Full Metal Wheelbarrow

Pompeii

After our trundle round Herculaneum we pootled back up the hill and caught the train on to Pompeii. Once again it took a little while to find the hotel, but that didn't take long to sort out and we were soon installed in our room. This is the view from our window :-

The next day after a filling breakfast  (I could really get into the idea of croissants filled with custard for breakfast...) we toddled down the hill to the excavations and stared at them until they opened. Also waiting was a stray dog, who trotted merrily through the gates when they opened, as if he owned the place.

Rob had been planning to shell out for a guide for the day, but it being so early in the season, there were no English-speaking ones available, so we made do with the audioguides, which, to our surprise, were rented to us by the same chap we'd got them from at Herculaneum the previous day!

The slope up to the Marina Gate. One arch for vehicles, the other for pedestrians. Quite a steep slope to haul a cart up, I reckon.

Temple of Apollo

This is one of the first buildings you reach as you enter the city.

Statue of Diana (original in Naples museum)

Sundial. I thought at first that the top of it was missing and it was only when I saw a picture of another one exactly the same that I realised it was meant to be like that. I can be really dim sometimes.

Statue of Apollo. If the pose is a bit odd, it's because he's supposed to have a bow and arrow, but they're missing. Original in...you know the song by now, yes?

The temple with Vesuvius looming in the background. That's a big mountain, that is.

Stepping stones to get across the street without stepping in something you'd rather not..

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The Basilica

Just across from the Temple of Apollo is the Basilica, which was the law court of the city. The judges would have sat on the stage both to give them prestige and to protect them from anyone who felt disgruntled with them.

This shot gives some idea of what a huge building it was.

The Forum


Centre of Roman public life.

View down the Forum to the Temple of Jupiter and Vesuvius beyond.

"Buffers" which seem to be intended to stop people bringing carts into the Forum

Statue of the priestess Eumachia (original in etc), in the wool merchants' hall named after her  in the Forum.

Carvings outside the Hall of Eumachia.

The Temple of Jupiter

Altar from the Temple of Vespasian

Triumphal arch at the side of the temple of Jupiter.

Wall painting in the Macellum (fish and meat market).

Plaster cast of one of the unfortunate victims of the volcano.

View across the Macellum- the circle of pillars in the centre would have supported a roof over the fish stalls - many fish scales were found in that area.

Forum Baths

Painted plaster decoations in the baths.

Large brazier used to heat the warm room in the baths. It was a good five feet long.

Decorative shelf supports called Telamons after one of the Argonauts, although it's not entirely clear why. (wiki tells me they're also called Atlas, which makes rather more sense.). These were nice in that while they were broadly similar, the details of each varied slightly.

The bath. Lovely, unless you were the poor sod with the job of filling and emptying it - there was no plughole so it all had to be done by hand...

Cart tracks in the stone street. Rob wonders if they used iron tyres on the wheels to have worn the stones down so much. We also wondered how the cart pulling animals negotiated the stepping stones and if someone saw these and got the idea for speedbumps...