Pompeii

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman city near modern Naples. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD.

The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 6 meters (22 ft.) of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.

The vast collection of everyday items, including the people, were particularly fascinating.

These plaster casts were made of real bodies that were discovered in the archaeological digs at Pompeii:

We walked nearly 10 miles of road/trail within the ancient city of Pompeii and the scenery was absolutely spectacular.

The roads were paved with stone and had large stepping stones for pedestrain crossings.  Since raw sewage flowed freely in the streets, this kept people's feet a little cleaner. Also interesting were the deep grooves worn by the carts/wagons throughout town.  The carts were made tall enough that they could clear the stepping stones at crossings.

 

The homes belonging to upperclass Pompeii-ans were impressive.  Intricate, colourful paintings on the walls and mosaic tile floors.  Most of these nicer homes also had little pools in an atrium-type room/entrance.

A cafe of sorts - the basins were said to have held various fish and sauces:

Arena:

A long day of hiking in the sun... thankfully throughout Italy (including Pompeii) they have a scattering of these public water fountains:

The sign reads: "drinking water" and we trusted it.  In fact, we drank from this sort of fountain all week long and it was great.

The theatre:

That's Caterpillar equipment being used for further excavation.  Matt enjoyed a personal connection to this marvelous ancient city...