The archeological excavations of Pompeii, Italy

Pompeii, like Naples, is one of the oldest cities in the world.
In 79 AD, the volcano, Mt Vesuvius erupted which lasted for 2 days.  It buried Pompeii with ash and pumice. Pompeii was lost and forgotten for 1,700 years and it was only discovered in 1749.

Lost City of Pompeii

Pompeii with Mt Vesuvius in the background

It was amazing to explore the excavations of Pompeii as it gives you clues to the life at the height of the Roman Empire.  

This is the Quarters of Gladiators. They used to live, walk and train here.  

Gladiators' quarters

Our tour guide was trying to be funny - he said yesterday’s gladiators are today's soccer players. Haha…

  
Just across the Gladiators' quarters is the amphitheater -

Pompeii's amphitheatre

As you walk down the streets, you will notice rows of big bricks that are elevated above the road.  Apparently, these were their pedestrian lanes!  Probably the earliest form of a pedestrian lane.

Ancient pedestrian lane up close

We went to the marketplace and you could see that the stalls were properly partitioned.  At the entrance of each stall, you would notice that there’s a gap on the pavement – these are traces that they made use of sliding doors during the ancient times. 

 

The gap signifies that they used sliding doors.

Some of the stalls had a countertop like the one below.  The tour guide said that these used to be food stalls, the McDonald’s of the Roman Empire. I told you, our tour guide was really trying hard to be funny.  Haha...

Ancient countertops

On the pavement along the streets, you will notice that there are holes on the bricks.  

 Apparently, this is where they used to tie their horses - these are the ancient parking slots. :)

We visited the house of the wife of Emperor Nero. It was one of the biggest in the excavation site - about 3,000sqm if I’m not mistaken.  It had 4 dining rooms and 2 gardens.   

This is the sculpture that greets you as you enter the house.

I just couldn't take a lot of photos because it was drizzling.  It's hard to take photos while holding an umbrella. Haha...  

In ancient times, houses didn’t have their own toilet and bath so people had to go to public bathrooms.  There's one for male and one for female.  

Ancient public bathroom

I think this one is for the men because it had male sculptures inside.  Notice how intricate the design of the ceiling too?  So beautiful.  

Sculptures inside the public bath rooms

I think this one is the public bathroom for the women.

Ancient public bathroom

Pompeii would surely be one of my most unforgettable and emotional places after seeing the casts of the Pompeii victims in various agonizing poses.  

This looks like a praying woman.

A dog victim. :(

You could see the pain in this man's face. May his soul rest in peace.

Notice that this man is wearing a belt? It signifies that he was most likely a slave according to our tour guide.  

Seeing the casts is really so heartbreaking.   While looking at them, I couldn't help but have flash images on what possibly happened that fateful day as they tried to scramble for life but there was nowhere to go.  :(

There were also ancient jars excavated in the buried city of Pompeii. 

In ancient times, houses also had their version of the “Beware of Dog” sign.  Among wealthy families, they would have a mosaic at the floor of the gate like this one.  

This is  a replica of the one that was discovered at the excavation site in Pompeii.

While at Pompeii, we also had time to visit a cameo factory.  I actually thought cameos were made from ivory.  They are apparently made from seashells.  I watched a cameo maker at work - if I remember right he's a third generation cameo maker.

Here's the stampita he's trying to copy.

And here's his work in progress! 

Beautiful! I hope his descendants continue to preserve the tradition of cameo making in their family.

To cap our day, we also got to taste Limoncillo.  A bit strong for me but really good…

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This is part of a 2-day tour which we booked via www.ItaliaTours.com.   The package tour costs about USD430/pax which includes transportation and overnight hotel accommodation.  The tour departs from Rome and the itinerary covers Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.