Thursday 11th September 2025 – Pompeii, Italy

 

We set off early for the Pompeii site, walking past the ticket queue to the entrance where we presented our annual card, only to be told that we had to obtain a daily ticket evert time that we visited. Back then to the queue to present our annual ticket and identification and be issued with a day ticket. We spent 9 hours in the site and still didn’t see it all but what we did see was fantastic – wonderful frescoes, mosaics (mainly black & white), gardens and columns. I have never seen so many shops in such a small space. Very few of the houses had cooking facilities and people had to go out to buy hot food. Many of the shops that we saw were ‘tabernae’, takeaway food and drink outlets.
There were so many hghlights that I won’t attempt to go through them but the biggest highlight must be the ability to walk through the streets imagining it full of people living everyday lives in Roman times. This was made easier by having read the Mary Beard book ‘Pompeii’, an excellent book that vividly describes life in the city.
Photos: Mosaic at the entrance of the House of the Wounded Boar; A taberna with some not-so-Roman customers; Only a few houses, mainly very posh ones, had a toilet and they were normally, like this one (House of Ceii), in the kitchen – not a good idea for hygiene!; The guard dog of the House of Paquius Proculus; We saw many bakeries but this one (Panifico of Popidio Prisco) with its mills and ovens was very impressive; This loaf from the bakery was recovered in the excavation and shows the shape of a typical Roman loaf; A wonderful fresco from the House of the Orchard; Another great fresco on the lararium (alter of the household gods) in the House of the Vetti.

Wednesday 10th September 2025 – Pompeii, Italy

 

There was a little overnight rain but by 09:30 there was heavy rain and thunder and lightning. We had originally intended to take a non-toll route to Pompeii in order to enjoy the views but, given the weather conditions, we decided to take the toll motorway. We delayed our departure until the worst of the storm had passed but we still encountered heavy rain on the motorway and had to reduce speed on a number of occasions.
The Zeus campsite is the only one that offers the ACSI discount at this time of the year but the main site was full when we arrived and we were directed to their second area. The whole campsite is next to a railway line and the second area is just the other side of it, accessible by a pedestrian tunnel. There were no facilities except fresh water in the second area but the toilet block was only a short distance away. The pitches weren’t as regulated, so we had plenty of room and we had a pitch with shade, which given that the temperature was 29°C, was very welcome.
The good news was that the rain had stopped and Pompeii had obviously not had the storms that we had in Cassino. However, it was still uncomfortably humid.
We had decided to buy the MyPompeii card as it provides multiple access to all the sites in the Pompeii area for 12 months. Although we are unlikely to return within the year, we felt that we were likely to visit Pompeii on more than one day. We could have bought the MyPompeii card online but opted to buy it at the ticket office that was only a 5 minute walk away. When we got there, we were told that we could only purchase it online, which was not made clear on the website. So we found a wall to sit on and went through the application online. It became clear as to why they only allowed online applications – the process involved giving lots of information (I was waiting for the ‘what is your inside leg measurement’ question). We then had to go back to the ticket office to pick up the physical MyPompeii ticket after presenting our passports to prove our identity.
We had 2 hours before the site closed at 19:30, so we decided to go in for a short visit and we investigated the area around the Forum. It was quiet at that time but we knew that tomorrow would be much busier.
Photos: A lovely mosaic in the Casa del Marinaio; A typical view over the crowded houses of the city – many of the buildings fronting the street are shops, often with living accommodation behind; Jane crossing a street using the Roman stepping stone; A maze mosaic in the House of Geometric Mosaics.

Tuesday 9th September 2025 – Cassino, Italy

There were lots of lovely views as we climbed up past forest-clad mountains with many castles, hill-top villages, gorges and numerous tunnels and galleries. An occasional lake made an appearance in the distance and, eventually, the scenery widened slightly until it gave way to plains bordered by the mountains.
We had intended to drive to an aire in Pignataro Maggiore but that was 4.5 hours of driving and we quite liked the idea of a slightly more relaxing day. I had looked for an aire that was a little closer and found one in Cassino. I was attracted to it because it was next to a Roman theatre and an archaeological museum. We headed for it and stopped at a nearby Conad supermarket to stock up on supplies.
The Roman theatre was not due to be open today but a theatrical group were rehearsing for a play being performed this Friday – Lysistrata by Aristophanes. We were welcomed in and were told that we were very happy for us to watch some of the rehearsal. We were able to have a look at the theatre and then sit and watch the performance with the backdrop of a view over the modern town to the mountains beyond.
I went over to the museum  where I was able to see the Roman amphitheatre, a mausoleum and the museum’s small collection. One of the museum’s star exhibits is a 1^st century ‘bone bed’, a decorated bed frame made from bone (ivory?) that was originally covered in gold leaf. It bore a striking resemblance to at least two ivory bed frames dating to the 3^rd century BC in Vergina, Greece. As the curator said, the Greeks and the Romans were the same!
We ate dinner in the van listening to the rehearsals of the play drifting over from the floodlit theatre behind us.
Photos: The Cassino theatre; And the amphitheatre; Detail of a leg of the bone bed; The theatre at night with two of the actors on stage.