Pompeii

After two full days of immersion in all things Roma, we paused and took a day trip to Napoli (Naples) and Pompeii.  We took the high-speed Frecciarosa train from Rome to Naples which took about an hour, and then switched to the local Circumvesuviana for the rest of the journey.  As far as train travel goes, this is night and day.  The Frecciarosa is sleek and modern and we hit top speeds of almost 300km/hr or about 180mph.  It has comfy seats and wifi availability.  On the other hand, the Circumvesuviana had older train cars plastered with graffiti on the outside and more resembles a subway car.  In fact, there was lots of standing as the cars were very crowded with locals who use it for everyday travel as well as the influx of tourists doing the same thing we were.

Standing in the Forum area of Pompeii with
Mount Vesuvius behind us

We arranged for a tour with a company called Mondo Guide.  This was a group we found out about in the Rick Steves guide book.  We enjoy using his books as we plan our trips and this was another winning tip.  We met up with other travelers who found out about it the same way we did and were in a group of about 15 people -- including 3 fellow W&M folks -- another W&M couple Class of '83 and their daughter who will be a senior in the fall.

Pompeii is an archaeological treasure.  It was a thriving Roman trading city of about 20,000 or so people in a very middle class setting.  It ceased to exist in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted an buried it in about 25 feet of extremely hot volcanic ash.  The Pompeiians had no time to react and were literally buried alive.  However, because it was hot ash and not lava that buried the town, it was extremely well preserved as was discovered over a thousand years later.  Pompeii was all but forgotten from history until rediscovered in the 1700s.

Mona walking on the crosswalk.  Since there were no sewers,
the streets would be flooded to help wash everything away.
This is how you would walk across, with room for chariots
to pass between.

Our tour guide Carmine walked us through the site for our two hour tour, showing us the highlights and giving us quite the history lesson about Pompeii.  Pompeii had everything -- houses, bakeries, restaurants, hotels, spas, etc.  We saw the gladiator ring and the slave quarters where they were kept.  We walked across the stage of the theater which still has its original marble in place.  We saw the brick oven of a restaurant and the marble counter top where the food was served -- all original and all preserved by the tomb of ash for over 1,500 years.  You can see original mosaic floors still in place as well as frescoes on the walls.  We even walked in the spa and knew which side was men's and which was women's by the decorations still present.

Inside one of the homes with original frescoes and
a fountain lined with sea shells

One of the questions I asked Carmine was what happened with all of the excavated ash?  It has been recycled and is combined with concrete to form the foundations of houses and buildings in the region.  There are still large sections of Pompeii still to be excavated in the future.  For now, Pompeii lives on as a testament to Roman ingenuity from two millennia ago as well as the foundation of much newer cities.