Day 6 Herculaneum, Villa Oplontis, Villa Rustica

Herculaneum is our first Vesuvian archaeological site and gazing across its contained expanse (lit by a bright cloudless sky...again!) we are struck immediately, by a sense of time stood still. Below us in a hole that drops away twenty metres or more is a neat little townscape that appears almost as some kind of elaborately authentic Hollywood film set, but what is of course, a miraculously preserved ancient Roman seaside village. Except now, where once the gentle waves of the Mediterranean would have washed over black sand beaches buttressed by rows of boat sheds housing an array of fishing craft, there is now no shoreline (it is kilometres away, stolen from the ocean itself by the ferocity and volume of the volcanic flow) only a sadly eerie vista of vertical wall. Looking out from this once was coastline, an understanding of the catastrophic enormity of the eruption is inescapable.

Moving along the narrow streets slowly ('piano piano' is our guide Antonetta's catch cry and it seems such a privilege to be able to take our time and breathe in this incredible site) we do not merely peer through doorways into the homes of the ancients, but step into their atriums and figuratively dine at their tables (reclined of course), relax in their baths, worship at their altars and sleep in their beds. All the while gazing upon their frescoes and mosaics and letting our minds embark on a voyeuristic re-imagining of the daily lives of those who once lived here. The insight afforded by experiencing this site is priceless (the students will not forget these details come exam time), but more importantly, their lives will be forever infused with an understanding history lives and breathes beyond names and dates listed in the pages of some boring text book.

The remarkable aspect of this site is that all around, creeping right up to the edges of the archaeological pit, modern day Ercolano rolls on, buzzing and humming with the sights and sounds of daily existence. A wonderful juxtaposition of the old and the new.

And now, the best bit...photos!!