Click on this link for more photos of Pompei
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| Mt Vesuvius |
Prior to our Amalfi adventure, we visited the ruined city of Pompeii. The city sits in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius and when it was buried under volcanic ash during the 1st century it laid dormant for 1600 years before being rediscovered.
Now 75% excavated, we get to see this well preserved relic. The streets are exactly as they were before the destruction and the bottom halves of all the buildings are still in place.
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| Nothing is restored, just cleaned. This road looks like it was built yesterday. The white marble inlays were placed to reflect the moon’s light so there was increased nighttime visibility! |
Colors, mosaics, statuary all so well preserved it’s hard to believe it’s 2000 years old. Historic sites in the US don’t have this level of preservation!
The weather has been very nice lately with daytime temperatures in the 60’s in beautiful sunshine. That’ll change a bit as we sail toward Rome as we’ll only be in the 50’s. Still a lot nicer than NY in November. By contrast, it’s been windy and chilly at sea making walking on deck a bit more difficult than I would like. All in all, not bad.
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| Overlooking the forum toward Mt Vesuvius |
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| They call this the original pizza oven! |
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| A plaster caste of discovered human remains |
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| Detail of wall covering |
Some of the buildings are surprisingly well preserved. The following photos are of a bath house that still has it’s roof intact.
Details of sculpture which surrounds the baths.
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| Okay, this is a fast food joint. Really. The marble bar was heated from below and bowls of food were stored in the cutaways on the top and served from there |
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| Well, Pompei is certainly an amazing place to visit but time to move on up the Italian coast! |