Herculaneum

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Pompei is a miracle of archeology, but I'd be curious in visiting Herculaneum. It was hit harder by the eruption, victim of the first few pyroclastic flows that Pompeii avoided. Apparently it's better preserved? I dunno. Seeing frozen bodies isn't really my thing! But the ruins of the old cities? Amazing.

 

[o&smom]

Pompei is a miracle of archeology, but I'd be curious in visiting Herculaneum. It was hit harder by the eruption, victim of the first few pyroclastic flows that Pompeii avoided. Apparently it's better preserved? I dunno. Seeing frozen bodies isn't really my thing! But the ruins of the old cities? Amazing.

That is exactly why we went to Herculaneum instead of Pompeii on our first Disney cruise in 2010. Our son had just turned 7, so Herculaneum gave us a taste of Pompeii. We did just return to Naples with Disney last summer and toured Pompeii. It was incredible, but could be very overwhelming with how enormous it is.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

We've been watching a series on the BBC about Pompeii - it looks amazing, what they've discovered!

 

[DL55]

Herculaneum has better preserved artwork on the walls. It is only partially uncovered but it is amazing. Pompeii is larger so more buildings to see. I'm glad we got to see them both last year.

 

[fla4fun]

I would want to visit both, as they were affected by different forces during the eruption.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The difference is Pompeii is larger. However, few of the buildings in Pompeii have surviving upper levels. This is because the initial pummeling of pumice rocks and boulders fell there. Because of it's size and its level of destruction, Pompeii can be sort of oh. Same thing. Same thing. Same thing. Ditto. The buildings in Herculaneum are better preserved having been buried deeper in ash. However, in Herculaneum, there are no casts of the bodies, only bones. This is again because the initial pummeling of rocks did not fall there so fewer were trapped and those that were left were vaporized down to the bone by the pyroclastic flows whereas those in Pompeii were covered and thus casts of where their bodies were were able to be made. There is also more shade in Herculaneum.