Day 11 - Sep 11, 2009 Last updated: 10/11/09 7:00pm PT
Day undici, Pompeii.
Sorrento hotels are pretty expensive. We decided to stay a little bit out of town. They had a free hourly shuttle bus which took 10-15 minutes to get to town. This was acceptable, but inconvenient. It really made us pay more attention to the time so we wouldn’t miss a return bus back to the hotel. The hotel (Il Nido) got rave reviews on tripadvisor.com. I really don’t see what all the excitement was about. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the cleanest place we’ve ever stayed. It was definitely acceptable, and reasonably priced. It did have a great view and air conditioning, which we needed in southern Italy. It was hot, 28C – 31C (82F – 88F). Yeah, I’m a heat wimp.
Again, I took a ton of pictures at Pompeii. 80 pictures today. I’ve tried to whittle them down to a manageable bunch.
Pompeii is about a half an hour from the hotel by train. There’s no way you could walk all the streets of the Pompeii site in one day. It’s quite large.
The streets of Pompeii had stepping stones so pedestrians could cross the streets easily. Wide streets had 3 stones and narrow streets had 1 stone. Water was used to wash the streets and this way the pedestrians would be able to cross without getting their feet wet. The stones were a standard width and height so carts (which had standard dimensions) could travel down the streets. On some streets, you can still see tracks from the carts.
This is the Basilica, built in the second half of the 2nd century BC.
The Forum.
The front of a strip mall.
The Romans invented Legos. (Excuse my shadow, it was very sunny)
The most powerful things to see at Pompeii are the plaster casts of the people who died here over 1900 years ago. When digging through the ash, they discovered hollow cavities. Liquid plaster is poured into the cavity left behind by the decomposed bodies of the victims to form these plaster casts. There was glass in front of some of these, so you’ll see reflections in these pictures.
The dog was not dead. It was really hot and we were standing in front of the area with multiple bodies, and there was this dog that looked like he was emulating the bodies of the dead.
This was the one that really puts you in Pompeii in 79 AD and grabs your heart. Not that there’s a good way, but this had to be a truly awful way to die.
The Forum Baths, built around 80 BC.
This is the Small Theater, built around 80 BC.
The inside of some building I don’t recall.
They claim this is a political billboard.
The snack bar (Thermopolium). The round holes held jars.
Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.
Of the four days in Italy, we had pizza four times. Here’s our lunch being cooked and being eaten.
Sorrento.
