Day 30 - Sorrento/Pompei, Italy

Today we ventured up to Pompei (via train). Mount Vesuvius "destroyed" this once thriving city of 25,000 in 79 AD. The residents were not killed by lava flow as I had once thought, but instead, were suffocated and buried in 25 feet of volcanic ash. In addition, the city was not actually destroyed. The volcanic ash acted as a preservative which allows us to see life as it was the day before the eruption. Most of the destruction seen today is from past excavations and looting.

The city consists of 66 acres, and you can walk through the old homes, markets, forum, theatres, brothels, etc. Thankfully Kim convinced me to pass on the 6 hour audio tour, and instead we got a tour guide who showed us the highlights in 2 hours.


The most popular attraction in Pompei seemed to be the brothels, as the lines to get in were over 20 mins. Inside, there were frescoes on the wall depicting a “menu” of various positions one could choose from. We snapped some photos of the “menu”, but they might be too explicit to post on our PG-13 blog.

This evening, we walked around Sorrento. For dinner, we ate our first authentic Italian pizza. Kim was the happiest camper I’ve seen in a while (look at that big smile).