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Gia-Gina Across the Pond

So I've decided to follow my husband to his native Italy. Follow our adventures as we eat, drink, travel, adapt to and explore this remarkable country. Part food blog, part photo blog but mostly my rants and raves. After our two years in Italy, we relocated across the Atlantic "pond" and are back in the States.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Pompeii

I've been wanting to visit Pompeii for over a year but almost every time we headed to Rome we've missed the chance. Pompeii is about 1.5-2 hours by car from Rome. This time I was not going to miss the chance this time. We drove past the center of Naples on a rainy Saturday to see ruins I had only read about as a school girl. All I knew about Pompeii and its sister city Herculaneum were that both towns at the base of Mount Vesuvius were destroyed and buried by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago, the dates and actual facts were fuzzy to me. The towns were rediscovered later and excavated.

The magnitude of the town was surprising, it was much larger than I expected. Larger than Ostia Antica maybe even Villa Adriana. Street after street, I got a sense of the goings on and the structure of town. There were formal houses, small homes, temples, fountains, an amphitheatre, brick ovens, grain vessels, a forum, gorgeous frescos and tile mosaics, everything was really fascinating. Some of the art was a bit risqué but worth a look. Sometimes I'm really awestruck at the antiquities that exist in Italy and for only 11 Euros; I got a chance to travel back in time almost 2,000 years.

I'll the photos do the talking:



The exterior of the a very small part of the ancient town of Pompeii.


Fully intact vessels made of clay? and almost 2,000 years old.


Beautiful frescos that have survived the eruption and excavation.


A plaster cast of a victim of a volcanic eruption that took place in 79 A.D.


A very famous tile mosaic, "cave canem" means "beware of the dog" in Latin. I did not see any tile mosaics of cat crossings.


Mount Vesuvius itself looming in the background.


Outside the entrance were tourists stands selling all types of snacks, I was completely taken by the cedro, a giant citus fruit the size of a small melon.


Note: **To see a few more photos of Pompeii, click on the Flicker photo badge.
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6 Comments:

At 5:42 PM, Blogger Choco Pie said...

What a timely post about Pompeii! Just last week, I was at a friend's house and she showed me some home movies of her family's recent trip to Italy. The most amazing part was Pompeii! I would love to go there! It's so amazing that you can walk right through the ruins. It looks amazing. Lucky you!

 
At 6:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great posts. I've wanted to visit Pompeii for a long time. Its great you are taking advantage of your time there to see what you can. i'm jealous! Hope you are feeling well - i enjoy your blog =)

 
At 5:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, I have always wanted to visit Pompeii. Your photo's are transporting. Thank you so very much.

 
At 2:36 AM, Blogger sarainitaly said...

Didn't you just love it! I couldn't believe how big it was either. It was amazing. And very pretty!

 
At 12:10 AM, Blogger Cynthia Rae said...

I LOVE Pompeii! I have been there twice and still feel like I haven't seen everything since it is so freaking big. Can you believe we spent 7 hours there last summer with my parents???

Looks like a great trip. I am sooooo jealous!
Cyn

 
At 9:28 AM, Blogger Miss Kim said...

It's on our list of things to do and now with those wonderful pictures we'll be sure to take the ferry over to Bari in the Fall!

 

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