Sunday, December 5, 2010

Past Fat City.... Napoli to Pompeii

After another late night pasta and pizza (have I mentioned we eat A LOT here?), we were off to the train station this morning to travel south to the ancient city of Pompei, where Roman civilization was trapped in time by the unfortunate eruption of Vesuvius, a supposedly distinct volcano above the town of 20,000, at 11am one hot summer day in 79 A.D.?  Under the hardened ash and cinder-stone, in the 1800's archeologists discovered the voids of human victims, as well as ancient art, buildings and truly, a town trapped in time.....
Our home here is a delightful bed and breakfast, with an orange and lemon orchard in the backyard.  December means the fruit is ripe on the trees, and incredibly sweet on the tongue.  Our cab driver gifted us each upon arrival, as did our hosts, and our restaurant, and even the man at the cappacino bar, leading us to believe everyone has a tree with more fruit than they can eat right now.  We don't mind, the fruit is small and sweeter than any we have tasted before.  Pompeii is now a modern city at the foot of the ancient, "scavi" ruins.  The church and its square are central, and the restaurants and hotels are anxious for guests, as we are in off-season so the prices are half of normal - very nice!  A huge dinner buffet - more than enough to fill us all including dessert is under 40 euros (about a third of Rome)... maybe we will stay longer?  If yes, we will all be FAT! ;)

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