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We had a ships excursion today to Amalfi and Pompeii. The chip docked in Salerno and from here we took another smaller boat to Amalfi, to explore the town before returning to Salerno to get on our bus to Pompeii.
We enjoyed a lovely coastal boat ride to and from Salerno to the village of Amalfi. Amalfi is a beautiful small town on the coast and we had about an hour and a half to explore before returning to get our bus to Pompeii.
This area is known for its lemons and lemon based treats. This lemon cake lived up to their reputation, yummy.
Pompeii: Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried, as well as insight into ancient urban planning. It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed. It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their decay allowed archaeologists to create moulds of figures in their final moments of life. The numerous graffiti carved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lost Vulgar Latin spoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers.
Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modern archaeology. Initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed. By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay; further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city.
Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owing to its status as "the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city". It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually.
Below - You can see Mount Vesuvius in the background from Pompeii.
Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modern archaeology. Initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed. By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay; further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city.
Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owing to its status as "the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city". It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually.
Below - You can see Mount Vesuvius in the background from Pompeii.
Sadly we didn't have great weather for our visit. It poured pretty much the whole time and while we had rain gear, we have learned it's more water resistant, than water proof. Pompeii is a huge site and we got to se a small fraction. Like Herculean the site was next to the see when the volcano erupted. It was buried in hot ash not lava.
Bodies where covered in ash and essentially encased - later archeologists could pour concrete into the cavities left by the bodies to get replicas of what the people looked like who had died inside.
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