No rest for the wicked, as they say, so it was another early start with a brisk walk back to Piazza Popoli to rendezvous with the City Wonders bus for a day trip down to Pompeii. Barbara was our terrific, energetic guide for the bus trip (we had a local guy at the site), who referred to us as “family” the whole day. It was a 3 hour trip to Pompeii, and on the way she taught us a few phrases (with hand gestures), and led us in a chorus of “Sole Mio”, as well as filling us in on the history of the area’s we would be visiting.
The Mount Vesuvius eruption that caused the total destruction of Pompeii occurred in 79 AD, although Naples just a few kilometers away, was spared. The eruption blew the whole top off the mountain leaving 2 low peaks and showering several meters of pumice on Pompeii. The next day added a thick layer of ash to the pumice, as well as poisonous gas. The bodies you see in the glass cases are actually plaster molds of the negative space left in the ash pockets, when the organic matter deteriorated. There were only a few of these “pockets” located, and it’s thought they are from people who returned the day after the initial eruption, only to be trapped by the ash and gas. The eruption also moved the shoreline 2 kilometers away from the original location.
Pompeii was much more extensive than I had imagined, and each of the tours covered a slightly different sector. Ours started at the gladiator training barracks, went through the amphitheater, then the “red light district”, merchant streets, main square, and a mosaic tile-floored villa with a view out to the isle of Capri and Sorrento. It was a well organized city with a lot of fairly intact buildings. Most of the roofs had collapsed (except for the domed ladies bathes), but the walls, water fountains/trough’s, squares, and roads, were very well preserved. The city had been built on solid volcanic rock though, so the sewer was above ground. To combat this, water continuously overflowed from the troughs to wash everything downhill, to where the ocean used to be. They had also placed large stepping stones so you could step across “the flow”.
The only traffic jam we came across was at the Lupanare (Brothel). This area had a series of small rooms with a painting above the door that indicated the ladies specialty. Crikey the stone beds were small though!
