Day 5--Pompeii

Wow! That pretty much sums up our visit to Pompeii! Really, we were crazy to get all the way down here during this trip, but it was one spot we agreed we both really wanted to see while we were in Italy, so we made it work! It took almost 3 hours of driving to get down to Pompeii, about 2.5 to see it, and another 2.5 to drive back, so it was a long day. We'd loved to have stayed longer at the site of Pompeii, but we didn't feel like braving the Autostrada at night, so we cut it short--smart move!

We got directions from Elio--our hotel owner--and he even gave Jeff an Italian GPS program for his phone! (Have I said how awesome our hotel/owner was to us?? He helped us with EVERYTHING!) So we had Jeff's phone GPS as well as this program to help us out. We still got off on the wrong area, made a u-turn in a lovely (hint of sarcasm here) area of Naples, and kept on going. We saw literally ONE sign that told us we were going/getting to Pompeii--and that was the sign at the exit! Luckily I'd been scanning and we'd seen ONE for Vesuvius National Park, so at least we knew we were going in the right direction! By the time we got to Pompeii, we were just happy to be there and paid for parking--very unlike us! However, we parked at a restaurant about 1/4 mile from the entrance, so who can complain?

Entering the archeological site of Pompeii, this is what you see. This is part of the wall of the ancient city. Once we made a few turns and actually got into the city, we were awestruck! It is truly amazing (Yes, I know I've over-used that word in these posts) the technology that they used back then. And when I say back then, I mean in A.D. These "stones" are actually useful for many reasons. They often flooded the streets of Pompeii to clean them and when that happened, you could use these stones as a crosswalk to the other side of the street (they were not at EVERY street corner--just select ones). If there were 3 stones, you knew it was a 2 lane street; if there was just 1, it was a one-way street. They were spaced so that the wheels of their carts could straddle the stones. There were still MANY areas being worked on as we walked around Pompeii. Excavations began in the 1700s after the city was discovered in the 1600s. We even saw a group of archeologists sitting around having an afternoon snack (they didn't look too happy that we wanted to take a picture, so we didn't!) It is daunting to see how big this city was for that time and realize the work that it has taken to get it un-earthed to where it is today. Truly amazing!

They have uncovered many frescoes and most are in this condition. Some better, some worse...

Stadium and inside the stadium

"Road" in Pompeii
Door--sorry it's sideways (Thought I turned it) Notice the hook type things on it.

People buried alive by the ash from the volcano.
I decided that this is where I'd cook Jeff breakfast if we lived in Pompeii back then (and if I cooked breakfast!!)