July 11th & 12th- Pompeii & Bari

Warning this post will contain explicit material; phallic symbols and sex were considered to be holy in Pompeii. If this will bother you, don’t read this post.

As you may know, Pompeii is an ancient Roman city covered and frozen in time when Mount Vesuvius (a near by and still active volcano) erupted in 79 AD. They have uncovered 83% of the city and have left the remaining to be uncovered so that future generations can enjoy and learn from Pompeii. What has been uncovered is an extraordinary wealth of architecture, sculptures, paintings, and mosaics. The city was buried in ash and rock the allowed for an exceptional preservation of the entire Roman city.  Most understand that lava covered the city which isn’t true. When the lava came out of Vesuvius is shot straight up and as it came down it cooled and ash and rock covered the city in 48 hours. Some of the city has been rebuilt but what is left and what can be understood about the ancient culture is remarkable.

Gladiator graffiti

Ancient paintings and etchings are on the walls all over the city. The colors are still very vibrant and a lot of the etchings are penises as they were considered to be holy and stand for fertility. The Pompeian’s belief after death was that the loved one did not go to a paradise but simply into the earth however their genius (or soul as we might call it) survived within the family. Graveyards were placed on the outskirts of the town (three have been uncovered) so anytime you came and went from Pompeii you had to walk through them. Therefor ancestry was extremely important and fertility to continue on the family is equally as important. The penis is a symbol of fertility and was placed outside of homes and etched or carved into different locations for luck.

Modern drama and entertainment was a large part of society as well as gladiators fighting beasts. Everyone was able to go to events but had to sit according to their sex and station within society. We visited two amphitheaters that were right next to each other. They were developed to have outstanding acoustics and empty pots are placed under the floor to amplify the sound of the performers.

The white steps are original

Outside of the theater is a main road filled with shops, bakeries, bars, and more. Behind the shops are the houses of some of the wealthy who owned them and used their slaves as workers. Also a very interesting aspect of Pompeian society is infrastructure used for the roadways. Unlike all of the other European cities I’ve been to the roads are laid out in a grid system (not sure when that was lost!). They all face east to west and north to south. The sidewalks are raised as the roads were used as a sewer systems. There are raised rocks used as walkways to cross the street and the chariots were standardized to fit between the rocks. There are even grooves running through the street carved in to the streets for the chariots.

You can kind of see the grooves
in the road, they were very easy
to see but hard to take photos of

Shops with a home behind them

Example of a restaurant with takeaway service

The wealthy lived in houses that were marked by three things but unfortunately I only remember two. One was running water to the outside to wash away the family’s sewage and a bench outside where the poor could sit and wait for jobs. We saw a few different wealthy houses with paintings on the walls, courtyards in the center, and pools for collecting water.

The paintings had incredible detail and were often painted to the gods or different heros such as Hercules.

Painting of Hercules

Women's bath

The Pompeian’s had separate baths for women and men. And both had extensive systems for heating and cooling. The women took warm baths and the men took cold ones. They had a two wall system for heating the rooms for the women. Steam would be pumped through the floor and up the walls from ovens behind that kept the rooms warm. The women’s baths were decorated with birds and flowers while the men’s baths were decorated with warriors and weaponry.

Delicate detail in the women's bath

Warrior in the men's bath

Example of someone who fell asleep

Most of what is famous from Pompeii are the people frozen in time from being killed so quickly. They have uncovered several people and we were able to see a few. They guess how they died based on the positions they were found. If they died by asphyxiation it was a peaceful death and their bodies were found in sleeping positions. If they were found holding their nose and mouth they were killed by the gasses but it was an instant death, or so our tour guide said.

Example of someone who was holding
their nose and mouth

They believe this woman may have been pregnant

Bed in a brothel

As I said before sex and fertility was a holy things and therefor brothels and sex was not something to look down upon. The brothels were used for the wealthy however since they had slaves and could do what they wanted with them they could have had sex with their slaves and it wasn’t considered adultery. Sex with prostitutes (which were men and women) was grounds for divorce. Therefor they were mainly used by the middle and lower classes and they could have gone to the brothel for either homo or heterosexual intercourse. There were several brothels within Pompeii and the men and women both had contraceptives. The men used animal intestines as condoms and the women used sponges covered in lemon or vinegar. The brothels usually had a penis carved out above the door and straw was used to make the beds more comfortable. In one brothel there are a lot of pornographic paintings on the ceilings above the doors to the rooms within the brothels. They are not sure if the paintings represent a menu of sorts for the services provided or were just there for pleasure.

Phallic symbol carved into the side
of a building

Phallic symbol carved into the street

Pompeii is a fascinating place to visit and I definitely suggest it if you find yourself in Italy someday. Definitely pay for a tour, you’ll learn a lot more about what you’re seeing! Some other interesting photos:

Original street with colored rocks

One of the main roads

Another example of takeaway food (we call it food to go
they call it takeaway here)

The main square or forum with Vesuvius in the background

Just some pretty girls

Back in Naples we got on a bus to Bari to catch our ferry to Greece and when we got there hopped in a cab. The cab driver kept insisting that we missed the ferry but Alyssa booked a ferry at 10pm not 8pm. Unfortunately she read the time wrong on the ticket (that 24 hour clock can get you) and we did miss it. Our cab driver took us to a hotel, it's a fine place but our door handle fell off :-( Neither of us had eaten since breakfast so we went in search of food. We found this restaurant with delicious smells coming out of it so we stopped! We asked for a menu and they gave us one but kept saying things in Italian, it was all very confusing. We tried to order food but it was quickly apparent that they were going to bring us whatever they wanted us to eat! It was interesting and seemed very typical so we enjoyed the experience but we paid for a bunch of food we didn't want or really liked which was a bummer. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what each table was getting, you got whatever they wanted to bring you! 

The zucchini covered crustini was delicious, the other,
cheese filled empinada of sorts wasn't as

Seafood pasta which I loved!

Dessert wasn't great

Limoncello, at least we didn't have to
pay for these!

We made it out of Bari the following day finally headed to Greece! We had deck tickets meaning we didn't have a seat and it was an overnight ferry but we were EXTREMELY lucky. We found the last couch and staked that thing out! We had to fight off a few people but it was worth it come midnight and we both wanted to lie down! Neither of us got more than probably an hour of sleep but we did our best.

Our home for 10 hours or so

Last few thoughts on Italy. I really enjoyed exploring Italy with Alyssa but it is not a country I feel I need to go back to anytime soon which really surprises me! If and when I do go back I think I'll stay more on the outskirts of the cities or in smaller villages. The cities frankly are gross. They have trash everywhere, they small pretty bad, and the amount of tourists are nuts. Also (and this is just my opinion and please don't hate me for saying it) but the Italians rubbed me the wrong way a bit. I felt like they were always ready to screw you for a buck. The cabs don't turn on meters, the cover charges that were posted in restaurants, charging for air conditioning and wifi when it wasn't originally posted that way, etc. Also, they are the worst group of people at standing in lines and that just drives me a little batty. The food is of course delicious but it just makes you feel fat after awhile and I was surprised how unimaginative the menus were. We of course could have gone to the wrong places or just not known what to order but I feel like I've had better Italian food in America. I'm sure I just pissed a few of you off by saying all that and of course we did meet some wonderful people! I have to say, it seemed every time Alyssa and I were confused on a bus or standing on street corners studying a map someone ALWAYS stopped to ask if we needed help!