Today we met our local driver/guide Salvatore for our tour. There were suppose to be eight of us on the tour, but one couple never showed up, so we were a little less crowded in the van, but we were late in getting started. We drove up as high as possible on Vesuvius, and walked along a crushed lava path a short distance up the mountain. We did not have enough time to go to the top. Unlike Etna, which is always belching smoke, and occasionally lava, Vesuvius appears to be dormant. But every hundred years it erupts, and the eruptions are more violent then Etna, which is always letting off steam. The last major eruption was in 1944, in the middle of World War II, shortly after the allies had capture Naples. The following photos show Katie walking up the trail on Vesuvius, a lava flow, and the city of Naples from Pompeii.
The following photos show the streets of Pompeii, with the first showing Vesuvius above the city. In some locations you can see ruts in the streets made by Roman chariots. Pompeii was a huge city, and it would take eight hours to really see it all. It was destroyed in 79 AD.
The next photo shows the bakery, where the flour was ground and the oven was used to bake the bread; followed by two photos from the Roman bath.
The small faun statue was in a massive house, that was nick named the house of the faun. The tile floor shows a dog, and the next photo shows the remains of a wall painting.
These are some of the amphorae or pots for food, oil, and drink storage that have been found in Pompeii, and a statue.
Finally, we saw a column with a sundial on the top and some of the human remains.
After Pompeii we went to Herculeaum, a wealthy town on the side of Vesuvius. Where Pompeii was buried in ash, Herculeaum was buried in mud, which preserved it better. The section that has been uncovered is much smaller then Pompeii. You can see in the following photos how well everything was preserved. The photo in the center shows an ancient fast food place. Food and drink were prepared in the pots and people, men, stopped in for a bite to eat. These little places are in many places at both sites.
We returned to the ship, had dinner, and turned in early.
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