an early start the next day we drove south again to pick up our trail toward Rome. They say, “All roads lead to Rome”. Garmin never got the word.

Be sure to enlarge the pictures attached here.

We have all heard about the Mediterranean diet. This must be a classic example. (We couldn’t resist adding this photo sent by Monika’s old Swiss classmate Richard.)