Hello Sorrento, hello Pompeii!

The story of how we girls ended up at Sorrento was quite funny. None of us had any idea where to go for our holiday. Initially we thought we would visit Bordeaux since them girls are somewhat wine connoisseurs, at least more well versed than me. And then we knew we all could do with some vitamin D in the form of a beach getaway. To have some sunshine this time of the year, it needed to be somewhere south and so I asked around. My Italian colleague recommended Salento in Italy. He said there is both the beach and city to explore, making it a well balanced trip. Marketa said she could redeem some points from British Airways and so volunteered to book the tickets. Well guess what in my excitement, I told her Sorrento instead of Salento!! Well they are similar words, no?

View of Capri from Sorrento (our hotel room)

In any case I was quite glad we went to Sorrento by mistake because it is beautiful. Massimo my Italian colleague explained to me this way: Italy is shaped like a boot. Salento is like the heel (facing Greece) and Sorrento is the front, where the toes are. Good description I think! He told me both places are each beautiful in their own ways, although Salento is up and coming. I told Francesco another Italian colleague sitting near me and he laughed out loud saying "ah Belinda, you need to go back to Italy again then!" in his strong Italian accent.

The nearest airport for Sorrento would be Naples and we flew in after work, arriving Naples at about 9pm. Marketa arranged for a hotel transfer and we spent the night in a hotel near Pompeii. Yes Pompeii, the place which we studied in Geography lessons years ago. The city which was buried in thick volcanic ash and wiped away from the face of the earth. I had no idea we were that close to Pompeii. The plan was for us to visit the Pompeii ruins and then continue the train journey to Sorrento where it would be our base for the next 3 days.

The weather was dry and warm (27deg) and we saw lots and lots of lemon and orange trees. This place is so abundant with these citrus fruits especially lemons. And mind you, huge lemons like I've never seen before! In fact I think I saw the biggest lemons in my life here in Italy.

Afterwards we saw more lemons the size of melons

Bring us lemonade everyday!

The Ruins of Pompeii

The ruins of Pompeii are fascinating. The place is huge and we walked 2h under the hot sun where my enthusiasm for it slowly dissipated (being here honest guys cos after 2h I was getting hungry and sweaty!).

Queueing up for tickets

Nonetheless Pompeii was a prosperous city back in the day and they had proper roads and sewage systems. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, people were more curious than anything else. They did not know that the recent rumblings and minor earthquakes they experienced were to lead to something catastrophic. The people looked at the column of volcanic ash at a distance that morning wondering what it was. When the ash started raining down some people escaped whereas most people thought they would wait it out in their homes. In fact many hid in their basements. Little did they know what would happen. The lava which flowed out of the volcano raced down the volcano at a speed of up to 100mph making it almost impossible for those remaining to escape. Sadly the lava buried everything and everyone in Pompeii of up to 4 metres. Due to the lack of moisture and air, when archaeologists discovered the site, many of the artefacts were in very good condition. They also poured plaster into the moulds left vacant by human remains to recreate the forms of the people. This is one of the best archaeological sites and work is still ongoing in this place.

After our visit, I was intrigued by the history that I read it again on Wiki and a few other websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
http://www.pompeionline.net/pompeii/index.htm
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pompeii.htm