Sorrento and Pompeii

After our week in Rome, we were looking forward to a nice relaxing visit to Sorrento and we were not disappointed... once we got there. Our journey took us first to Naples where we would change our high-speed train for a smaller commuter train to nearby Sorrento. We have come to accept that in Southern Italy, signs are more suggestions than actual information. Most signs conflict other signs, or lead you to something that isn't there. But thankfully we kept our wits about us and got on the correct local train. Along with about 5,000 other commuters. We were literally stuffed into that train by people pushing on the crowd at the doors. Also when someone was in the back and wanted to get off at the stop, they would start yelling "permisso!" (which I assume means something like "get the heck out of my way") and would push the crowd out the doors. I had someone's elbow in my face and Brannan had someone's face in his armpit for the first 45 minutes. I would have taken a picture of the insanity, but my arms were pretty much pinned to my sides.

So this was our first impression of Naples. We actually went back later in the week for a true visit, but I'll leave that for another post. (Spoiler alert: it didn't get any less crazy!)

We arrived in Sorrento in a downpour and walked down to the street to our hotel. I was just looking through our pictures, and we didn't get any of the actual town of Sorrento where we stayed. Whoops! But we did get one of the square outside of our hotel when a marching band came blasting through on Sunday morning for their version of Veterans Day

So there you go. Isn't Sorrento beautiful?

But we did get loads of pictures from all the surrounding places we visited, so don't go thinking all is lost.

For our first day, we went to Pompeii. It was amazing to me that an entire city could be buried by a volcano, and then forgotten about for 1700 years, and then rediscovered and dug up. During those 1700 years, it never occurred to anyone "Hey, what ever happened to that town, Pompeii?"

Ta Daaa! Ancient Ruins!

The famous volcano Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background - thankfully obscured by clouds and not fiery ash and lava

What was even more amazing was how well preserved it was from 79 AD when the volcano erupted! There were still mosaic tiles on the floors and even painted frescoes on the walls.  Most of the items found at Pompeii are now in a museum in Naples, which made Pompeii feel a little bare, but still neat.

Check out the painted frescoes! Oh yes, and the plaster casts of two victims... creepy.  They apparently have many more of these casts in the Naples museum, along with animals they found too

Clay pottery

They also had pedestrian-zoned streets where chariots could not go.

That plaque on the pillar showing figures walking is a "pedestrian only" sign.

The 3 stones at the end of the paved street kept chariots out of the pedestrian area.

They were also surprisingly advanced - they had running water and indoor plumbing, fast food stalls, pipes under raised sidewalks. They also flooded their streets to clean them, so they installed ingenious stepping-stones for people to walk on to get across the flooded streets. Plus, they kept the stones a standard width apart so that chariots could still pass over them. Smart!

Don't want to get my feet wet!

You can see the deep ruts from chariot wheels

Part of the aqueduct system

There was also a bath house still in great condition. They had the dressing room, with cubby holes that stored your stuff, like a locker

Oooh, nice ceiling

 And the steam room where the floor was heated. They would fill up a fountain and let it overflow and pour onto the floor to create the steam. The ceiling was grooved so that the condensation wouldn't drip on you. So smart!

The fountain that would overflow onto the heated floor

That's one big tub!

There was a lot to see. We spent the whole day there and still didn't see the whole thing.

The government building on the main square. Those pillars were in the middle of being reconstructed in 79AD when the volcano blew up.

Main entry to the biggest house

Remains of the courtyard of the biggest house

Look! A mini Colosseum. Awwww

The inside of the colosseum/amphitheater where they had horse races

They also had a smaller theater nearby, which was used for plays and speeches

Brannan addressing his subjects

Heading out, with Mt Vesuvius in the background

We did much more during our stay in Sorrento, including the Isle of Capri and the Amalfi Coast, but that will be for our next post. Stay tuned!