The Buried City and the Monster that threw up

On 25 May, Jane and I took a tour from Sorrento to the city of Pompeii. Now remember, the city of Pompeii was buried in ash when the volcano, Mt. Vesivius, blew it's top in 79 AD. A majority of the grounds that we were walking on were older than Jesus Christ himself. I never thought I would be walking on history like that.

25% of the city of Pompeii is still covered as archelogists have decided to keep some a mystery. It's probably a good thing too..because with the wear and tear that tourists and weather can cause an area, there will be something left for future generations.

Our tour bus left Sorrento around 8:30am and travelled to Pompeii, where, as a group, we embarked upon the walking tour into the past. First, we were in the amphitheaters that sat more than 1,000 people. You can see part of the old stone seats in the bottom left corner of the photo.






It was spectacular to see how a city was frozen in time for so many years. It's also neat to see that life wasn't as different back then as it is now. There were streets, stores, art, music....I suppose we've just updated some aspects of life to be a little more efficient. This picture shows artifacts that had been found. The body is not a mummy. When archelogists were digging, they found cavaties were bodies had been buried. They then filled them with a plaster type substance and that is how we are able to see how people appeared back then.

In this picture, on the street, you can see several sets of 3 large stones. These stones were used as a type of "cross walk". The streets were often filled with water as the street side merchants would throw their liquids into the street. In order not to get your feet wet, you could cross on this blocks.














In this picture, you can see some of the first water pipes used. These pipes (made of a type of metal) were used in the Bath/Swimming Pool areas of the city.


















Part of the Church in the "Town Square"














Old Frescos found on walls of "rich" people homes in Pompeii










After walking through Pompeii, we rode the bus up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. This volcano is the only volcano on the mainland of Europe to have errupted in the last 100 years, with the last erruption in 1944. It is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes as a population of more than 3 Million live at its foot and it is known for violent erruptions.

The area around Mt. Vesuvius is now a National Park. A road leads to about 200 feet from the summit of the volcano and from there you hike on foot to the crater along a path. The first picture here is a picture of the inside of the crater. The second picture, in the center, you can see steam coming out of the wall of the crater.



Do you think it might erupt soon?

After a sleepy ride back to Sorrento, Jane and I left the next morning for the final leg of our Italian expedition - Rome.