We took a really early flights from Athens, and arrived in Naples at 9:30am. It gave us enough time to drive around Naples to get a feel of the city and to eat the must-try Neapolitan pizzas. Our real destination was Pompei, which is only half an hour south of Naples. It was an ancient Roman city that was buried by volcanic ashes 60 feet deep in AD 79.
A building in Naples, close to the city’s port. To get there from the Naples airport, we picked up a rental car and drove in the crazy driving scenes in Naples, itself a once-in-a-lifetime intensive Italian experience.A 13th century cathedral, the Basilica Santuario di Maria Santissima Del Carmine MaggioreIt was rumored that pizzas were invented in Naples – we tried it and it was amazing! The pizza dough was very thin and chewy (not crunchy), the ingredients were rich in flavor, you feel like almost eating crepes but it was pizzas!
Because of the early flights, we all took a nap in the hotel, and arrived at Pompei at 5pm. The site closes at 7pm. The benefit of touring Pompei in the late afternoon is a cooler temperature. But it also limits the number of things we can see. It is typically recommended to spend at least 3 hours to see most of the city.
Pompei was buried under volcanic ashes in AD 79, killing most of the 20,000 inhabitants. Having been to all the Roman ruins, Pompei is the most sprawling and impressive as life was frozen in time for 2000 years until it was excavated this century.Each neighborhood has a fast food joint like this one, as many do not cook and so they would eat out or grab a takeout. The streets are washed regularly by flooding water through them. These big stepping stones are for pedestrians to cross without getting their feet wet. On the stone streets, notice the chariot tracks that are carved onto the stone due to heavy use.About 2000 inhabitants’ last moments of their lives are captured as their bodies were covered molten rocks and lava ashes. Archeologists are able to create casts out of the victims’ bodies.
