Pompeii! (Honeymoon Day 8- PT 1)

We woke up around 6:30am, and got ready for a pre-planned day trip to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. We had to walk about 15 minutes to the Naples Archeological Museum. A driver took us to a larger tour bus and we spent the next hour or so waiting for people to get on and off the buses at different stops. Some of the people doing Vesuvius and the Amalfi Coast switched to a different bus. From the Port of Naples, it was about 20 minutes via highway to Pompeii.

Once we got to Pompeii, we had a few minutes to wait., so I got a barley coffee..there were about 34 people in our tour, so we were given headsets to be able to hear the tour guide as we moved through the exhibits of Pompeii. 

We started out in the Big Theater.

The big theater is still used and Elton John even played here last year. Tickets for this caliber of concert are 300 euros.steps divided in three levels,based on social status. Back in the Pompeii days, the theater would have been covered.  The original marble steps have been preserved and the great acoustics are still intact.

Then we walked to Stabiana Road, a shopping road which had stepping stones between the streets. One can still see the grooves for sliding doors, which would have been great to protect from the weather.

Casa del Menandro is an originally preserved house. We entered through the atrium, which centered around a pool. Every Roman house had a pool for preserving water to use it in other ways. A shrine to honor the gods was in the corner. Then we went to the garden. In the house they had three different baths: cold,  warm,and hot. We learned that the house was only named Menandro because of a painting of Menandro a Greek poet.Elisha liked the house.

Then we went to Terme Suburbane, the largest public bath, with a rectangular courtyard.  While it was open to all, there was a men's and women's section.  The men's section is bigger and better preserved. 

Then on to the Prostitution  house.  There were once 25 prostitution houses in a Red Light District, though only one remains. Nearby, there were a few fallic symbols, which served as a early GPS for the residents of Pompeii. We spent some time in the Forum before heading to lunch. Elisha and I felt that the tour was good, since we would have had trouble navigating through the site without a tour guide.