The Ruins of Pompei.

Naples, Italy, was our next stop. Another of the cities we had listed as compulsory for a tour of the famous remains of the city of Pompei.

Our tour on the coach included commentary of the city as the coach took us from the port of Naples around the mountain of Versuvias to the famous site. Pointing out the lava flow that is still visible from its last eruption in I believe they said was 1944. Oh yes, Versuvias us very much still alive and active.

The journey took a little over 30 minutes and our guide gave us all earpeaces and receivers so that we could pick up his commentary all over the site. He walked us around, up through one of the cities main gates, pointing out many a site and explaining thigs as he went. We were able to go into an intact bathhouse where you could view the remains on the wall of the mosaics and see the pools still standing. We walked through the brothel where you could see the mosaics of many a position on the wall. The reason being many a customer back in 79AD could not read. The customers could simply point to what they required and no mistakes could be made.

The tour lasted around 2 hours and we reached a bottle neck at the entrance to the brothel when another tour guide insisted their group was before ours. This ended in a huge arguement, in Italian, between the two. I mean just because they were from Crystal cruises doesnt give them the right to jump the line. Still did make us all laugh at the arguement. This and all of street traders as we left trying to get you to barter for goods and toot you are not interested in kind of gaving you an idea of what this bubbling city of 20,000 people would have been like in its day. The streets were built up huge villas and smaller homes lined the streets, but the excuvation has very much uncovered 75% of the city that was, on those tragic days back nearly 2000 years ago, burried firstly in 28 feet of pumous and ash and then finally the piroclastic flume that hurried down the mountain at 1000 miles per hour choking every remaining soul and entraping them in a ash that has preserved them and the city for ever. It truly was an amazing site.