Last weekend was my class trip for Ancient Art with Professor Gadeyne. That week leading up to it I was dreading it because our itinerary consisted of seven cities in three days. Gadeyne assured us that this trip will be the equivalent of torture and by the end he would break our spirits. A valid reason for being less than enthused. We left the convent early Friday morning and made it to our first stop, Terracina, at nine where Gadeyne was kind enough to allow us breakfast. Afterwards we walked uphill to the Temple of Jupiter Anxur that overlooks the bay.
Our next stop was Sperlonga to see the Villa of Tiberius. This was by far my favorite stop because the cave was so neat and we got to go inside. This is the cave where the Odysseus sculpture groups were found and we reconstructed where they would have been placed.
Afterwards we had some free time so me and the rest of the girls got lunch. I got the Insalata Sperlongana which I assume was the specialty. It was really just a plate of tomatoes but good ones none the less. We managed to walk through the town which was absolutely adorable. Nifty little shops and markets with no tourists.
Friday concluded with the National Archaeological Museum of Naples which was some weird mix between ancient and contemporary art. I saw some weird Cult of Batman statue group and what Yoda would look like if he were the pope. Naples was my least favorite stop because the city was very trashy, literally. There was garbage everywhere.
The hotel we stayed at was in Paestum where Gadeyne planned out our dinners. The first night was a whopping four course meal so I’m glad my lunch consisted of a small plate of cherry tomatoes. The first was spaghetti with red sauce and roasted tomatoes, second was a salad with fennel, onions, and swimming in olive oil (maybe a little too much), third was the main course of pork with carrots and potatoes, and last was a ricotta cake. There was also some sort of suppli with white sauce and bread for an appetizer. Everything was delicious and I’m pretty sure my stomach grew two sizes because Gadeyne made me eat everything.
Saturday was the part of the trip that I was especially afraid of because we’d be in Pompei from nine to four, seven long hours. I never realized how big the site was until I chased Gadeyne through the entire place. That man has a lot of stamina. We saw everything; the theatres, amphitheatre, forum, temples, basilica, and many, many houses. It was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget but I’m glad it’s over. I don’t need to go back to Pompei for a while. After spending half the day there we went to Stabiae to see the villas of San Marco and Arianna.
We made it back to the hotel at seven and Gadeyne had a special dinner waiting for us. We started with appetizers, cute caprese boats and little buttery crescent roles. The first course was pasta with vegetables. The second was, strangely, mozzarella with sides. Cheese. That was the main course. It came with oily lettuce, eggplants with peppers (which I made the mistake of popping the whole thing in my mouth. I successfully concealed my tears.), and ricotta cheese (yup, the mozzarella wasn’t enough). Honestly, it was the best cheese I’ve ever had. It was made with buffalo milk and it was so creamy and fresh. I want more. I need more! Dessert was a Neapolitan pastry with an egg custard-like filling but I was so stuffed that I saved that sucker for breakfast the next morning.
Sunday was the last day and much less grueling than Saturday. We went to the museum in Paestum then visited the ruins on site.
As a gift for surviving that long, Gadeyne treated us all to gelato di buffalo. That’s right, more buffalo milk. I got ricotta e pera (yes, even more cheese) and fragola (strawberry). Best ice cream ever! It makes me sad to think I won’t have it again. Our very last stop on the itinerary was Santa Maria Capua Vetere where Gadeyne showed us the underground substructure of a Colosseum which was surprisingly very beautiful.
We made it back to Rome at around five. It was an exhausting weekend but I actually had a lot of fun. I learned a lot and saw many things that I didn’t have the time to see on my own. Plus I got to spend time with Professor Gadeyne who is a very unique individual. He may have a dark sense of humor and claim to hate everything, but deep down he cares!