Naples & Pompeii

On the morning of Monday, Oct. 31, our ship arrived in the city of Naples, Italy.  I had arranged for a driver to take us to the ruins of Pompeii which was about a 30 minute drive.  Our driver dropped six of us off just as the venue was opening for the day and picked us up 6 hours later.  Using maps and booklets, we were on our own to explore. On Aug. 24, 79 A.D. the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, pictured above, exploded with a roar, and the city of Pompeii with its 8-10,000 inhabitants was covered with six or seven meters of ash, soil, and lapilli.  One thousand seven hundred years passed before the city was discovered.

It is now a park and the excavation and preservation is continuing.

Here is Mount Vesuvius in the background again.

We walked almost continuously for the  six hours taking in all of the amazing sites we could.  This included the bath houses, bakeries and mills, laundries, courtyards, fountains, forums, statues, temples, gladiator houses, stadiums, houses great and small, government offices, amphitheater, etc.

These next two pictures show the bath houses.

There was a villa located on the far edge of the city called the Villa Of The Mysteries.  It was a long walk to reach it but well worth the effort as it had many frescoes on the walls which were amazingly well preserved and beautiful.

Many of the patios and floors had intricate mosaic patterns which were also beautiful.

This photo below is taken in the bath house.

 Steve, Larry & Shawn are looking up at an opening in the roof where the rain would come through and be collected in a sistern below with pipes taking it where they wanted it.  Next to Steve is a mummy in a case.  These next few photos were taken in the Villa of Mysteries also.

 They seemed to have communal kitchens, bakeries and laundries as they were scattered throughout the city but were not located in individual homes.  Here is a kitchen.

 Here is the oldest known amphitheater built in about 80 BC.  It is almost like a colosseum.  They did have chariot races here.  The above photo is one of the entrances that brings you in on the competition level.

There was a smaller amphitheater on the other side of the city and it was adjoined by the court of the gladiators.

This is the smaller theater which was probably used more for drama and musical presentations where the larger one was used more for athletic events, chariot races, etc.

This is the gladiator courtyard.  The statues were added later.

After our fascinating Pompeii adventure, we had our driver drop us off in Naples near the government and theater area.  We wondered around a bit and sampled the local pizza.  Legend has it that Naples is the original home of pizza.  We were able to taste some at a local shop that handed it to you on pieces of paper, not napkins, and everyone just stood around eating the pizza.  There were no chairs or tables.  There were many kinds but we didn't get any that had red sauce on it.  It was very cheesy.  It was inexpensive and very tasty.  We paid a couple of dollars for a slice.  I remember taking photos of Steve standing by the garbage can eating true original pizza.  We finally found it and here it is.

As we walked back toward the port and our ship, we encountered a couple of protests.  The groups were kind of chanting something.  No one around could tell us what they were protesting or trying to say.

We also walked up inside this fortress or castle that seemed to "protect" the port of Naples.  It was surrounded by a mote and had a huge courtyard, but we weren't inclined to pay the fee to walk around the courtyard as we were rather tired by this point in the afternoon. We went back to the ship to rest our feet and prepare for dinner and an evening show.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day in Pompeii and Naples.  We liked Italy very much.  Our trip was off to a terrific start and we were pleased.

 Here are more pictures of Pompeii and Naples that I found doing another post.  This one is a mummified body.

 This is a great photo of Mt. Vesuvius.

 We were fascinated by these trees that looked like umbrellas.  They are an evergreen type of tree.