The Roman City of Pompeii

We spent a full day in Pompeii today. All the tour books say it’s a big place and they’re right. I feel like it took me at least an hour to fully get a sense of scale.

It’s also very impressive. I don’t think I was fully prepared for the quality of what remains. There are frescos, reliefs on plaster that provide 3 dimensions to the art, and of course crazy mosaic tile floors. It was also incredible to get a glimpse into how the city worked. It’s easy to make see which buildings served food because they have counters to serve from and places to sit hot bowls. The laundry facility had large tubs to soak clothes. The bakeries had stones to milk flour and cook bread. And of course the brothel had small rooms with beds.

The forecast for the day was very questionable, high chance of rain and high winds (the water in Naples bay was very rough), but like so much of this trip we managed to evade rain and enjoy the day.

Pictures won’t do justice, but I’ll certainly try…Read more