Our ship sailed from Palermo, Sicily northwards to Naples, Italy. Seagulls flew overhead, calling to each other, swooping across the ship, hoping for tidbits tossed into the air.
The Tyrrhenian Sea was beautiful and exotic, every single day I was on it.
In Naples, we took a bus through the countryside, on roads whose edges were piled with black lava rock, until we reached Pompeii, the old city that was buried a long time ago in volcanic ash, cinders, and stones when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. Molten lava did not cover Pompeii, but poisonous gas did.
Archeologists, while digging to uncover the city of 20,000 people, found empty shells, hollowed-out molds of people, which they filled by pouring plaster into them. I saw many of these forms at Pompeii, even ones of dogs, and they were all a terrible sight.
There were acres and acres of excavated city that we walked through. Stone sidewalks ran along lava-paved streets. Large stepping stones allowed the citizens to cross the streets without soiling their shoes and clothes in the refuse in the streets left by horses.
Laid-open buildings showed plumbing running up the walls, a surprise to us who believed that ancient times didn't have such amenities.
There were tall, carved columns standing, and houses and statues, and doors covered in colorful glass tiles, as beautiful then as they must have been in the original days.
So many things were made of stone, such as high walls and buildings. There were bronze sculptures and marble columns standing beside nothing.
Vesuvius, in violently erupting, destroyed the nearby cities of Stabiae and Herculaneum as well as Pompeii, changing the makeup of the region forever, eliminating all that it was.
In the heat of the sun, over grass and dirt and ruins, it was easy to picture myself in a white robe and sandals, living in Pompeii when it was a thriving city of wealth, merchants, and manufacturers.
It was very quiet there. Tourists were awed by what they saw and believed.
Massive temples rose above the ground and stood majestically, facing the sun.
And in the distance, the enemy, the cause of death and destruction.
Mount Vesuvius, bold and cold and undisturbed.
Less than a mile away.
Awesome.
The Tyrrhenian Sea was beautiful and exotic, every single day I was on it.
In Naples, we took a bus through the countryside, on roads whose edges were piled with black lava rock, until we reached Pompeii, the old city that was buried a long time ago in volcanic ash, cinders, and stones when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. Molten lava did not cover Pompeii, but poisonous gas did.
Archeologists, while digging to uncover the city of 20,000 people, found empty shells, hollowed-out molds of people, which they filled by pouring plaster into them. I saw many of these forms at Pompeii, even ones of dogs, and they were all a terrible sight.
There were acres and acres of excavated city that we walked through. Stone sidewalks ran along lava-paved streets. Large stepping stones allowed the citizens to cross the streets without soiling their shoes and clothes in the refuse in the streets left by horses.
Laid-open buildings showed plumbing running up the walls, a surprise to us who believed that ancient times didn't have such amenities.
There were tall, carved columns standing, and houses and statues, and doors covered in colorful glass tiles, as beautiful then as they must have been in the original days.
So many things were made of stone, such as high walls and buildings. There were bronze sculptures and marble columns standing beside nothing.
Vesuvius, in violently erupting, destroyed the nearby cities of Stabiae and Herculaneum as well as Pompeii, changing the makeup of the region forever, eliminating all that it was.
In the heat of the sun, over grass and dirt and ruins, it was easy to picture myself in a white robe and sandals, living in Pompeii when it was a thriving city of wealth, merchants, and manufacturers.
It was very quiet there. Tourists were awed by what they saw and believed.
Massive temples rose above the ground and stood majestically, facing the sun.
And in the distance, the enemy, the cause of death and destruction.
Mount Vesuvius, bold and cold and undisturbed.
Less than a mile away.
Awesome.
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