Pompeii, Sorrento and the Isle of Capri

Left Rome early Monday morning and after a brief tour of Naples arrived at Pompeii in time for lunch, then spent the afternoon wandering through this amazing place. The town of Pompeii, with a population of between 10,000 and 15,000 was totally covered by six metres of volcanic ash when the volcano on Mount Vesuvius erupted in August, 79AD. Three-quarters of the 44 hectare site has now been uncovered and it provides an eerie reconstruction of life in a small Italian town almost 2,000 years ago. All of the cobbled and paved streets are intact, many houses are still standing (although some had still not been repaired after a major earthquake just seventeen years before). Shops, brothels, temples and other buildings can be easily identified, either by their design or by the original mosaics and frescos that are still intact. A small ampitheatre, seating a few hundred people, is in such good condition - particularly the accoustics - that it is now used regularly for perfomances. We also saw plaster casts of two persons and a dog that had been created by a French archaeologist almost two hundred years ago, by simply filling the cavity left in the ash by the bodies with plaster of paris. Then on to Sorrento and booked into the most beautiful boutique, family-run hotel, tastefully decorated with antiques and hanging over the ocean. The dining room is accessed by a beautiful corridor which actually runs under the road and the dining room itself is right on the face of the cliff, high above the water, and with views across to Mount Vesuvius. To Capri this morning, the holiday island of the rich and famous, took the chair lift to the very top of the highest mountain for spectacular 360 degree views to Sorrento, Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Then a very hairy ride back down the mountain in a bus whose driver obviously has no concept of fear. Our personal tour guide, Paolo, made sure that we saw the best of what there was on Capri, including a beautiful church with its entire floor painted with a beautiful scene of the Garden of Eden, animals and all. Another magical day. Tomorrow we're off to Possitano under our own steam for a look, then back to Rome and a visit to the Vatican on Thursday morning.