June 16

 Today was another low mileage day as we planned to stop and visit the Pompeii Archeological Park.  Although it was low mileage we encountered some terrific hills - on one hill we had to get off and push the bikes up for about 3/4 mile.

We made it to our campground early in the afternoon and walked to the Pompeii site.  It really is something to see and is much larger than I expected.  The city of Pompeii held about 20,000 people and, remarkably, every home and shop had running water.  In several locations we could still see the lead pipes along some streets and in some homes.

Site from the entrance.

2 views of the Forum - kind of the center square of Pompeii.

 
This sign showing 2 men carrying an amphora indicated that this street was only for pedestrians.


This is a kind of "fast food shop" where different prepared items were in each of the amphora.  One side of the shop had hot items (with hot coals under the amphora) while the other side had items kept cool by running water over the amphora pots and letting the water evaporate.

Some of the original lead pipes.


Some of the home had beautiful frescos.



The main amphitheater which held 20,000 people.

About 18,000 residents escaped when Mount Vesuvius erupted but the remining 2,000 were encased in volcanic ash.










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