Brothel and Volcano - Check

 Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius are going to be better understood and experience through photos so I am just going to take you on a photo tour of the ruins and volcano.

In order to get to Pompeii from the Amalfi coast you need a bus, taxi or some other form of transportation.  We decided on an English speaking tour bus that was €38 and took us to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius.  Well the winding road on the cliffs of the Amalfi coast is much like every other road we have had the pleasure of riding (or walking) on.  It’s about the size of a one way street in America, but traffic can go any which way it pleases.  Being on a huge coach tour bus, it a huge contrast from being in a small taxi or one of the smart cars that people ride around in.  In many of the sharp turns there is only space for the bus and as we made the turn I could look straight down the cliffs to the rocks and water below.  This is a photo taken on our bus looking at another bus that was coming around the corner, and the person on the motor bike squeezing between the two.  I am pleased to say that I didn’t see or experience one traffic accident the entire day.

This was our English speaking tour guide when we got into Pompeii.  He was great.  It was really cool going through a place like that and instead of just seeing a pile of rocks and having to fuss with the brochure to try and figure out what it is you are actually looking at, he made it seem like we were visiting a modern city that flowed from one street to the next.

This was the frieze bordering the top of one of the baths.  The fact that the detail is preserved and the detail for each one of these men holding up the ceiling is amazing.  The baths were more of a daily pleasure thing for those who could afford them.  Bathers would go into a steam room to prepare for the next bath which was hot water.  Then they would take a quick dip into cold water to tone up the skin.  All throughout the baths were areas decorated in mosaic that were used as a massage area.  Take a bath, get a massage – tough day.

All of the original roads still remain intact.  This is a pretty extreme example of where the chariots would go through the streets.  There were grooves in most of the stones along the main roadways showing the traffic patterns and wear and tear the horse drawn chariots would cause.

This is a view looking down the main drag of the city.  The arches are much like how Paris is set up today showing the entrance into the main area of the city.  The stones that are raised on the road served as a cross walk for pedestrians.  Everything from food waste to human waste would flow out onto the road.  That mixed with floods from rain would create a pretty messy, and smelly, road to walk on.  The stones were put in place so the people could get from one sidewalk or walkway to the next without going knee high in questionable liquids.

There are ways we could look more like tourists… we aren’t far off at all, but that’s ok.  This is Dad and I posing in Pompeii’s main square with a lovely view of Mt. Vesuvius.  Apparently the 10,000-20,000 people living in the city August 23, AD 79 weren’t aware that the “mountain” they saw on a daily basis was actually an active volcano.  It wasn’t until after a major earthquake and a sulfur leak into the water that they realized what was on the edge of town.  Unfortunately for them it was too late to do anything about it and the eruption consumed the city.  At Pompeii the people mostly died from the sulfur gases leaking out and choking them.  Some made it to the ash stage where the 160 acre city was flooded by lava ash and mud slides conserving it for centuries before being discovered and revealed to the world.

Using a plaster technique, scientists have been able to use natural modes of where humans were to recreate a likeness of their bodies.  Cement is poured into an area where a human or animal of some sort left and impression.  Once it is dried and removed there is a cement cast of a human body.  This was a key in seeing what people did, how they reacted, and how they tried to stay out of harm’s way.  It was a bit creepy and intense.

Throughout the tour, we were pretty much one of the only groups we saw.  In a place so big, that is to be expected because everyone goes in at different times and I am sure each guide has a different tour he or she gives.  The one place we had to wait in line and actually saw a mob of people, was the brothel.  There were apparently 25 brothels in Pompeii and there was only one open for tours.  Fun fact – a man or woman could go to a brothel and for the cost of two glasses of wine, about a euro in present day, that man or woman could have a good time.  We were told they were very clean places with an on hand doctor and facilities to clean up before and after any act was had.  It was expected that a man leave his wife at home and go to the brothel in search of other female or male company and that was just how things were then.

There were frescos like this one bordering the top of the brothel.  They were a menu for a person to come in and say what he or she wanted.  It was very much like Burger King – have it your way.  The brothel we entered was a lot smaller than I thought.  There were 4 small rooms with concrete “beds” and concrete “pillows” attached to them.  Everything was open and probably only separated by a curtain.  According to the tour guide the Greeks and Romans like to do three things – eat bread, drink at the local pub, and go to a brothel.  What else is there to do without cable TV?

Dad, John, Jenny and I asked one of the people on our tour to take out photo before we left Pompeii.  This was one of the first times that we could get one altogether and after a great tour we took advantage of it.

The people that lived in Pompeii in 79 AD didn’t know it was an active volcano… all of the 3 million people living there now, should have some idea that it’s an active volcano.  There are sensors that could tell as far out as a month to only a mater of 7 hours that the volcano will erupt again according to all of our guides.  7 hours to evacuate 3 million people… the odds don’t look good.

We all made the trek to the top of the volcano.  This was not an easy climb.  While there is a path created it’s on volcanic rocks which are slippery and it was pretty steep.  We survived though and had to get a photo at the top by the crater.  This used to be a peak, but it was blown off during an eruption.

Dad got a glass of vino locale on the top and celebrated his accomplishment.

John, Jenny, Dad and I at the top of Mt. Vesuvius.  We had to take a group photo to prove that we all accomplished it!

This is the view of the other side of the path, the city of Naples.  I didn’t realize how huge the city was until we were up there looking down.  It was incredible.

Dad and I taking our Ibuprofen after the climb down and day of walking, a bus ride never felt so good.