The site of Herculaneum is in one of the poorest parts of Italy, which is Ironic as it was once the playground of the rich and famous, and still could be as a tourist destination, but because they won’t move the shanty town off the ruins, they can’t excavate, which means that can’t develop the tourist business, and therefore they have a shanty town…Its almost Zen-like.OOhhhhmmmmmmm…..I really wouldn’t encourage that many more tourists. It’s a small site, much-much smaller than Pompeii, but also like a delicate jewel.
Herculaneum was destroyed in the same cataclysmic eruption that took out neighboring party town Pompeii. Though here instead of being buried under a layer of burning ash the victims were smothered by a flow of pyroclastic mud, the first of which was so hot it carbonized all the wood it touched, preserving the forms of carpentry. Herculaneum is so well preserved because of this mud which filled the buildings from the ground up so the roofs did not collapse like in Pompeii. The state of preservation is so much more conducive to actually understanding how the town appeared, and how daily life actually took place in the Roman era.
The train to Herculaneum leaves from the Circumvesuvia Station on the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi. The cost was around three Euros for a one way ticket (2012). The train usually has a final destination of Sorrento, so don’t worry if you don’t see a train that actually says Ercolano. Watch the reader boards though, as the trains can change departing platforms at a moment’s notice. The trip takes about 25-30 minutes and arrives at Ercolano Scavi. From the train station it is a straight shot down the via Novembre IV to the entrance gate. There are a number of pizza and pastry shops along the route, eat now if you can’t wait because there wasn’t any sort of cafeteria or vendor at the site. You can’t miss the entrance, it’s right at the end of the street, shaped like a triumphal arch and has the word SCAVI on it. Strangely enough there was a tree with hundreds of CD’s hanging from it; just to the right of the entrance.
Be warned this is an extremely poverty stricken area, it’s not pretty and crime can happen quickly. I would never say skip going to Herculaneum, just be cautious and aware of your surroundings.
Once inside the gate you will come to a large modern building that sells the tickets, maps, books and has restrooms. The walk to the excavations is rather exciting because it is such a small area and the lava buildup was so high, that you are looking down on it as you approach and can see the entire thing.
The view is ... the view just is. I don't know if there are words to describe it? Amazing? Horrifying? Phantasmagorical?
I think it really sinks in as you are walking down to the town and you realize that the path you are walking on is several score feet above the warehouses that faced the sea. And if you turn around you realize that the sea is pretty darn far behind you.
I live in an area with fairly active volcanoes (though the last devastating eruption was in 1980) and earthquakes, and I am blessed with having the only "dormant" volcano within a cities limits. We (the city of Portland) put two reservoirs on it in the late 19th century. So far, so good.
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| Herculaneum - from near entrance pavilion off to the left out of camera (there are flush-able toilets there) |
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