Gems of the Mediterranean Sea (Part 7)

Back in 2008, I had a chance to visit the islands and coastline in the Gulf of Salerno, Italy during an amazing trip with a small sailing boat. It was really great, one of the best excursions of my life. You have a totally different view of these little towns and villages if you look at them from the sea. It is really amazing how high they have built houses up on the rocks. Though it was a long time ago, I can still vividly remember the picturesque towns, the wonderful view of the horizon, the squeaking sound of the seagulls, the incomparable smell of salty water and the gorgeous taste of Italian red wine. I wish to share these memories with you in this series of posts.

Today I would like to share a few photos of the gorgeous Pompei, an ancient Roman town near Naples. As you may already know this town was buried under tons of ash and lava in a volcanic eruption in AD 79 but the buildings and the streets remained in a surprisingly good condition: you can see not only the walls but the frescos on them, the mosaics on the floor, the decorations etc.

Walking there is like participating in a time-travel, so if you like history, you really need to see this place! You will be surprised how huge it is. It's amazing to walk on the streets or enter the buildings while you try to imagine how inhabitants could live there. At the gate, you receive a small brochure with the map and the description of the buildings. It is very useful and really makes your journey more interested if you know the function of the places you visit. There are smaller and bigger houses or villas, you can see the city centre (forum), there are temples, baths, theatres, a market and even a brothel.

It makes you thinking and withdrawn - at least this was how I felt - to realize that people there lived happily at one moment and died in the next one. The volcanic eruption probably came all of a sudden and they could do nothing against it. Another proof of how powerful nature is...​ We have to enjoy what we have because we can never know when will it all end.

Well, ​the following pictures might give you an idea about the unique atmosphere of the place.

This used to be a kitchen:

Inside the buildings, a lot of details and decorations remained in good condition:

The streets are wide and convenient, walking there, you can feel how grandiose the city was:

An ancient zebra crossing - I loved it!

Some buildings are really monumental:

It is hard to imagine that a vivid and flourishing city was destroyed from one day to another. Many objects and corps remained under the ash layer, they are still cataloguing and restoring some of them:

And finally - again - the proof that I was really there:

If you liked this post, you can read the previous ones in this series here:
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