Sunrise from out balcony at Hotel Il Nido in the hills of Sorrento.
The very cool orange juicer; fresh squeezed orange juice was a highlight of our breakfast every morning!
Then it was back on the Circumvesuviana local train. Destination: Pompeii.
The baths outside the walls of Pompeii... the bay reached here two thousand years ago.
One of the things that's difficult to capture here is just how big Pompeii is. It was a city of 20,000 people, and while we gave ourselves four hours to explore it, it could just as easily have been four days! There are still parts of Pompeii that have yet to have been excavated.
Mt. Vesuvius over the temple.
Some of the artifacts found by the archeologists that continue to excavate the site. A plaster mold of one of the many people they found hiding in their homes.
The circular bath above is the frigidarium, or the large, cold bath. The Roman bath houses had at least three temperatures: hot, warm, and cold. Again, Adam is reminded of the Japanese onsen, or of taking a sauna and rolling in the snow!
Artwork that remains in changing room of the baths.
Nicola (our guide) and us in the bath house.
One of the main street of Pompeii.
One of the most famous mosaic floors -- and it was in Kendall's social studies text from last year! The original is at the Naples' Archeology museum. Stay tuned and you will be able to see it on this blog!
These are grinding stones that were used by the bakers to change grain into flour, by dropping wheat in the top and then turning the top stone against the bottom.
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| A center atrium |
The artwork at Pompeii is not as preserved as Herculaneum because the site was discovered earlier (since the ash covering it was not as dense). Objects were stolen and damaged by graffiti; the remaining artifacts were removed and brought to the rulers of Naples in the 1800's and then museums in this last century.
Serpent paintings adorn these walls:
Above is a view from the protective walls that surround the old city.
Herculaneum Gate: traveling this road 10 km and you would arrive at the next city.
The central forum, dedicated to Jupiter, would have had a temple here (you can see Jupiter's small white head is in the center). In the distance is Mt. Vesuvius -- the new crater to the left, and the remnants of the old to the right.
The amphitheater area below:
and here is a panoramic picture to try and give you a sense of the size!
Following Pompeii, we were off to climb the volcano! (Well, take the bumpy, thumpy bus to the trail, and then make a 25 minute hike to the crater.)
Views back toward Pompeii from the bus.
The bus, with large wheels and a separate cab, designed to drive up the mountain on "roads."
The beginning of the trail.
And we were at the top... the smoke is a good thing! The steam is able to escape naturally -- though as Kendall can tell you, Vesuvius holds its pressure in much more than other types of volcanoes.
The white line represents the last time the volcano erupted, 1943.
One of those signs that the boys look at and say "Duh!" -- and then look at Mom...
More steam escaping.
And back to the bus...which broke down on our way down, so we got to ride on three of these uncomfortable vehicles! (We didn't know it was like a roller coaster!) But it was a breath-taking experience to be up on top of such a powerful force of nature.
So that was the end of Day Two -- or at least, back to the regional train, and pizza in Sorrento before calling it a night.
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