Pompeii

As I walked out of the port in Castellammare di Stabia I was trying to look for a taxi but there was none at all. I was a bit perplexed as it was my first time walking about in Italy. As soon as I asked someone for directions I almost burst out laughing as their English sounded exactly like the Mafioso's in the Godfather movies. 

IE at Castellammare di Stabia

Rubbish collectors on strike...

I walked quite some distance until I got to somekind of stop and these small small minivans kept coming and dropping people off and taking other on and they also had a "taxi" sign on top. Finally I mustered my courage and asked fro Pompeii, the old guy who was driving said "Scavi?" and motioned me to get in. There was no meter to mention of.  

Reminds me of Asterix comics

Italia...

The old minivan kept going and going up and down steep and narrow roads and dropping people off intermittently after they called for it. After some 20minutes I was alone with the driver and he said "momento" and stopped the van outside a shop. He got a couple gallon jars of table wine from the shop and we continued the trip. After some 10 minutes more we arrived the Pompeii archaeological site. 

 

The ancient Circus

The Circus arena and lecterns

Pompeii was buried in ash and pumice in AD79 from a violent eruption from the Vesuvius volcano. The town city itself was founded around 8th - 6th century BC by Greeks and Phoenicians. At the time of the eruption the city was a considered somewhat of a Roman holiday resort. 

The House of Venus 

Venus herself

The site was still open although the clock was ticking at 5pm, the personnel at the gate told me I'll have 2hrs to have a look around. So, in I went and started walking, the area is actually huge. At first I barged into an ancient Circus where people had been thrown to the lions for fun and gladiators had bashed skulls in. After the Circus followed some other public building and then the city started. 

More wall art

Ancient censor? 

 

...and more art

I was passing several buildings of which few were open for public display. The houses did not show much else than the walls and the rooms people had been living in those days, AD79. I guess they did not sport much furniture either. The other was the graffiti of the times that we today call art. There were in many places paintings of different motifs in many places. Many times it was with religious connotations and you could see that Roman Gods as well as Egyptian Gods had been worshiped in ancient Pompeii. 

 

Pompeian cobble stone street

I was running out of time and did not have enough time to walk the ancient town so I had to call it a day and go back onboard. The taxi was still waiting for me as agreed on before I went in and without further ado I asked him to take me back to Castellammare di Stabia.  

The park outside the excavation area

That he did the fast way this time as he took the highway and got me back in 10 minutes or so. He left me at the gate of the port and I was wanting to have a beer at the local tavern so I went across the street to a one table, one chair bar. The barman did not want to notice me so I stopped trying to get his attention and walked back onboard where I enjoyed a Kold Kingfisher instead.