We got ourselves out of bed bright and early, ate a big breakfast, and boarded the Circumvesuviana local train from Sorrento to Pompeii. Once at the Pompeii train station, we walked a short distance to get to the Pompeii ruins entrance.
These were the first glimpses we had of the excavations at Pompeii as we approached: a few structures outside of the city walls.
It was a beautiful morning: bright, calm, crisp, cool. Birds chirped and the morning freshness matched the peace and quiet perfectly.
There were about 20 people milling about. I do remember that it was not immediately obvious what we were supposed to do, but that was not the reason most of them were there.
Most of these people turned out to be tour guides, soliciting tourists to pay them cash for a guided tour of Pomeii. Although I did not capture him in a photo, one gentleman sticks out in my mind. He was a little taller than I, a little rounder, black hair and a beard. And his booming Russian voice broke the tranquil silence with stunning frequency. Imagine a very loud voice reverberating the following words throughout the area, in a very heavy Russian accent (don't forget to roll the first R): "RRRRrrrrrrreeee - DICK - u - loss POMP-pay!!!! Take a tour of ridicilous Pomeii!". This phrase was repeated about every 15 seconds. It made me wonder if this Russian chap knew what the word 'ridiculous' meant.
We had already purchased a pass the prior day at Herculaneum, so we just showed it at the window and picked up a Pompeii map. I'll be referring to this map as we start our tour of Pompeii...
Here's another map - a little simpler to read, but not near as much detail, either.
To start our tour, we must pass the dude in the pink shirt. Proceed.
No comments:
Post a Comment