Naples & Pompeii for the weekend? Sign me up!

The temperatures in Italy have been skyrocket high this summer. The locals say that this is the hottest July in the past 150 years. I may have misunderstood that number, but it just goes to show how hot it is. The heat didn’t stop us this weekend though as we made our way to a weekend in Naples and Pompeii.

We stayed right in the heart of the city in Naples and stayed in a cute little hotel that had AIR CONDITIONING! We were all so excited to have AC at night when we sleep because all of our housing placements do not have AC so we sweat all night long when we sleep. Our room was set to the coldest temperature possible so we can snuggle under the blankets. 

When we first arrived we checked into our hotel and grabbed a quick lunch then met our tour guide to get a personal tour of the city of Naples. It was all so beautiful. We saw famous monuments around the city; we went to a museum of a famous sculptor that sculpted the well-known Veiled Christ; it was beautiful! We also walked by one of the castles that Naples has. It was amazing to see where there used to be a moat surrounding the castles and the drawbridge. There was also damage to one of the side of the castle where a cannon ball once hit. The stories our tour guide shared with us was so interesting to hear. There was also a palace that was right next to the opera house. It was huge and next to the palace, there we statues of the two great kings who once lived in that palace. After our guided-walking tour we all went to the sea to look at the amazing view. We wanted to jump inside the water so bad, but we were saving that fun for the next day.

The next day, we woke up early, had breakfast, and then hit the streets to take a train to Pompeii. Once we got there, we started our tour to the ancient ruins right away. It is crazy to think that it was once a city and with the eruption of the volcano, ashes covered the entire city for years until people discovered the town. There is still so much that hasn’t been exhumed and it still buried with ashes, but for now they are focusing on preserving what is exposed today since they know what is still buried is safe. The craziest part was when we walked into what was once a bakery and they said that when they found it, the archeologist found 51 pieces of bread still in the brick oven. Since the bread was closed off by a stonewall in the middle of a cooking session, there was no air or oxygen to reach the bread. That is why after hundreds of years the bread was still there. That was just mind-blowing to me.

We also went into a couple homes that were still intact that were all different sizes. They say that people didn’t base their wealth off of how big their house was; it was by the painted murals in their home and if they had the blue paint, it meant that they were pretty rich because it was a rare color that was very expensive.  We walked by old bars, churches, and the city hall. We also walked by a place where they have placed all the individual items that were found in the discovering of the city. There were humans covered in a plaster of some sort that if you took that part off you would see the skeletons of the humans. The shape of them looked liked they were covering their faces from the ash and curled up in a ball; It was really sad. There was also a dog that was tied up and looked like he was trying to escape as well but couldn’t get free.

To wrap up this amazing weekend, all I can say is that if anyone decides to take a trip to Italy, Naples and Pompeii is a must. My mom’s side of the family is from there so it was really cool to be in a city where my roots are from. Naples, I will be back again one day!