Pompeii and Mt. Visuvius

Today was a touring day before we put boots on the ground and start hiking the Alta Via.  After breakfast we were transported by a very chic driver to the Archeological Site at Pompeii where we met our guide, Dario.  Dario is an archeologist and historian himself, who has worked many years and on many projects in Pompeii.  Dario was extremely informative, enthusiastic about his work and took us for an amazing 5 hour tour through Pompeii.  We explored a good part of the city learning the history of the times, visiting many excavated houses, shops, wine bars, bakeries, piazzas and seeing first hand how relatively advanced their technology was during the Roman times.  Its hard to imagine the scale of the city unless you are there to witness how large it really was . . . and they have only excavated 2/5 of the city over the last 3 centuries.

Below are some pictures of Pompeii.  Have a look!

Entrance Gate to the City






Main Square of the City of Pompeii


Body recovered in the Ash


Body of a dog, still chained up


Body covering his eyes, obviously from the heat and gas











Some of the many roads with shops and houses excavated


Tire tracks made by the donkey carts and chariots

A welcome mat in mosaic with beware of the dog warning!



Our group and guide Dario









A wine vat, still showing the etching of the wine maker in the rim.


A fountain of one of the houses here in Pompeii







A view down the road with a foot bridge to cross 


An ancient watering hole


A scene on one of the house walls depicting gambling...big at the time!


Ancient wall frescos









Lead pipes...evidence of indoor plumbing



Another welcome mat


Susan....striking a pose!


The world's oldest Amphitheater..older than Rome's Colosseum



A view out to the island of Capri and the bay of Naples

Below you can see a few pictures of our time at Mt. Vesuvius.  Once we left Pompeii, we jumped on a public bus, sandwiches in hand and traveled an hour to the top of the volcano that created the city of Pompeii
The crater at Mt. Vesuvius


Ancient lava flows

 This is the Sorrento peninsula that we hike over the next few days


Well, we have have a long day ahead of us for our first walk tomorrow . . . so off to bed.


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