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| The Forum & Temple of Jupiter with Mt Vesuvius lurking |
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| The Bath House |
Walking through the old cities was mesmerizing, you could really imagine what it was like living in those times. Having indulged in a Turkish bath a few times, I particularly could imagine what the old Romans enjoyed. They sure knew how to live.
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| Herculaneum |
In Herculaneum, you can really see how much ash and rock buried the city. To dig out more of the old city, they'd have to remove all the newer buildings which sit on top of the original towns. But nonetheless, what was preserved by tons of ash is extraordinary. Pompeii was first settled in the 6-7th century BC and came under Roman rule in the 4th century. In 79 AD, Mt Vesuvius blew its' top and buried the cities and its 11,000 citizens under 4-6 meters of volcanic ash and pumice. The city was completely lost for over 1,500 years until the 1700's. Buried under tons of ash, the original city (and its inhabitants) were preserved for centuries due to the lack of air and moisture.
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| The Café |
We saw many of these places scattered about the residential areas. These were the local cafeterias (Thermopolium) or cafes where the locals would hang out. Many homes of the working people didn't have a kitchen so they could get hot meals here and hear the latest gossip.
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| Mosaic Floor |
The mosaic art work was amazing as well. This was all done with small stone pieces of different colours, so survived the hot mud flows. Many buildings and homes had extensive art work painted on the walls. You can see the lower areas were destroyed by the hot mud flows, but the upper areas were preserved by the dry ash which was cooler.
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| Extensive Art work in many homes |
So that's the news from EQ, were the winds are calm (windless hot days), the seas flat (EQ's in a marina), and the crew content to be tourists doing land cruising for awhile.
with Equanimity and Joy...
