ITALY: Arriving in BOLOGNA and our train trip to see the “LEANING TOWER OF PISA”.

Arriving into Bologna it was just on dark.  And unfortunately we don’t fancy arriving at night time because we seem to get a little disorientated.  When it’s light at least we get the opportunity to observe different landmarks and give us a sense of our bearings.  Right there and then it was only a little bit of a problem.  As fate would have it across the road from the station were a variety of restaurants, gelatarias and cafes (making a mental note - ones that we HAD to visit over the next few days ). 

Nightfall in Bologna

So outside in the glow of the station lights we stood there distracted by the eateries, cafes and restaurants, shaking ourselves off from the excitement of having a real Spaghetti Bolognaise.  We finally made our way to 4 Viale Angelo Masini, less than 500 metres from the train station.  Settled in and headed straight back down the road across from the station with only the thoughts of ….Spag Bog for dinner, Gelati for dessert.  Ahhh!  authentic Italian!  

The choice was difficult because there quite a few to choose from, even a Chinese café a little further down.  We’ll make that one tomorrow night.

Having heard and read about all the good things about Bologna we knew we would need a few days to look around and see the sites because the architecture here is unbelievable and a must-see.  In any event we needed to set aside a full day for a trip to see the ”Leaning Tower of Pisa” too. 

The famous "Leaning Tower of Pisa"

 It was “do-able” – and early TOMORROW in fact.  The trip would take around 2 and a half hours all up allowing for a train change in Firenze Rifredi, to Empoli then on to Pisa.  Maybe a little longer on the way back to Bologna because we’d be travelling on a different route stopping in Prato.  All good.

Well you wouldn’t believe it !  At our first stop we looked up to see 2 women who were standing in the carriage doorway, looking left to right, and we heard one of them mention something about “Turistas”.  Then only one of them hopped off.  We thought they were checking out the seating arrangements.  NO!!  The one who stayed on the train (it was obvious she was Gypsy), starting walking down the aisles as the train pulled out of the station leaving little cut-out Notes on the arm rests of each occupied seat.  Our instinct was to leave it there.  Tony was curious.  The Note read –“ I am a single mother with 3 children, I do not have a home, I have no money.  I care for my 2 younger brothers and we have no food.  Pray for Us”.  It was now obvious that they were sussing out who was on the train ie. “Turistas” and if there were any Rail Police on board between stations.   

Well, Luvvy!  If you are in such a difficult circumstance – how on earth do you manage to print out enough notes on your electricity powered computer, enough to fill 6 train carriages.  Don’t even get me started about the kids being left alone somewhere…because they haven’t got a home !!!

Before we reached the next station she’d returned rattling her plastic cup into the faces of the passengers saying something about her plight and with the best Hollywood tears you would ever see.  Almost everyone, including us, avoided eye contact or just waved her away as she collected her little notes.  When the Rail Police were spotted boarding at the next station, in true Hollywood fashion the tears disappeared and she high tailed it off the train. “Pray for Us” – Pray we will - that we don’t have to encounter this again!

 

Early Morning in Pisa



Being Sunday morning, it was quiet in the streets of Pisa (people still in mass?) and we were enjoying our relaxing stroll keeping an eye out for directional maps of how to get to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Tower

That was until……..!! 

You see, there was this seedy long haired (mullet cut) guy slowly riding his bicycle up fairly close and keeping pace with us.  (The Mullet Cut should have been enough to make us suspicious!)  As we moved to the side of the street so did he on his bike.  He followed us for a fair way then tried to strike up a conversation.  We knew it wasn’t just normal conversation – it was an asking type of tone like – “Do you have cigarettes or money?”  Thank goodness we couldn’t understand any Italian.  We just waved him away, as you do – it works with the Gypsies.  And seriously we couldn’t understand anything he was saying.  And he just kept on at us – riding along on his bicycle babbling away.  And besides we thought he probably couldn’t understand us either.  Then he started raising his voice – then I heard him say THAT WORD,  the one I learnt from the subtitles of the late night SBS TV Italian movies.  You know that one …. the “F – word”.

(WARNING:  The following comments you are about to read contain Adult Themes, Sexual References and only suitable for Mature Audiences).  This mullet haired, stalker bicycle rider told us – in his best Italian to - “F ** K-Off”. 

On hearing that, me now getting angry, my reaction was to tell him to “F ** K-Off” in English.  And I did.  I wasn’t going to have anyone talk to me like that, either was Tony (but he was oblivious to what this guy said anyway).  Imagine the look on Tony’s face when I blurted it out.  He momentarily stood there motionless.  The funny part about this is… You know what “Mr Mullet” said back?  In good old plain ENGLISH, (English, can you believe?) he replied, “Well You  F ** K Off too!!”  And rode his bike away.  LOL, LOL. 

Tony and I laughed so hard I think we must have shamed this bloke so much after our little exchange of “F” words he didn’t even turn back to look at us.  

Still laughing we made it to the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” only to find that the streets back in the city were quiet because everyone seemed to be at the tower site. 

Entrance into the Tower Site

Seriously, there were hundreds of people there snapping photos, taking videos, trying to make out like they were pushing the tower back into place.  Did we do that?  Sure!  Do you know how stupid it really looks doing that?  Sure, just look at the photo!  There were so many people everywhere that there is no way in the world you can have a photo taken on your own.  Does anyone know what the phrase is for “Multiple” Photo-Bombs.  


Let's try stop it from falling over !!!













Market Stalls inside the site

 

Our time at the Tower of Pisa was spent walking around and reading the various plaques explaining how this phenomenon has come to be, the stabilisation and engineering of the site over the years and us taking lots and lots of photos. 



Market Stalls Outside the Walls to the site

We ventured over to the market stalls, the outside of the ancient walls only to find more  markets that we just as crowded...and they all sold everything imaginable with the Leaning Tower of Pisa on it – Tea Towels, Key rings, T-shirts, Little Leaning Towers of Pisa, Table cloths, more Tea Towels and T-shirts.  All this leaning stuff was making us dizzy.   

We had seen enough!  Dare we venture back into the streets way of bicycle riders?  Yep but we didn’t get hassled this time.  Instead we just took our time enjoying the views over the River Arno and some of the magnificent doorways and amazing, and sometime creepy looking,  door knockers. 

Tony and Liz and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Views over the River Arno

Door Knocker in Pisa

More Leaning Tower photos

  

WOW !

Tomorrow our Italian adventure continues back in Bologna.  The doors are closed on this one!!

Stylish Door in Pisa

See ya. 

Liz and Tony



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ITALY: Our Interesting Train Trip from ROME to BOLOGNA

We weren’ sure what Bologna would be like but having been given lots of great reviews and web links about the city from Alison and Rob, who had travelled there the previous year as part of Rob’s PhD funding, we were far from disappointed.  

 

Essentially Bologna is a small city with a population of just under 400,000 and what stood out for us was the food, wine, cheeses, olives and other fresh produce (mouth watering) and where Bolognaise and Bologna sausage originated.  More famously it is noted for its culture, art, history, learning centre and medieval architecture, markets and high end shopping.  

The Historical Centre, surrounded by Circon Vallazione (Ring Road) is a ZTL ie. Restricted Traffic Area with the very centre closed off to traffic 24 hours a day except for emergency vehicles.  And who doesn’t love Pedestrian friendly zones especially when it comes to sightseeing and doing the tourist thing.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna)

 

For us we have around 4 hours on the train to look forward to including a short stopover in Florence for about 15-20 minutes to change trains.  And as usual, being the cautious and always guarded travellers that we are, it goes without saying that we have a story to tell about this train journey.  

When we say “guarded”, for us it means looking out for each other, keeping our bags with us at all times, looking out for pickpockets and gypsy scammers who prey on the most unsuspecting people.  Upon leaving Rome this young scruffy woman walks down the aisle struggling with a “super huge” piece of luggage.  Behind her is an American bloke telling her to put it between the seats.  Turns out - the luggage was his, and the girl (yes, she was a Gypsy) had asked him for money in exchange for carrying his bag onto the train.  Fair enough you might think. 

But wait!  Like most long distance trains, the “Intercity” train we were travelling on has a Baggage Area as you hop into the carriage.  Beyond that are the seats.  People freely use the baggage areas because the overhead luggage racks are narrow or folks have more baggage than will fit at their feet or overhead.  Well, we didn’t really have a problem with the “Money in Exchange for carrying Luggage” arrangement EXCEPT… once on the train, Gypsies have been known to make a dash off the carriage with someone else’s luggage from the Baggage Area in the moments before the train leaves that station.  If distracted travellers don’t realise their luggage is missing until they get to their destination…and that could be hours later.  What we objected to was that this guy “ALLOWED” the girl to get onto the train and there was an opportunity for her.  As far as we know the opportunity didn’t happen, and Florence wasn’t the last stop for this train.  Probably better that we didn’t know either!  But we had to change trains at Firenze Centrale for Bologna regardless.

This time the train from Firenze to Bologna was more like one of the old “Red Rattlers”, and just like those from back in the day, we had to share our compartment.  Probably only one of the downsides of “free” train trips on Eurail Passes, but who is complaining? Besides it’s a good way of meeting people and striking up interesting conversations (…nice change instead of us yabbering on with each other all the time).

In saying that, we’ve met some really friendly people in shared train spaces.  This trip was no exception.  After settling into our seats, thinking we had the whole 6-berth to ourselves it wasn’t long before we were joined by the Diez family from Medellin, Columbia - Dad, Mum, daughter Adriana and son David.  There was no awkwardness at all and in a short time we had struck up conversations with Adriana and David who had a good command of English (and for us to practice our limited Spanish with Mum and Dad).  They had all been on business to Milan.  And we were assured that their “business” trip to Italy was related to their clothing trade in Medellin.  The sad part about meeting the Diez family was the short train trip because we could have talked much longer, forever…. and we could have easily bypassed Bologna station.  We look forward to our email exchanges and for some of those Columbian recipes.  Una hermosa familia, tales.

***   Memo to Self: Add MEDILLIN, COLUMBIA to our bucket list. ( PS. The Bucket is now the size of a 44-gallon drum).

  

And so the Travel Adventures continue.  Next from Bologna.  See Ya.

Liz and Tony

Bologna Centrale by Day

ITALY: NAPLES back to ROME and beyond....TO BOLOGNA

Colosseum

After an exhausting day trekking around Pompeii we were looking forward to getting back into the air-con, to having a nice dinner and a relaxing evening before heading back to Rome in the morning around 11 o’clock.  In the lead up time to checking out of Hotel Tiempo we were psyching ourselves up for the walk to the station – mentally chanting “We can do this… We can do this…”.  At least now we knew our way around this area and which sides of the streets to walk on to avoid the rubbish….or so we thought!!

What we didn’t expect was that almost overnight more rubbish seemed to have appeared in the same street as the hotel.  Remember I said in our earlier blog about some “just disgusting” rubbish that we saw.  Now has come the time to say what it was.  As painful as it is to mention….and we hope it doesn’t put you off our Travel Adventures blogs because this is REAL…the comments you are about to read are REAL!! 

Tiber River, Rome

Here goes…..  What we were talking about was a couple of large green heavy duty garbage bags that had split and the contents strewn over the street….it was CONDOMS - used, small, large, different colours, different textures and in different stages of disintegration.  Very confronting!  YUK!  Did I mention it was disgusting.  Maybe once (well maybe 3 times).  What sort of a dirty grub would do that.  Thinking - at different times in our travels we were worried about getting chewing gum, or heaven forbid – Dog Poo stuck on the wheels of our luggage.  How would we explain Condoms rolling around on our wheels? LOL.  Guess it confirms that not only do the Mafia have a strangle hold on the waste disposable contracts, they have a grip on the brothel trade too!  It had to be from a brothel – and about a years (or several years) supply at that.  Just disgusting (OK the word has been mentioned 4 times now).  Suffice to say I DID NOT TAKE A PHOTO.

Goodbye Naples.  We will always remember our visit here….Yeah, for all the WRONG reasons!

Back in Rome and back to the same apartment block where the (WRONG) key was broken in the key hole, we were greeted with a NEW one together with a nice note and some change from our English/Italian speaking Nepalese host about the replacement for the broken one from our last stay here a few days ago.

Our first priority though was to get to the supermarket for some fresh lunch goodies, but Tony insisted…and twisted my arm…and stood his ground…that we should go down to the other supermarket for some of that delicious Gelati we’d tried days before.  Who was I to refuse, besides it was still hot and ice-cream seemed like a good excuse to cool down?  That aside we also needed to get a few snacks for the train trip to Bologna tomorrow.  

Most Delicious Gelati in Italy

 At Roma Termini the next day there were still the long queues of people wanting to buy tickets, the touts who wanted to help people buy their tickets (and scam them out of their cash), the travellers, and the gypsies (who also wanted to scam people out of their cash).  

Trenitalia Ticket Office queues at
Roma Termini

But first we had to stop in for some souvenirs, like T-shirts and the blood red coloured wooden Rosary Beads spotted in shop windows during our walks…the red ones that smell like roses with a picture of Pope John Paul II on the front - just have to have them, along with that cute little black summer dress too! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)   



Those Must-have Rosary Beads




In the meantime Tony had already managed  to sneak in a couple of Owls to add to his collection.  Very cute!
 

Alabaster Owls



And so our Travel Adventures continue.  Who knows what's about to happen on our train trip from Rome to Bologna.  Keep you posted.  Till then.....

Liz and Tony

**************************************************************************

ITALY: Rome to Naples and Pompeii

ROME TO NAPLES (INCLUDING POMPEII)

Near Central Naples

22 August – We are now heading southbound by train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale at 10am ETA 11.10am.  (As a little exercise accentuate the word Centrale to the way the Italians would pronounce it  –“ Centraaa – lee”).  Picture this…. Me and Tony Italianizing our Aussie accents while enjoying the views of the countryside.  Thankfully there weren’t too many people in our carriage so we had plenty of opportunity to practice our language skills (LOL).  And the inside of the train was quite flash too I must say..... 

Our train to Naples

 Our usual practice, or more habit, is that we book all our accommodation On-line.  Naples would be no different.  The only downside to On-line bookings is that you have absolutely no idea of what the locality is like, the terrain, the population, the crime rate etc.  It is the chance you take if you have no idea or have never been there.  The other alternative is to spend hours doing your research and checking out all the reviews and sitting in front of a computer/laptop screen, when you could be out and about enjoying a country you may never see again.  The choice is easy – sightseeing vs. computer.  (OK!! .some of you may prefer to be in front of the computer screen – we’re OK with that). 

Anyway, to cut a long story short our booking experience in Naples compared a little to that of Marseilles.  The only BIG (bloody glaringly BIG) difference was that the hotel in Naples was really, really beautiful and the service and friendliness of the staff was impeccable.

Hotel Tiempo had undergone a major renovation inside and out, was in a quiet area, had a rooftop bar and chill out space with views over terracotta roofs towards the city high-rises and the harbour, included a buffet breakfast, very reasonably priced and within walking distance (with some obstacles) to Napoli “Centraaa-lee” station.  The hotel was situated in a part industrial, part commercial area between the city and the harbour/wharves and also within walking distance to the local train station for trains to Pompeii.  Therefore our choice was obvious.   



Rooftop at Hotel Tiempo



So given all the pluses (+, +, +, +, +) you could forgiven by asking, “HOW does Naples and Marseille compare??” 

Sure the accommodation in Naples was outstanding compared to that in Marseille, and we are still having nightmares about that place, and if you want to refresh your memories of our time there check out our Blog. (http://tonyandliztraveladventures.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/france-marseille.html

But let me explain.  Those “some obstacles” mentioned before were in fact – Rubbish.  I’m not just talking some loose tissues, or plastic shopping bags flying around in a calm breeze like butterflies, or a few tossed soft-drink cans or cigarette butts on the footpaths.  NO!! - The rubbish I’m talking are large mounds of rubbish – old food scraps, large green plastic bags bursting at the seams, discarded clothing and all the imaginable household waste you could imagine – just lying in piles in the street.  Much of it rifled through by hungry roaming dogs and left strewn in the streets.  

Rubbish in the streets



It was disgusting and it was just like a truck had pulled up and just dumped anything and everything wherever there was a spot on the side of the roads, and appeared to be more like rubbish tips than carriage ways.   The photos tell the story and at the end of this blog I will tell you about some rubbish we spotted that will turn your stomach – just disgusting. (**) 



Pedestrian Walkway





Thinking about it Naples and Marseille are quite similar.  They are both major shipping ports across the Mediterranean Sea from northern Africa making them desirable locations for human traffickers, drug smugglers and other unsavoury characters, and we saw a lot of those, high crime rates etc!  And this is where the difference is and where the rubbish problem starts.  Both cities also have a high level of official corruption in private and government circles.  But the big difference here in Naples is the Mafia infiltration into businesses and government (hearsay, of course).  Hearsay has it about long term industrial action by the waste companies (Mafia owned) and government contracts by corrupt officials, and it is spilling into the streets literaly (literaly = “litter-ally”).  So the rubbish keeps piling up.

Graffitied buildings and rubbish strewn footpaths

But Hotel Tiempo was nice!!!  Just a shame that once you were out the door the scene was very different.  Enough that any respectable loving Napoli Pizza lover would have been put off FOREVER!!

Atrium inside Hotel Tiempo

Anyway, the horror of seeing all the rubbish didn’t stop us from venturing back into the city area and making our way around many of the old cobblestones streets, little cafes and markets.  It was a wonder we saw anything at all because we were all the while looking down, side stepping and dodging the rubbish under foot..  (Come to think of it!  This could have been a good opportunity to spend time in front of a computer screen and in air-con instead, LOL, but NO this would not be Tony and Liz’s Travel Adventures if we did ).  



Roadside Fruit and Vege vendor

 

But the main reason we were here in Naples was to travel to Pompeii for a day trip and to see the ruins caused by Mt Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 A.D. and covered Pompeii in lava and ash.

Naples is rich in history and there is no denying that.  It is said that its origins began over 5000 years ago, and sometime between then and the 4^th Century BC the Greeks settled and called it “Neapolis”.  Here they quarried the local stone “Tufa”, building city walls some of which are still standing to this day.  By the time of the reign of Augustus (27 BC to 14 AD), aqueducts and connecting tunnels were built under the city.  With the increasing population in 1629 a new aqueduct was built but by 1884 it was closed because of a Cholera epidemic.  The good side is that during the 2^nd World War the tunnels were used as air raid shelters, but as a functioning aqueduct with tunnel systems under the city, they were never used again. 

Since that time the aqueducts and tunnels have been “obstructed by rubble thrown into the wells illegally”….the words taken verbatim from a tourist brochure (….and so the rubbish keeps piling up into the streets).  Since those days some sensibility has prevailed and historians and archaeologists lobbied to open the tunnels and aqueducts making it possible for tourists and non-claustrophobes to venture into the bowels of the city to see these sites first hand.  We come into the claustrophobe category, thank you, so no venturing down into any narrow caves for us.  Does Cholera lie dormant by any chance??

Look, don’t get us wrong, Naples is charming.  Did we manage to get lost?   Yeah, only once (maybe three times).

"Out of Order"

The following day we caught the Metro Linea train from the most charming station you could ever see (NOT).  Just when we thought we were on a roll we get to the station only to find that the Ticket Machine was out of order….and of course a CLOSED ticket office.  This building closely resembled a horse stable covered in Graffiti  – and the horse did the Graffiti!!).  In actual fact the word graffiti is derived from a Latin word “Graffito” used to describe etchings and wall paintings and we were excited that tomorrow our journey would take us to see perhaps one of the oldest forms or Graffiti “Art work” on the walls of buildings in Pompeii. 

Warning: There is no similarity between this
Graffiti and that found in Pompeii.
This is actually a Metro Linear station in Naples. 

Anyway, frustrated at not being able to get a ticket, we jumped on the first train that came in only for the sake of getting off the station.  Our destination - Mergellina, the seaside and Marina. 

Mergillini Station - Front View

Mergillini Station Concourse

Mergellina station was in stark contrast to the one we caught the train from - what a difference half an hour train trip makes!!  And the village is just what you would imagine a seaside Italian town to look like.  The weather beaten buildings and houses were mostly in narrow laneways, stone and wrought iron stairways and balconies with flowering hanging baskets in an array of colours. 

Narrow Laneways between
 Mergillini and Chaiai

Our adventure took us down to the beach, except it wasn’t really a beach.  It was more like rocky outcrops and a strange thing was that people were lying all over the rocks like walruses basking in the sun.  True!  

Mergillini Marina with Castel Del'Ovo in the distance

We walked the promenade (Villa Comunale) and into the Chaiai area with its narrow streets and staircases that led up to hilly streets that overlooked the Bay of Naples and Castel Del-Ovo in the distance.

And we just took in the sites and the sunshine and the heat – it was just too much. 

As a respite we ventured towards the shops where TJ spotted himself a pair of Slides in a window – and in the style of shoe he spotted in Morocco.  And they had them in his size.  We could only guess there was a clearance sale of large shoes.  It was kind of odd really because the shop was a convenience store that sold hot food, drinks, rail tickets.  Selling shoes?  Very enterprising!  You never know who could be looking for shoes after a hot day at the seaside !!  LOL.

Back to the station and back to the city, our day was done.  Tomorrow after a nice buffet breakfast we head to Pompeii.  In the meantime we don’t dare draw back the curtains in our hotel room for fear that the waste might block out the views.

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NAPLES TO POMPEII

Map of the Ancient Streets of Pompeii with
Mt Vesuvius in the background

Next morning we were back at the Napoli Centralia station looking for the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii.  Easy!.  And the station was much nicer than the one from yesterday.

Now this was a nice journey.  The train skirted the coastline and stopped at only a few stations along the way.  We could see Mt Vesuvius in the distance knowing we were close.  The trip was only about half an hour or so giving us time to keep practising our Italianised Australian.  But what we didn’t expect were the long queues that greeted us on our arrival at the entrance of Scavi di Pompei.  We estimated the wait here would be much longer than our train trip.  And we guessed that our arrival somehow coordinated at the same time as just about every other train and tour bus on that day, at that particular spot, at that moment in time. 



Entrance to the Scavi di Pompei

Anyway, taking an opportunity as it arises, Tony and I wandered (“shimmied” and “slid” being better descriptions) over to the ticket office, looking over here, pointing over there, making out like we were a couple of dumb-asses.  LOL, LOL we managed to bypass at least a half dozen tour groups and only waited around 5 minutes.

With our 11 Euro “self guided” tickets in hand, bottles of water and the crowds behind us it was amazing to think we were stepping back into a city once buried by the volcanic ash and pumice of Mt Vesuvius.  They call it “The Eruption of 79 A.D.”  Apparently the eruption of the “still active’ volcano that buried Pompeii happened so quickly that it preserved the city giving a snapshot of what life was like back in the day.  Archaeological excavation on the site began in the mid 1700’s and continues to this day.

I was here in back in 1977 and the most noticeable detail today was the sheer scale of the excavations since 30 odd years ago.  Pompeii was on our “Bucket list” for a couple of reasons. 

Firstly, it was because of the mystique that surrounds this place together with some of the stories and memories that have stayed with me from all those years ago, including the seeing artifacts, wall paintings, plants that had been grown from seeds found in situ, and gruesome but true – preserved human bodies that had been buried in the volcanic ash.

Secondly, because both Tony and I are fans of Pink Floyd, we wanted to walk in and around that ancient Amphitheatre where the band was filmed playing their surrealistic and futuristic sounding music.  It was just them, no audience except for their “Roadies” and sound checkers.  And all those years back, yes, all 35 years ago, the amphitheatre was “out of bounds” for tourists.  This was the big chance to actually go into the amphitheatre and picture Pink Floyd playing in the centre. 

TJ "The Gladiator" (on the left)  walking into the
Amphitheatre

When the film was made the site was still raw i.e. the Amphitheatre had not been completely excavated, there were mounds of earth out from the centre of the field, and any semblance of seating was covered with overgrown grass and ash.  Really there didn’t appear to be any seating at all.  Perhaps this was as a result of damage from the volcano.  But in any instance what we saw was a very different looking place to photos and pictures we’d seen.  Another big stand-out ….the amphitheatre was so very much smaller than we thought it to be.  But it was AMAZING as we had expected.  

Free flowing natural spring water
with an ancient tap (?)

There are so many other things to describe in Pompeii and there are still many places that are out of bounds.  Some of the memorable ones are: the natural cool spring water fountains that can be found in various places on the site; the floors covered in Mosaics (much like those we saw at Volubolis in Morocco (check our Volubilis Blog) - marble columns; alfresco paintings on the walls; the bath houses; the vineyards that have been grown from seeds found during excavation; and so on.  I was surprised that I still vividly remembered those same attractions even after all those years.

I could go on but as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So here is a selection of the best of our “Ancient” photos.

Enjoy!!

      

Stone streets with gouges made
from Chariot Wheels

.   

Continued Restoration and
 Stabilisation work

View into 79AD house




Outside walls of Pompeii with
stabilising scaffolding

Views to Mt Vesuvius

Old Ruins amongst Ancient Ruins (LOL, LOL)

  




Scavi di Pompei with Mt Vesuvius as a
backdrop

 

Every little bit of shade taken to shelter from the
heatwave.  38 degrees in the shade

An ancient Pompeii Via



Grape Vines grown from seeds found
on site



Cemetary and Crypts



 

Ancient Steps (we saw similiar ones
at Macchu Pichu)

Roman Inscriptions (something about Peter & David ??)

Wall painting of a serpent



Public (very public) toilets

 



Inside the Amphitheatre with other Pink Floyd fans !!



Marble columns

Terracotta Pottery

  

   

Mythical Horse Graffiti

  

Bath house

Now how bizarre is this?.....

Our visit to Pompeii was on the 24^th August, 2012.  The Eruption of 79 A.D. occurred on the morning of 24^th August, 79 A.D. 



Information Board with details of the 79AD Eruption

Unlike other planned events during our trip, such as being in Pamplona on 7^th July, and Nancy, France on 5^th September, there was no way in this world that we had actually sat down and said, “Let’s be in Pompeii on the anniversary of its destruction”.  But here we were, on the 24^th August, 2012…. 1,933 years after the event … kind of spooky.  And could account for the reason why there were so many visitors at the entrance to the site. 

We still had some energy left enough to venture down to the souvenir shops and pseudo museums that had sprung up over the years.  I’m positive I don’t remember them being there all those years ago.

Our next post - ”Naples and back to Rome”.  Let’s hope there is a shiny new apartment key waiting for us when we get back. 

And so the adventure continues……

** NB:   I did mention in an early paragraph that “at the end of this blog I will tell you about some rubbish we spotted that will turn your stomach- just disgusting.” 

Sorry, but  you will have to read the next Blog to find out what it was.

Till next time from some where in Italy. Arrivederci !!

Liz and Tony