Tuesday, 13 October
After my last night in Anzi, I was up early heading to Pompeii and then Naples. The first twenty miles of the trip are on a windy, narrow road. At least this morning there were no motorcycles racing up and down. After a short patch of fog, the day was clear and sunny.The rest of the trip to Pompeii was on highways. Arriving in Pompeii I saw buses, cars and people everywhere. After parking I walked to the ticket line and waited about twenty minutes. While waiting, I chatted with a professor from the Netherlands who going back into Pompeii for the fifth day in a row. Guess what he teaches? (History).
There are many unusual statues mixed in with the historical artifacts. These are combinations of superheros, animals, and historical figures. I think the kids find these entertaining.
The size of Pompeii is amazing. After four hours, I would guess that I saw less than ten percent of the site.
A couple things that I found especially interesting were that most Romans in Pompeii during 79 AD did not cook at home. There were many “fast food restaurants”. These had counters with beautiful marble tops and openings to hold the pots with fires below to keep them warm
Pompeii had one way streets and pedestrian zones. Houses ranged from basic to elaborate. One house took up an entire block. Lots of art decorated the homes of the upper class. The most popular site in Pompeii is the brothel. My audio tour included a stop there but when I turned the corner, I decided to pass. Every tour group at Pompeii must visit the brothel. The street was impassable.
Teatro Piccolo or Small Theater in Pompeii
A sobering sight is the museum with plaster casts of the people who inhabited Pompeii. They were preserved as they died when Mount Vesuvius erupted and the archelogists have made plaster casts of young and old as they were found.
As I was leaving Pompeii, I realized that I had not eaten lunch. I really did not want to eat at a tourist restaurant outside the archelogical area and it was only a half hour drive to the hotel in Naples. They drive was highway except for the last five minutes. I won’t be missing driving in Italy at all. The hotel is within walking distance of the rental car pickup/drop off and the airport terminal. The room is nice, clean and well appointed although small by our standards. The area does not seem the nicest, mostly lots of traffic and lots of trash.
After checking in it looked like. there was a good pizzeria about a ten minute walk away. I did not want to be walking around in the dark. Naples is supposed to be the home of pizza. Capricciosa pizza, with tomato sauce, mozarella, artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto cotto, black olives. The crust is almost paper thin in the middle but puffy and chewy on the edges. Perfecto, I did not realize how hungry I was. Early dinner, back to pack and repack, call Dolora, update the blog and read the news.
Tomorrow I leave for Atlanta at nine am. That means I should leave the hotel around six. I have about a four hour layover in Atlanta before arriving home tomorrow night. I’m looking forward to seeing Dolora and sleeping back in my own bed.
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Safe travels. What an adventure you were on.