Jen and Dave: Adventuring

Today the ship docked at Naples, where we met a private guide arranged through the ship. We had booked tickets to Pompeii, and we were matched with a guide who had an archaeological background who had previously dug at Pompeii – we felt so lucky to have Mario.

The first thing we saw was a pair of theatres, dating to Greek times. The small theatre was exclusively for music, the large for a variety of events.

Climbing to the top of the large theatre, we were met with a jaw-dropping view, an introduction to the extent of the ruins. Villas, businesses, and more – a whole city for twenty thousand before us. The surreal feeling started.

The level of preservation is crazy. You are walking on two thousand year old streets of flagstone, gazing at frescos and mosaics as they were enjoyed before the eruption.

The impressive public baths wowed. They were build as a double-wall-floor, allowing heated air to circulate in the warm and hot baths. The fire was stoked in the other side of the wall. Lead pipes brought in water where it was needed.

Cat break! Cat fact: feral cats make their homes throughout the site.

Back in the day, a different type of cat exercised the oldest profession, with stone beds and preserved (but not pictured) fresco “menus.”

The market was an incredibly beautiful space, oriented to a cloud-shrouded Vesuvius.

Sporadically through the site were storage areas for artifacts in process. The amphoras were particularly impressive.

Most heart-tearing were the plaster casts made of the voids that once held biological material, like human bodies. The forms were so compelling.

The cool thing about this temple is the sundial in the semicircle at the top of the column on the left.

The higher-wealth villas had the most impressive mosaic floors.

The streets of Pompeii were used as open sewers, flushed by street corner fountains, so they had raised sidewalks and ingenious raised crosswalks.

Fast food is an essential service in the modern city, and these hot counters served up the fast food of the day (mainly meat and grain soups).

This rain water collection system filled a below-floor cistern.

This is where it all started – they were digging to put in this water pipe, and discovered Pompeii.

The Roman amphitheater – two Greek theatres put together!