Pompeii, Italy

View of Mount Vesuvius from Sorrento, Italy. 

Oh silly me! I completely forgot to post pictures of one of my favorite summer excursions! The Morris’ and I had just spent several glorious (sweltering) summer days in the Italian cities of Rome, Positano, Sorrento and Capri, and the day had come for me to fly home and reconnect with my hard-working Hubby. 

(Lovey-dovey side note – I am always bummed when Chris’ work schedule doesn’t allow him to hop on a plane with me every single time I get the travel urge, but I am beyond blessed - and spoiled - that he gives me freedom and trusts me to sight see on my own, meet up with friends and spend his hard-earned dollars wisely. What a man!) 

Evan mentioned that next on the Morris’-Italian-travel-agenda was a trip to see the ruins of Pompeii and that darn Mount Vesuvius. Since I would pass Pompeii on my way back to Rome, I decided to enjoy one last excursion with my dear friends before parting ways. I'm so glad that I did! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing the Pompeii that had before only existed on the pages of my middle school textbooks. 

As soon as we bought our tickets and walked in, my first reactions was: “This place is huge!” I always envisioned Pompeii as a little village, but in fact, it was a bustling and important Roman city of (an estimated) 20,000 people. You can spend more than a whole day exploring one of the most important excavation sites in the world. Another sentence that must have come out of my mouth a million times was: “How in the world did that survive 2,000 years?!” There are colorful murals, cafeteria serving lines, ornate bath houses, coloseums, theaters, lavish villas, and schools all perfectly intact and all telling a story of years gone by. That is the beauty and mystery of Pompeii, due to the way that the ash and pumice fell and covered the city, She was almost completely intact when archaeologists started uncovering the lost city 250 years ago in 1748.

Enjoy a few of my pictures from Pompeii, and if you get a chance to go yourself, GO!

You won’t regret a trip to Pompeii! 

Ciao!

A well preserved temple in Pompeii. 

I mean really - how did these colors survive 2000 years! Amazing!

Theater with amazing acoustics in Pompeii. 

This was a cafeteria serving line. 

Outside of Pompeii's colosseum.

Evan and Lindsay inside the Pompeii colosseum. 

There's Mount Vesuvius in the background. 

Main street running through Pompeii. 

The famous Pompeii baths. I remember reading about these in history class.

Town square/meeting hall. The Temple of Apollo is the main focus. 

Recovered relics. Apparently 2000 original pieces go "missing" every year. Sad. 

POMPEII WAS AWESOME!! 

Know Before You Go to Pompeii:

- Price: 11 Euro per adult (summer of 2012)

- Price per Audio Guide: 5 Euro per person

- Personal Guide: We opted for the audio guide option, so I’m not sure what the price is for a personal   guide (I assume the price varies), but I do know that they are at the entrance of the site promising the best tour if you pick their services. 

- If you go to Pompeii in the summer, go early! We arrived around 9am thinking that we would beat the crowd, but there was still quite a line to get into the archaeological site. As afternoon approached, we found it difficult to even see certain famous landmarks because there were just SO many people!

- July is really hot! Plan accordingly.

- You could spend an entire day here! Even if you’re not a “history buff,” you’ll find yourself captivated by the story of Pompeii and amazed to actually be walking amongst the ancient, well-preserved city. Pompeii really is mind blowing! It is more than just a bunch of rocks stacked atop each other!

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