Merry Christmas, dudes!!!
The evening that we arrived in Herculaneum (see previous post), we took a bus trip to see Mount Vesuvius, the same chap that had blown his top and caused all that misery back in 79 AD. Mt. Vesuvius hulks over skyline of both Herculaneum and Pompeii with a giant scowl: "Start something, and I'll blow my top again." That is the reason why folk in both of these towns are ultra-polite and well-behaved.
This is what Mt. Vesuvius looks like from Pompeii, photo taken from the entrance to one of the ruins.
To see Mt. Vesuvius, you have to reserve your slot at least a week in advance, on this Italian tourism site. We had coordinated our reservation with our visit to Herculaneum. The idea was that we would get there, visit Mt Vesuvius that evening, and the archeological park the whole of next day, before shifting base to Pompeii. To get to Vesuvius, you can take bus tours from either Pompeii or Herculaneum. Pompeii has lots of different bus tours, at different rates, starting from different places. Life is a lot easier at Herculaneum (Ercolano): it is a much smaller town, and has just one bus tour, which starts from near the station. Naturally, you select a bus tour that fits the slot you have reserved on the Italian tourism website. It takes about an hour to get there, through some lush Italian countryside.
The bus takes you most of the way up the mountain, you have to walk another 20 minutes to get to the crater. It's an easy climb.
Here are pics of our walk to the crater, and the crater itself:
Last month I turned 60 and Blandine gave me the best birthday present ever... I had been dreaming of seeing Pompeii ever since I was a little kid and had read about it in history books, but I never seemed to get around to it. Blandine organized a trip without telling me. Not any old rushed touristy tour, but a leisurely, in-depth tour where I could wallow in archeology until it came pouring out of my ears. And while we were at it, we spent several days taking in the nearby city of Naples, Mount Vesuvius, the island of Procida... and... Herculaneum!
I'll cover the other places in future posts, but I'll start off with Herculaneum. Smaller and less famous than Pompeii, it is in many ways even more impressive. On the other side of Mount Vesuvius from Pompeii, it too got covered in ash in the volcanic eruption of 79AD and became a capsule in time. Unlike Pompeii, it was covered in a different type of material, that preserved wood and organic matter, with the result that you can even see beds and tables and even food and scrolls, albeit carbonized.
To get to Herculaneum, you land in Naples, as we did, and then take a train or a metro that goes to Herculaneum, Pompeii and Sorento. Make sure you take the right train, because all of them don't stop in Herculaneum. We made that mistake, and watched Herculaneum flash by our horrified eyes as the train did not stop there. We had to get down in Pompeii and take a train back. Luckily, no one checked our tickets, as we had taken tickets only up to Herculaneum. We could of course have done the two places in the reverse order, but then we had booked a hotel for that night in Herculaneum.
We stayed that night at Ercolano, which is the modern town abutting the archeological site of Herculaneum. Ercolano, by the way, is what the Italians call Herculaneum. We stayed in a luxurious B&B called 7cento Vesuviano, which is just a short walk from the entrance of the archeological site. It is an ancient villa which the owner has converted into a B&B. That afternoon, we took a bus ride to see Mount Vesuvius (see next post). We spent the evening rooting around Ercolano, which is a charming little town with a couple of minor tourist attractions and okay-ish food.
Early next morning, 8:30 AM, we were at the gates of Herculaneum, right when it opens, to avoid the tourist rush that happens later in the day. We spent a major part of the day there, and took an evening train to Pompeii. More on that in the next post.
These are the pics of Herculaneum:
https://x.com/HarperCollinsIN/status/1730858656915431609?s=20
Harper Collins has tweeted an unofficial video of the interaction I had with their bestselling author Anuja Chauhan at Bangalore Lit Fest 2023. Hopefully I'll be able to post videos of my other events at BLF when BLF releases the official videos of all the events. Anyway, this is an advance view! Watch me make a fool of myself and goof my carefully prepared lines 🤣 I couldn't help it Anuja has this somewhat overpowering personality and I was somewhat off balance at the crazy way the interview started: Anuja was late, caught in the Bangalore traffic, and I had to ad-lib for 5 minutes and keep the audience entertained until she got on stage 😂
If you happen to be in Bangalore this weekend, come over, watch me make an ass of myself 😀
These are the events that I will be participating in:
https://bangaloreliteraturefestival.org/participant/pashupati-chatterji/
