Left Cyprus with a long travel day ahead...flight to Rome, Metro to Central Station, high speed train to Naples and then commuter train to Pompei. Rome's station was chaos as we remembered, agent sold us ticket to wrong station in Pompei so we arrived late and tired. However all the Italians we met were helpful and we found our AirBNB.
As we walked we came upon a beautiful church in the main square...
The next day we discovered it is one of the largest churches to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary and it is called The Sanctuary of the Madonna of the Rosary and it is a place that hosts many pilgrimages. The interior is quite lovely as well...
The blues are the most brilliant...
Contemplating....
We decided that our first stop in Italy would be Pompei so we could visit the archeological site but the town itself turned out to be quite lovely and we enjoyed our stay there...
Beautiful walks
Lovely piazzas...
One thing we noticed immediately is that the Italians don't rush and there is always time to talk.
Our second day we decided to climb Mt. Vesuvius so we took the public bus up as far as we could and then walked to the top...
Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Here is an aerial picture located at the top...
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in 79AD that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompei and Herculueam , as well as several other settlements.
Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Today, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards violent, explosive eruptions making it the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.
Here are some pictures of the trail...
It was very foggy starting off...
But beautiful at the top...
Overlooking the Bay of Naples...
The volcano is still hot as can be seen from the vapours rising from the Center...
We spent another day at the Pompei archeological site which is quite large having 49 of its 66 hectares excavated with work ongoing.
The sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24,79AD buried Pompei under ash and lapilli so the city was not rediscovered until the end of the 16 th century. At the time of the eruption Pompeii had many private and public buildings as the city grew under the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius.
There are a number of entrances to the site and we entered near the large amphitheater which is the oldest among those in the Roman world. Built in 70 BC, it could hold 20,000 spectators and had an upper and lower level.
The tunnels which led to the gladiators area...
Upon entry there were also displays of some of the skeletons of the victims of the eruption...
Buried within the ash fall were the inhabitants of the town. A shell of pumice that allowed them to slowly decay in the usual way covered those who perished in the early stages of the eruption.
But the bodies of victims of the pyroclastic surges had a different fate. For the fine ash fall encased their bodies, hardening to form a porous shell. As the soft tissues of the bodies decayed, they leached away through this later. But by then, the hardened ash had captured and preserved their final postures at the moment of death.
Excavators then discovered if they poured plaster into the hollow skeletons they could make a cast that revealed the exact form of the skeletons. More than 1000 skeletons have been preserved this way.
There was also a display of glassware which I thought was amazing considering how old it was...
And beautiful murals taken from some of the buildings...
The town was laid out in sections so we walked around with our map and stopped to look at some of the buildings though we didn't get to see them all.
Here are some streets, notice the marks made by the chariots...
The House of Venus has a beautiful, well preserved mural
The house was built in the 1st century BC and was quite luxurious with large gardens as well. This mural was on the back wall of the garden.
Lots of houses had elaborate fountains in their gardens...
The Romans loved their bath houses which were richly decorated...
In this house there is a richly decorated small fountain which can be seen as soon as you enter the house and is thought to belong to a family of high status...
Details
This mosaic which is now covered in glass reads CAVE CANEM meaning beware of dog....
If you see this sign on the road you might guess what it means...
It leads to a brothel the most famous being the Lupanar. On the bottom floor were five rooms fitted with built in beds...
Small paintings with erotic depictions on the walls of the central corridor informed customers of the activities that took place...
Some random pictures of other houses...
There were also large public spaces like the Sanctuary of Apollo which is one of the oldest places of worship in Pompei, built on a strategic point along the path that leads to the public part of the city.
The Civil Forum was the core of daily life in the city and was the focal point of all the main public as well as trade. It is a massive area with many structures still remaining...
Also through the site there are numerous modern art displays...
This one facing the mountain...
One of the Gates of the city....
A few other buildings...
The road leading to the cemetery
Burial places....
Some detail...
Since the cemetery was on the outskirts of town leading to another exit we decided to call it a day having seen only a fraction of the site, even though we spent the better part of the day there. And these pictures are only a small sample of what we did get to see that day.
It was one of the most interesting places we have ever visited considering what remains of a city where people lived so long ago. To have such a well preserved glimpse into another time and place was awesome. Definitely would recommend anyone coming to Italy to put it on your list of " must visits ".
On the way out we saw the remains of the summer villas of the city...
Then a walk back into town...
Apertivo on a sunny corner of the square...
Pizza for supper...
We already know we are going to like our time in Southern Italy!
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