庞贝 (Pompeii)

Dig up treasures in the inline English translation below …

8月10日 星期五 – Friday, August 10

今天是繁忙中转的一天，要在3点左右还车，然后去做7点50的飞机去西班牙的马德里。当然在还车之前，PJG也安排了一个参观景点，那就是去那个在火山灰下隐藏2千多年的神秘古城 －庞贝。

Today will be a busy day. We need to return the rental car at around 3 o’clock, and then get to the airport for a 7:50pm plane to Madrid, Spain. Of course, before returning the car, PJG also arranged for us to visit the mysterious ancient city of Pompeii. A city which was hidden under volcanic ash for more than 2,000 years.

最后一次在蜿蜒的山道上开了一个多小时，到了那不勒斯附近的庞贝古城。没想到的是，这里的停车场还挺多的，但是就在附近找停车场的时候，一个身着正规庞贝游客信息中心的T恤衫的女士拦住了我俩的车，打开车窗，她告诉我俩，别担心，她是正规的游客信息中心的工作人员，她们有免费的停车场，只要在那里租赁两个8欧元一个的语言导游器就可以免费停车。虽然看起来，听起来非常像模像样，我俩并没有去，最后把车停在了就在偏门入口处旁边的一个1.5欧元／小时的停车场里。在买门票的时候，问售票员对面那个游客信息中的语音导游器是否可以买，他告诉我俩那些人都不是正规的，跟庞贝古城一点儿关系也没有，正规的语音导游器只有在古城另外正门售票处有卖。😄 就感觉到那些人很有嫌疑！ 到哪里旅游，还是先别听信任何人，最好还是先咨询官方工作人员，哪怕也许会花更多一些时间。

For the last time we will travel on the winding mountain roads of Amalfi for about an hour to reach the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples. Surprisingly, we found quite a lot of parking lots here. In one of the parking lots a woman in a Pompeii Visitor Information Center T-shirt stopped us to tell us about parking. She said, “don’t worry, I am with the visitor information center, and we have free parking.” It turns out, you need to rent two 8 euro language guides to park for free. At first it sounded legitimate, but we got suspicious and ended up parking our car in a 1.5 Euro/hour parking lot next to the Pompeii entrance. At the ticket office we asked about the free parking and he said that the people selling the audio guide with free parking are not associated with Pompeii and are basically a scam. The official audio guide can only be purchased inside the park. I’m glad we were suspicious of those people! The lesson for me, is when traveling don’t listen to anyone until you consult with the official staff first, even if it may take more time.

本来我俩是想租一个语音导游器的，因为可以学到的东西会跟多，但是我俩进入的入口处这个服务，在炙热的大太阳下走到另一个入口处的过程中，已经路过了好多房屋，所以我俩真不愿意再去租，再走回去看了，而且在有限的几个小时内也真无法参观完这座古城。还好，现在网络上都能查到很多关于庞贝古城的信息。

Originally, we had wanted to rent an audio guide, since we learn a lot more than just wandering around. Unfortunately, the audio guide is only sold at the main entrance that was 20 minutes away! Oh well! Fortunately, there is a lot of information about Pompeii on the Internet.

庞贝古城古城的历史可以追溯到公元前10世纪，在经历了希腊人和萨莫奈人的统治后，公元前89年，庞贝成为罗马帝国的殖民地。在罗马帝国统治下的160年间，庞贝成为仅次于罗马的第二大城市。但是公元79年，维苏威火山大爆发，经过18个小时的时间，庞贝遭遇4次熔岩流和3次灰尘暴袭击后被彻底湮没。古城的考古发掘从1748年开始，打开了这个繁华的古罗马城市的神秘面纱。

The history of the ancient city of Pompeii dates back to the 10th century BC. After the rule of the Greeks and the Samonais, in 89 BC, Pompeii became the colony of the Roman Empire. In the 160 years under the Roman Empire, Pompeii became the second largest city after Rome. However, in 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius volcano erupted. After 18 hours, Pompeii was completely annihilated from the lava flows and three dust storms. The archaeological excavations of the ancient city began in 1748 and opened the mystery of this bustling ancient Roman city.

关于庞贝古城的历史和挖掘信息很多，我就不再从网上搬运到这里了。PJG一家在50年前曾来到这里，PJG说他对这里的印象很模糊，当时他父亲拍了几张照片，我俩基本都找到了那几张照片的拍摄地点。

There is a lot of information about the history and excavation of Pompeii on the internet so no need to copy it here. PJG’s family came here about 50 years ago. PJG said that he was too young and his impression of this place was very vague. At that time his father took a few photos, and both of us basically found the locations where the photos were taken.

在庞贝古城转了3个小时，只看到了古城的一小部分，这里需要更多的时间，稍微凉爽的天气，和一个语音导游器来更好地更享受地学习和了解这里。不管怎样，时间到了，我俩便离开了。去那不勒斯机场顺利地还了车。 飞了2个多小时，晚上11点多了，终于到了马德里的民宿住处。

After spending three hours in Pompeii, we only saw a small part of the ancient city. It would take much more time and cooler weather with an audio guide to understand and enjoy this place better. Anyway, the time is up and we left for the airport in Naples and successfully returned the car. Our flight to Madrid was about 2 hours, and at 11pm we finally arrived at our AirBnb in Madrid!