Pompeii

We caught a fast train from Roma to Napoli (the last on our Eurail Pass) and a local train - the CircumVesuvia- to Pompeii. It does half circum-navigate Vesuvius, and travels south with the Bay of Naples on one side & the volcano on the other. Some good views - what you can see of them through the grafitti on the train windows.

This is the mother of archealogical digs. It is a whole town- the site is 62ha and 44ha has been excavated over the last 250 odd years. Happily it is quite well interpreted and you are given a map & some info with your entry ticket. Still easy to get lost in the streets & lanes, and a day is barely long enough. Audio tours are good at these sites, although we did our own more abbreviated guide book tour, and it still took the day. Got back to Rome quite late.

The cause of all the trouble- Mt Vesuvius.

A wider road. There are also many smaller lanes & paths.

Entry of a residence.

One of the 3 amphitheatres. In good enough nick to hold events.

Maybe a wood-fired pizza oven from 80BC?

A brothel. Stone couches in small rooms. There seems no doubt about this- the murals tell the story.

One of Pompeii's dogs- there are many of them. They are apparently all looked after quite well and a sign at the entrance gave a website for anyone wanting to adopt one.

Beautiful mosaic shrine

Not unusual to see groups at crossroads studying maps trying to figure out where they are.

Food vending shop.

There are many bits & pieces of mosaic floors, some are in really good condition like this.

This is a trough for cleaning & dyeing wool. The tradespeople who did this were called Fullers - there's a name derivation for you.

There are also many remnants of paint & murals. This is a particularly complete one.
The largest amphitheatre- more of an arena.

Peristyle courtyard garden in one of the better houses.

Barry checking out what looked like a beer shop.

Vineyard near the arena. The archeologist have found out a lot about the vines grown and how close together they were planted. These reproduce the originals, and Pompeii is producing wine again.