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.
No comments:
Post a Comment