Pompeii

Today we started our VBT hiking trip on the Amalfi coast.  We are a small group, ten in total, with everyone but us being from the East Coast. We got shuttled to Pompeii for a three hour private tour -- definitely the way to see this place, as when she found something that was crowded (and the place was pretty crowded, even on a day that threatened rain and is very early in the tourist season), she could find something similar elsewhere on the site. 

I was amazed at how undamaged the site is.  Most everything that was higher than one story caved in, but most of the walls are a full story high.  I had seen the model in the Archeological Museum in Naples, but I interpreted those walls to be half a story or less.

Some random photos

This is one of the bedrooms in a brothel (one of forty they have unearthed in Pompeii).  According to our guide, a 'session' would have cost about the same as a glass of wine.

In one of several public baths, this was the women's "changing room".  The niches on the wall were the equivalent of lockers.

The actual bathing area in the same women's baths.

The men's baths had a more ornate changing area.

Undamaged mosaic in a private home (the really good ones were removed and taken to the Archeological Museum, but this isn't too shabby.

This is called a Thermopolium, where wine and cold foods were sold.  The mosaic in the back honors gods of wine and food.

Another Thermopolium.  The tile work was impressive.

This is a fresco in a private home that shows lemon trees.

This fresco in a garden is known as "Venus on the Shell", and predates Botticelli by 15 centuries.

And finally the city amphitheatre (Pompeii most likely had about 20,000 inhabitants at its peak), where gladiators battled.

For lunch we managed to continue our run of bad Italian food in tourist places (Hint: don't order seafood unless you are very close to the ocean), but we have high hopes for tonight.

We are spending three nights in Ravello, a tiny town of 2500 perched on the side of a mountain (we will walk down and back up each day).  It's very quaint.  They are known for their pottery, and I indulged in a lovely olive oil dispenser (which I forgot to photograph before he wrapped it up, sorry).