Mediterranean Cruise - Day 11, Naples/Pompeii

We pulled into Napoli about 7:00 this morning.  Kelly and I were both up.  We got the boys moving and went to breakfast and made it off the boat about 8:15.  We bought tickets for the tram w/ our ship neighbors who turned out to be from Vancouver, BC.  We got to the train station and just made the 9:09 to Pompeii.  Rudy left his W&M hat on the train.  This was a big loss b/c it had feathers in the logo.  They won’t make those anymore.  We offered to share our tour w/ the neighbors, but they ultimately turned it down.  We met Salvatore at the gate.  He was fine.  Very knowledgeable but no personality and didn’t engage the kids at all.  Still a good tour and we learned a lot.  -James

This was a town where we'd decided we could navigate on our own.  James and I had done it before (20 years ago!), so why not now?  It worked out pretty well, but there's always a little anxiety with throwing ourselves out there.  Again - we asked a lot of questions along the way to buy our tram tickets and then our train tickets!

     

Rudy's breakfast of champions:

Today we got off the ship and headed straight to Pompeii.  On the main road, they had white rocks used as reflectors!  Also they had these shops that sold wine and little snacks.  Then we went back to Naples and tried to get gelato.  When we got on the ship Mom and Dad went to the fancy restaurant.  -Brady

The basilica, where government business was conducted.  There is ancient grafitti on the wall along the side, including shopping lists (for the adjacent market), campaign slogans, and even grafitti complaining about the grafitti!

Storage of all of the antiquities...

There are three baths in the city of Pompeii.  It would have been an almost daily ritual for most residents to visit the bathhouses.  There were three rooms:  frigidarium, tepidarium, and calidarium (cold, lukewarm, hot).  The first bathhouse we visited was the newest to Pompeii and also the most recently excavated.  It was actually outside the city walls, just outside the Porta Marina.  This was where Salvatore pointed out the explicit images on the wall...perhaps our first indication that he may not be completely in sync with the kids!

One of the casts of a Pompeii citizen.  While it looks like he is praying, he was more likely trying to cover his face from the volcanic gasses.  

In the bread baking shop.  The top stone turned to grind the grain.  

Vesuvius in the background:

Mosaic in the foyer of a residence.  'Beware of Dog.'  Ancient Pompeiians, they're just like us.  

This was something that I don't remember from the last trip, but seemed really cool.  Most residents didn't eat lunch at home, but instead would stop at one of the 70+ "snack bars" in the town.  Each of these holes would hold a pot filled with food or wine.  One of these shops was even excavated with money still in the "cash register!"

The colors in the excavated buildings are still quite vibrant, thousands of years later!  Most houses were designed with a main room in the front which opened to a courtyard, with an impluvium to catch rainwater, and then led to a back room.  These were constructed so pedestrians on the street could see all the way into the back of the house.  Private sleeping rooms were in doors off the sides of the front and back rooms.  Business would be conducted in the mornings with the master of the house in the foyer.  

House of the small fountain.  The fountain is covered in mosaics and the room itself is richly decorated with frescoes.  

The streets of Pompeii.  The stones Rudy is sitting on were placed there to block access for carts to a pedestrian only area.  The sign on the building nearby indicates that there were porters for hire, to help transport goods by foot within the forum.  

This home was notable both for its intact structure and for the grafitti on the wall outside, encouraging citizens to vote for Cornelium.

Gladiator poses (and a broken flash) in the gladiator housing

 From the back of the house looking out to the street.  The round pedestal in the middle would have held a table to work at in the mornings.  

Have mosaic at the entry to the House of the Faun.  I think I remember that Have was a form of Ave, which roughly means 'welcome.'

This would have been a wealthy citizen, as demonstrated by the large house and the variety and quality of artwork inside.  

Pompeii is thought to have been representative of a middle class Roman town of the times.  There were three venues for public performances:  the amphitheater for gladiator battles, a theater for comedy shows, and a smaller theater for music.  We didn't walk over to the amphitheater because it was a 30 minute one way walk and we figured we'd get our fix at the Colosseum anyway!  We did see the music and comedy theaters though.  

We stopped for an orange and Froot Loop snack after our tour and Rudy loved this friend:

This was essentially a crosswalk.  The streets would have gotten rather filthy with animal droppings and whatever the residents tossed from their homes.  At most intersections, there were raised stones to use when crossing the filth.  Notice the tracks in between?  These would have been carved to help the carts stay in the right path to avoid the stones.  

Refilling our water bottles from the ancient fountains, still fed by the aqueducts!

Walking like Egyptians in the temple of the Egyptian goddess, Isis.  

Another one with the volcano in the background...

Headed out!  Overall, I'd call this a successful visit.  At some point, Brady leaned over to James and whispered, "This is SO COOL!"

We headed back on the Circumvesuviana train and went a couple stops past the port stop to make our way to a pizza place.  The one we originally wanted was closed because it was Sunday, but we all decided it couldn't have been any better than Pizza Trianon!  After we ordered, the kids were able to go over and watch our pizzas being made.  When we left, the cook and the cashier were really friendly and taught the kids how to say best pizza ever in Italian. We've already forgotten that phrase, but we remembered molto bene (very good!).  

oops...how'd that happen?

We walked back to the ship and boarded not too long before all aboard.  James and I were eating at the steak restaurant late tonight.  The kids weren't all that hungry because of our late lunch, so they swam and played ping pong and snacked from the buffet at the pool.  We watched sunset from the pool deck.  James and I went to dinner and the kids went back to the room for cookies and milk with Nana and Popsie.