Pompeii

Now here is a vast ancient place that takes some getting around in a day to do it justice. For the record, we did not get more than 2/3 the way around, but did feel we experienced something of life in those times and how crazy people are for continuing to live so close to such a threat ... OK, so they reckon it is dormant ... but nature has many ways to surprise us!

So, how to offer you a taste of Pompeii?


Pompeii Forum

 Like nearly everywhere in the region, Versuvius dominates - as is only appropriate really since it gave rise to the archeological interest. So here is a view of the Forum with dominating cone summoning clouds which it eventually decided to blow away :-).

This next one offers a panorama (remember to click on it for a larger image) to provide a perspective of three structures and in teh background some idea of the expanse of ruin that is on the site ... far more than Ancient Rome. The three structures to try to identify are on the left the Great Theatre (for the performance of plays to up to 5000 Pompeiians), in the middle the Small Theatre for poetry and musical performances (you could be forgiven for thinking the names were devised by white Australians!) and on the right the Quadriporticus of the Theatres (like our modern theatre foyer, though clearly more grand and accepting of the weather!). Not showing was a triangular park full of lovely cool shady trees between two rows of columns that opened to a Doric Temple.

The Theatres & their Quadriporticus

Here are a couple of examples of the mosaic floors and wall frescoes.



Villa mosaics & frescos

Garden wall fresco



The next one (left) shows an example of the gardens ... it is included because throughout the site the gardens have been recreated from plaster casts taken of the root systems of the original trees ... one tries not to be too cynical of science :-) and recreations and versions of what happened - so I will go with the generally accepted versions in the guidebooks ("generally accepted" works for an accountant ... and I know how much we have to answer for, unlike the gods of science). Whoops, back to script ... the other photo (below right) shows one of the Forum Baths chambers ... amazing mosaics in here too.

House of Octavius Quartio

Forum Bath chamber

Oh, and by the way, they had fast food stalls everywhere around Pompeii - hot and cold was available. Here (left) is a pristine example - they really give meaning to the saying everything old is new again :-).

OK, just three more things to show you from Pompeii.

The next panorama is included to show you the Pompeii version of the Colloseum ... really it is an ampitheatre (they were not as gruesome south of Rome and only used these for gladiator battles and refrained from feeding the christians, or anyone esle to the lions!). Lots of interest still ... they reckon 20,000 used to turn up - judging by the noise a visiting scout troop was making (could easily have been mistaken for F-troop) the noise from that many would have been heard for a long way :-). Of course, nothing much has changed ... the front row seats were reserved for the important people ...

Pompeii ampitheatre

The next two images are included to make sure it is clear to you that there were lots of columns in Pompeii - exquisite, to be sure, but lots of them ... surpassed in number only by cobblestones and walls! So here are a couple of examples. You should note the spring in Deb's step in one of the photos and compare it to the final one on this blog about Pompeii ... remembering we only saw about 2/3 of what was there :-(. But it was well worth it.



The entrance to the Basilica



Temple of Apollo



And so seemed to end a long day leading to a weary vegemite with quite sore legs and feet ...

But wait ... there was a little more ... the trip back to the Hotel from hell ... you think Deb looked tired there! By the time we made it back, several hours later and a lot more hungry, she was terrified and wellover tired. After witnessing the magnificent sunset over the Hotel I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided given some daylight left we would venture into Sorrento, or on a bit further to Positano for dinner ... only 7 km it said on the map ... only trouble was it is VERY HAIRY and getting darker quickly and heading in our direction we were on the cliff side and Deb is terrified of heights. Only evidence I can offer is the following shot - bear in mind this was one of the few "wider" bits of the road ... this is where I reckon you DO NOT need a GPS yapping instructions at you as driving requires your absolute 200% attention. Anyway, we made it back to the Hotel for dinner ... no where to park near any restaurants that we could see! We discussed at some length over dinner that this part of Italy would not be too agreeable to live in because of the stress presented whenever you needed to go anywhere ... can't imagine doing the drive with a car load of kids "are we there yet" ...

Until next time, arrivederci!