Pops’ Italy Travel Guide, Day Trip to Pompeii

On a recent trip to Rome we took a day trip to Pompeii. We had our rental car so we made the drive of about 2.5 hours and headed south to Pompeii. The A1 is a great highway with many things to see between Rome and Pompeii. We drove directly to Pompeii but on the way back we made a few stops.

 

Pompeii was a Roman city on the west coast of Italy just south of Naples. In 79 AD Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed when they were covered in almost 20 feet of ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The site was lost for about 1500 years until the ruins were discovered. Since then, there has been excavation work being done that is still continuing.  Now you can tour the site and go into some of the buildings that were preserved by the ash.

 

As a lover of history this was a place I had always wanted to see and it complemented the trip to Rome. I have to admit it was a little eerie walking around the ruins where so many people lost their lives. It was also great to see the tile artwork in some of the villas preserved through time. One other fascinating thing was walking through the villas and seeing the architecture. Back home and watching movies and television such as Spartacus you understood why there was a hole in the ceiling and a pool underneath to capture the rain water inside the villa. It was also fascinating to see how the infrastructure was laid out. The streets were constructed so that they could be easily cleaned with water. Every once in a while there were stone steps so you could cross the street without getting wet. The stones were spaced so that the wheels of a cart could pass the steps. You can also see the bakeries, and other places of commerce. The clay pots and ovens are also preserved in the bakery. There is also a house of prostitution where you can see the menu still on the walls.  In another area is the arena that you can go into with seats preserved.

 

Then there are the remains of the people that died that day. The ash created a kind of mold that later was filled with plaster to show the people that died. There are also molds of dogs and other animals.

 

This is a must see when in Italy. One word of caution is that Pompeii takes a lot of walking. If you have difficulty walking, especially on cobbled streets up and down hills, you may want to avoid Pompeii.

 

They say that Herculaneum is even better preserved. Next trip I am going there.

Tomorrow I will talk about the trip back which was interesting.