Pompeii

Thankfully, Napoli has improved on further inspection...
Yesterday I visited the archeological museum, which has most of the statues and relics found in Pompeii, as well as a pretty cool Egyptian wing (Egyptian stuff was apparently very 'cool' in Roman times). I couldn't take my camera in which is a pity because some of the statues were over 3 metres tall (maybe ;o)) and pretty impressive.

I also visited the excavations underneath the Church of San Giovanni, which were amazing - much better than the museum. I walked along a Roman road and you could wander in and out of the buildings - a bakery, a treasury, a laundry... and I had the place all to myself which was even better. I think it's been one of my favority places so far, and they don't advertise it at all so you'd never know it was there. You can hardly even tell where the churches are in Napoli.
Anyway, here's a photo of me in front of the bakery - in the background are the ovens.

Then, after spending the night drinking beer, eating pizza and watching Spanglish, I went to Pompeii today with two guys I've met at the hostel (it's called 6 Small Rooms and it's brilliant) - Pompeii is so well preserved that you can see the murals on the walls, the rooftops, the fountains... it's like walking through a town that's been neglected rather than buried under ash and dirt for around 2000 years.

A couple of pictures:
This is the amphitheatre which could hold 20,000 people (although my guide book reckoned that the population of Pompeii was 20,000 so that seems strangely convenient...) and is one of the best preserved in the world - it looks like it does in the picture the full 360°.






This is a mural that we spent a good 10 minutes hunting for because it's pretty famous. It shows a young girl being inducted into the cult of Dionysus (and I'll leave you to work out what that entails).

This is Mt Vesuvius in the distance, which is the volcano that destroyed both Pompeii and Herculeum in aruond 62 (72?)AD.

And this is me, Greg and Hamza.

All in all, been a pretty good day. This hostel has been really lovely and rejuvenated my travelling enthusiasm, mostly because I met a few people who enjoy sitting around and having a chat, which is what I was missing most of all. Am off to Ishia tommorrow, the island of hot springs and spas so should be good :o)