Naples and Pompeii

Part of The Forum in Pompeii

On the 27th of August AD 79
Mt. Vesuvius erupted, and within 48 hours the Roman town of Pompeii was buried under a blanket of ash as much as 25 metres deep. Frozen in time, this city was abandoned and forgotten until 1599. Whilst digging a channel to divert the river Sarno some of the ancient walls were uncovered. The architect was called in. He unearthed a few more of the walls, but then covered everything back up. Pompeii was properly discovered in 1738 when workers were digging the foundations for a palace for the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon. Because the city was buried so quickly and completely, many of the original artefacts are intact and give a wonderful glimpse into Roman life in the first century.

It is believed that Pompeii had as many as 20,000 residents. A temple, theatre, swimming pool, 4 public baths, and a large forum have been discovered, along with a food market, a mill, a restaurant and a hotel. Pompeii had an aqueduct system that supplied water for as many as 25 street fountains! We were given a guided tour and we learned that the residents of Pompeii saw the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and had time to leave the city. Most of the citizens fled, but they left their slaves behind to guard their homes, shops, and belongings. Searing heat from the eruption and choking ash reached the town about 24 hours or so after the eruption began, and those left behind suffered an agonizing death. Archaeologists found human remains entombed in solid rock and devised a way to make casts of several of the victims, revealing the horrendous suffering that occurred. We spent a morning touring through the remains of this ancient town. I, for one, kept a constant watchful eye on Mt. Vesuvius which remained, thankfully, very quiet during our visit!

Part of the forum. Note Mt. Vesuvius, it's peak shrouded in clouds, in the background.

The theatre in Pompeii. The seats had channels under them where cool water flowed during performances. Early air conditioning!

After a morning spent in Pompeii we headed back to Naples, or Napoli, as they say in Italy. Whilst we were in Naples we learned that pizza was invented here, and we were told that if we did nothing else we had to eat Napoli pizza. Of course we had to try it, and, as we can attest, the pizza was amazing! Of course, the pitcher of wine served along with the pizza might have helped a bit! We also wandered around the streets and through a market or two before returning to our ship where we enjoyed a few hours relaxing by the pool. A nice way to end our time in Italy!

Both our tour guide and the waiter at this cafe told us that in Napoli the pizza crust  is very light and the pizza's are "small" so each person needed to order their own. I managed to eat about half of mine.
Notice the red pitcher? That's our wine! 

Streets of Naples

Ciao  Napoli!