Pompei Ruins April 16, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Naples , trackbackToday, we took a train from Napoli to see the ruins of Pompei; the ruins were very well preserved when Mount Vesuvius exploded in 74 CE which coated everything in the city in ash before sealing everything with a blast of super-hot air coming off the mountain.
Because of the quick preservation, there are a ton of frescoes still visible in the city, spread out through the walls between the buildings, inside the buildings, and even on the ground in some cases! Also clearly visible in Pompei are the Romanesque ruins with columns, a bath house, and amphitheaters scattered throughout.
The city seemed to be designed with carts and pedestrians sharing the roads because there are sidewalks on both sides and wagon ruts can be clearly seen in the streets. Whoever built the streets in Pompei must have been brilliant; the streets were about 12-18 inches above the road and there were stepping stones on the street at the ‘crosswalks’ that were nearly the same height as the sidewalk, allowing us to walk through the city without jumping on and off the sidewalks!
We got lucky with our timing this week as it’s apparently Culture Week which meant that all of the museums in the area (maybe Italy), are free! We still had to get a ticket but we asked for it and they gave us a ticket admitting two people with a price of zero Euros.
Related posts:
Comments»
Please feel free to comment on this post! If you desire to spam our comments, they will not get through our spam filters; however, if you truly wish to join the conversation about European Travel, please feel free to!
no comments yet - be the first?