On our second day, despite our request to join a tour that we researched on the web, called City Discovery, we were hustled by the concierge into the one and only tour group that this hotel apparently wanted to handle. Turns out that the "guide" was a driver-with-a-car type. Only two notable sentences: when Mt. Vesuvius first erupted and the second eruption.
Our first stop was Pompeii (street and town signage spells this as Pompei). Our "driver/guide" guided us toward the souvenir store and when everyone saw we were not interested in the gee-gaws, gave us a small tourist book on Pompeii and pointed us to the ticket office. Our tour obviously did not include the entrance fee. We were alloted 2.5 hours to go around Pompeii which in hindsight is not enough time to go around the ruins.
Pompeii, if you imagine how it used to be, was a magnificent city. How people could create the architecture and design walls, ceilings, frescos, without the heavy machinery we now have, is just unimaginable. Ed reminds me that at that time, there were beings called "slaves" who probably did the heavy lifting. The streets of Pompeii were cobbled with huge boulders, honed to street level.
With just our walking shoes and mindful of not falling, trekking through the streets took a bit of time. Here and there were some bits and pieces of lives that used to live in the ruins.
Despite the tragedy that brought down this marvel, the ruins depict lives that were full, imaginative, rich and creative. So sad, it ended the way it did, at a moment's notice. Hardly any time to run for survival.
