Pompeii

This is the sign you're looking for at the Napoli Centrale train station. Follow the signs for "Circumvesuviana." The train you want is the one to Sorrento. Pompeii is on the way to Sorrento. Some trains make fewer stops than others. Look for the "Express" or "Espresso" train.

This is what you will see at the other end, the train station at Pompeii.

Pompeii train station from the other side.

Entrance to Pompeii.

Ticket window.

Turnstiles.

Now the fun begins. Vesuvio the troublemaker.

The way up to the ruins from the entrance.

Column stumps.

The human tragedy. These human remains were found in voids in the ash from the eruption. When they figured out what they were, the archeologists poured plaster into the spaces left when the bodies decomposed, and then chipped away the ash to reveal the last moments of a few of the people who died.

Permit me an artsy picture or two.

A street.

A public bath.

Inside the public bath.

Detail inside the public bath.

A bath.

More detail inside the bath.

A walkway and courtyard.

The same courtyard.

Columns destroyed in the eruption.

A vase and a nice painting on an interior wall.

A square column.

Life springs eternal. Lush vegetation overgrowing a wall.

A courtyard.

What the columns are made of.

A street.

A house. I don't think the cactus is original, but you never know.

Walls destroyed.

More devastation.

Some columns for a walkway or portico.

Inside a well-to-do home.

Nice floors in a wealthy home.

Another nice floor.

Beautiful detail inside some of the homes. Italians have always been lovers of color.

A restaurant. Pots of food went in the holes and were warmed from beneath.

A larger but less colorful restaurant.

A more modern restaurant (not original). An Autogrill, on premises, can meet all your snacking needs.

A striking photo of what must have been a shrine inside a home where statues of a god or two were kept.

A nice garden.

The amphitheater.

Inside the amphitheater.

I get a picture of me in right about this spot inside the amphitheater every so often.

This one is from 2003, a little blurry but you get the idea. I have one in a box somewhere back in Kentucky from 1988 I'll have to scan in and upload for comparison purposes.

The late afternoon sun gives Pompeii a molten look.