26.05.2011 Pompeii – Rome

We drove to the Roman town of Pompeii, buried by an eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 79AD. We had a local guide us through the cobbled streets, shops, villas and temples and bringing  to life the plight of the ill-fated citizens. It was so eerie walking the big cobble stone roads where one can clearly see where the chariots wore groves in the stone roads. The bigger stones were stepping stones, because sometimes the streets would flood like rivers, also the stone were what we know in modern-day as ‘speed humps’. In some of the photos you will see the original bakery oven, where they found 12 loaves of bread frozen in time. We continued to the ‘red light district’. The sailors of the time that used to come to port could not speak the language, so they had these ‘penis’ signs to point to where the red-light districts was. The prostitutes used an oil lamp, and when they saw someone, they would swing the lamps side to side, and actually call out ‘yuhoo’ and this is also why it was called ‘red light district’. The brothel itself had all these sexual positions painted on the walls, so the sailors could point to the ‘service’ they required. The beds as you can see is concrete, that apparently was covered with straw, and you will see in another photo the ‘bar’ area where they could drink after the service.

Some of the 2000 year old copper water pipes are still in existence, as well as some of the mosaic tiles. We then walked to an area where some of the clay pots in that era were stored. We also saw some of the bodies, as well as a dog, they were just copies, as the originals are all in a museum.  The volcano Vesuvius is half the size now than what it was before it erupted, it also moved the sea 1km further out as the earth rose that much with this explosion that lasted 3 days. There was no lave, just ash and rock that covered the entire city in more than 6 meters of ash, only to be discovered in the 1700’s. An amazing observation was that 2000 years ago there was graffiti; hopefully you can make it out on the photo!!

We set off to Rome-big day tomorrow, Vatican city, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, St Peters Church to see Michelangelo ‘Pieta’…

Tonight we walked to the Campidoglio to admire the special view and took a stroll past Trevi fountain and of course I had to trow a coin or two into the fountain! We walked through Piazza Navona with its pavement cafes and enjoyed the view of the Pantheon. We visited a local ‘ristorante’ and tried a selection of Roman dishes; drinks were included accompanied by music.  Carole got serenaded and her bum pinched by the cheeky Italian Stallion! Afterwards we walked and see Rome Illuminated. We saw the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia and Michelangelo’s ‘Cordonata’, it was a lovely night to be welcomed to Rome!