We arrived in Sorrento and dropped off our luggage at our hotel then had a quick orientation walk up the Via Caesari, the market street. We had some free time to explore and shop for souvenirs and we stopped at a pizzeria for a quick lunch. Hungry for peppers, I ordered my first pizza of the trip loaded with peperoni.
It was just what I was hungry for. After lunch several of us took advantage of the Ladies Room and on my way out I was abducted by the
pizza chef for a demonstration on “how we make pizza in Sorrento.”
It was a brief but funny hostage situation. Ah! These flirtatious Italians!
After lunch we headed over to
Gelato David for a
gelato lesson or in this case a lemon sorbetto lesson (and of course a sampling of the wares!)
Mark really enjoyed his!
Then we were off on the train to Pompeii. The train trip was an adventure in itself, what with beggars carrying Louis Vuitton bags, musicians hustling and adolescent amorous activity it was quite a scene.
We had Gaetano Manfredi for our guide,
a third generation Pompeii Tour Guide, who gave us a fabulous and entertaining perspective on all that we were seeing.
Five miles from Vesuvius, Pompeii was a busy middle class port town of some 20,000 people who were suffocated in hot gases and debris then buried in 30-45 feet of ash in 79 A.D.
The forum was the center of activity, political and commercial. That’s Vesuvius in the background (downsized since the 79 eruption but some 400 years overdue for yet another).
Pompeii was busy rebuilding after a prior earthquake so some of what we saw was unfinished construction.
The atrium of an elegant home in this middle-class city.
One of the public baths.
The steam room.
Casa del Fauno
a bit of color remains of what was all color in its day.
Some of the remaining artifacts along with plaster casts of victims. Most of the remaining fine art is in Naples at the Archeological Museum (more later on that). Pompeii escaped the invasion of the barbarians as it was underground but the site was plundered by the Spanish invasion, 18th century archeologists and WWII souvenir hunters. 25% of it still lies underground awaiting better science and restoration techniques.
More color.
Cave Canem – Beware of the Dog mosaic at the entry to the Casa del Poeta Tragico.
A remnant of the lead pipes that formed part of the water supply system. Our guide explained that residents would not have been poisoned by the lead pipes as they were lined by calcium from the water and because lead does not easily dissolve except in alcohol. Hence it was a bad idea to drink wine from lead cups as in the late Roman Empire.
Hot and covered in volcanic ash we took the train back to our hotel, showered and cleaned up, then walked down to the beach for a lovely dinner at Ristorante Delfino. I had Verdura Grigliata and Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare which featured razor clams and a luscious local wine.
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