10 Nov   Louche life  10 Nov
  Southern Italy & Sicily  
Naples   11 Nov  11 Nov 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum
11 Nov 2014
Herculaneum    11 Nov 2014
  Herculaneum, Italy   
S M L
 
 
 
 
 

If you are finding this site slow to load please come back in a day or so by which time I'll have the problem fixed. At the same time I'll add a few more images. And please excuse all my typos. While the iphone 6 is wonderful, I find writing and editing challenging on such a small device. Of course when you think about it, it is amazing technology, eh?

And now back to Italy.

In 1709, a hundred years after the discovery of Pompeii, a well digger encountered a buried structure in an area just south of Naples. This was later revealed to be part of a  town. That town, Herculaneum, turned out to be smaller and more well-to-do than Pompeii. While not as extensive,  the ruins of Herculaneum are better preserved because they were buried by volcanic mud which hardened into rock. Even some wooden structures were preserved.

Not ones to pass up a chance to see some more ruins, we take the Circumvesuviana train to Ercolano then walk about 500m west to the ruins of Herculaneum. Unlike Pompeii, which is at grade level, Herculaneum is below grade so as we approach the ruins we look down to see a surprisingly complete looking city in a hole, surrounded by the nondescript buildings that make up much of the Naples ' suburbs.

We quickly find Herculaneum to contain a more interesting ruins experience than Pompeii. The buildings are more complete, some even have intact ceilings and wooden doors. The most interesting are the colorful walls, colorful columns, and wide variety of mosaics on the floor. We spend a few hours and are able to cover the whole town.

I'll add more text to this entry, and more pictures, but i must stop for tonight. If all goes well tomorrow we'll be in Taormina.

Ciao. 

 
 
 
 
Ercolano street  
 
 
 
 
Ercolano street  
 
 
 
 
Ercolano street  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Ruins in Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Ruins in Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Ruins in Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 
Herculaneum  
 
 
 
 10 Nov   Louche life  10 Nov
  Southern Italy & Sicily  
Naples   11 Nov  11 Nov