May 30 - Sorrento, Italy - Pompei

Friday
This was a fun day. We waited until 10 to see if we could stay a second night at this lovely area in Sorrento. We were able to get a cabin (more expensive, but with bathroom and kitchenette.) We were so relieved to be able to stay here, because it worked so much better with our bags and plans.
We were first going to share a cabin with an Alaska couple that we met at supper last night, but camp rules would not allow us to put 5 people in one cabin. We decided to go to Pompei together -- Terri and Steve Agee and college son, Chase.



Chase spent last semester at a University in Florence, Italy, and he has traveled a lot, so he served as our guide in making connections -- fun! We really had a good time with them, and ended up spending the whole day at Pompei because we were all enjoying it so much.
Pompei is so much more extensive than we had realized. The excavated area covers about 250 acres, with about 115 more acres still unexcavated. Settlement of the area began around the 6th century B.C. The town was built on Vesuvian lava, at the mouth of the Sarno River (where it empties into the Mediterranean.) The town soon became a busy port city. The Romans included Pompei in their organization starting about 343 B.C. and Pompei became a Roman colony in 80 B.C. A violent earthquake damaged the city in 62 A.D. Reconstruction began immediately, but the city was buried by the eruption of Mt, Vesuvius 17 years later on August 27, 79 A.D. The area was rediscovered in the 16th century, but exploration was not begun until 1748.
I have been so interested in Pompei ever since Latin classes in high school, but I had no idea how extensive the ruins of the town are.



We were very interested in the many "marble" columns throughout the city and in many homes. The core of each column is entirely made of bricks. A thick layer of cement covered this and was shaped to look like the multisided columns we connect with Roman and Greek architecture.
We walked and walked until our legs were tired. We were glad that we continued walking all the way to the east end of the town, because many well-preserved homes of the wealthy and the amphitheater are in this area. This ampitheater is one of the best preserved of the ancient amphitheaters. All the arches around the top are intact, and the arched entryways and halls and preserved.



The wealthy homes feature many beautiful frescoes and mosaic floors.



One well-preserved fresco showed two lovers. The young man found a scarf with blood on it and thought his lover had been killed by a lion, so he felt on his sword in anguish. The young lady found him dead and killed herself with his sword. (And we always thought that Shakespeare invented the plot for the story of Romeo and Juliet.)



We're glad we visited these ruins last, because they are so much more extensive than any other ruins we have visited on this vacation (Israel and Greece).