After Paestum we drove on, through much of Salerno, arriving at Pompei in the mid-afternoon, settling in at our old friend Camping Spartacus, even one of our old sites, 10 or 11. Shade and relative seclusion. We have stayed at Camping Spartacus several times over the years, and we know the area well. It is literally across the street from the Porta Marina entrance to the Pompei Scavi, the ruins. And across from the entrance is the Pompei Scavi station of the Circumvesuviana, the train that runs between Naples and Sorrento. Naples has its own attractions, as does Sorrento, but from the latter you can easily catch the the boat to Capri and the bus or boat to the Amalfi coast. Thus, for us, Camping Spartacus has generally been a base camp for the Bay of Naples, and our stays there generally have been for a week or more. The forecast for the coming week suggested increasing warmth, so we decided to do the Pompei ruins first, looking for new openings and for sites that had been closed on previous visits. Among those previous visits are the following:
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/03/interludium-updatum.html
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-in-pompeii.html
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2011/04/last-day-of-pompei.html
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/10/pompeii-2013.html.
We spent the usual entire day, May 25th, opening and closing the place, but for this post and next, I think I'll focus on some of the things we like best, the mosaics, the curiosities, and especially the frescoes.
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| The Romans were into the telamon thing too |
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| Also recycling |
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| Mosaic floor in an atrium |
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| Eatery |
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| Typical serpent blessing |
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| Beautiful tile at another eatery |
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| Good luck charm |
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| Shrine to household gods |
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| Alternative way to do columns |
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| Venus on the half-shell; Botticelli's much better |
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| Triclinium |
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| Hung in the balance |
