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Days 26 & 27 Sorrento and Pompeii



We had a nice passage through the night and into the early evening; we were even actually able to sail as we passed Capraia home of the resort town of Capri. We anchored near shore just off the marina; the huge cliffs towered over us, it looked fantastic as some of the building seemed to be built right into the cliffs themselves.



Our plan for the next day was to take a berth at the marina, spend some time exploring the town in the morning and then take the train to see the ruins of Pompeii. The city was bustling with day trippers from the cruise port of Napoli arriving by the bus load. There are some beautiful buildings here lining the narrow streets. Plenty of shops and cafes cater to the tourist crowd; I even spotted two Irish/ English/ Scottish pubs along the road.
We all met at the train station at the appointed time and purchased our tickets; there is a stop at Pompeii that is just a 10 minute walk from the ruins. Taking Em’s advice we arranged for a private guide, splitting the cost between the 8 of us would make it just slightly more expensive than joining a larger group and make for a better experience.
Our guide was a young woman who spoke very good English; she explained the history of the city as we made our way to the entrance gates. Unknown to me before the city had suffered damage from a major earthquake just decades before the historic volcano eruption. These are my favorite ruins so far on the trip, since the city was frozen in time you can actually see how life was lived.
Our first stop was the amphitheater, many of the marble stones which served as seats had been removed centuries ago, but of the ones remaining you could see the seat numbers (Roman numerals of course) chiseled into the front of them.
We entered the home of an aristocrat, a relative of the Emperor Nero; the home covered the area of a city block with tall ceilings and archways throughout, there was a courtyard in the middle and a cistern for collecting rain water. Most fascinating to me were the conditions of the frescos painted on many of the walls, you could clearly see the details though the colors were somewhat faded.



A fresco on the ceiling

As we toured the city she pointed out the different shops; restaurants had marble counters and terra cotta bowls and jars for holding the days fare. We passed a couple bakeries and not only were the ovens still intact, but also the large stone bowls and wheels used to mill the grain were just as they have sat for nearly 2000 years. The marble street signs and names of the home owners were still in place; one building had some writing painted on the wall, which the guide explained was from a politician asking for votes.



The remains of a restaurant

There were 25 brothels in the city at the time of the eruption, not surprising as it was then a busy seaport; since the sailors came from all over the world and spoke many different languages they had frescos painted on the walls depicting the different services and the cost so a client could just point to what they wanted and there would be no misunderstanding.

http://s894.photobucket.com/user/sunsetsammy/library/Grand%20Tour/Pompeii%20brothel

We saw some of the plaster casts of the residents who died during the volcano; these are not mummified bodies as I once thought. The guide told us the volcano covered the city in great depths of ash and volcanic stones which over time formed a type of sedimentary rock. The bodies of the dead decayed leaving voids in the rock; an archaeologist in the 19th century came up with the idea of drilling through the rock and injecting plaster into the void creating nearly perfect castings of the dead.



Castings of people found in their home



A casting of a dog, if you look closely you can see the collar around it's neck, they believe it's contorted position is due to it trying in vain to escape it's leash

There was even a display of the remains of tomb robbers, jackals she called them, who died from the poisonous gasses trapped in the rubble.
After out tour of Pompeii we wanted to climb Mount Vesuvius, really easy actually since taxis and buses take you to within 20 minutes of the summit. We took the train to Napoli and inquired with a taxi driver, he told us that it is a national park that was due to close for the day in a few minutes. We decided to try a local restaurant near the train station for some beers and pizzas, the food was good and they gave us a complimentary house made lemoncello.
Back in Sorrento Dan, Bob, Fred and I decided to stop at one of the posh hotels overlooking the sea for a drink. The views as the sunset were almost worth the price of the drinks, the looks on the faces of the guest as we intrepid sailors sat there in our scruffy shorts and tee shirts were priceless. That evening we had a late dinner at one of the many small cafes lining the area near the marina, the town itself sits high up the cliffs and none of us felt like climbing the long twisting stairway to the top.