Sorrento, day 3 - 10,000 steps in Pompeii (part 2)

So we crossed the road (via the stepping stones, of course)

and visited the House of the Small Fountain. Very clever stuff, here – the roof slopes inwards so the rainwater drains into a pool in the centre, runs off into a tank below, and could be drawn off via wells. This particular fountain has mosaics with vitreous paste and seashells, and I thought it very pretty.

Next we visited the House of the Fauns. This was the largest house built in Pompeii in the 2nd century BC, and is 3,000 square metres. It gets its name from the statue (shown here with the very posh floor in the tablinum), and has the word ‘have’ (or ‘welcome’) picked out on the doorstep.

I also rather liked this mosaic and the floor.

Then it was down some side streets to see the brothel.

Apparently the frescoes showed which act was performed in which room (cough). But the rooms themselves were tiny, and as for the bed – not much room, there!



From there we visited the small theatre. I rather liked the red marble floor of the stage.

And then the large theatre, which was built on a lava flow in the 2nd century BC.

Then we saw the Temple of Isis

– and I rather liked this dolphin moulding.

But then it got very sad, because we visited the Garden of Fugitives. Giuseppe Fiorelli, who directed the excavations from 1860-75, took plaster casts of some of the shapes left by the bodies in the compacted ash. I think what upset me most was seeing the children. I could imagine being there, with the volcanic ash raining down, and not being able to save my children…

And when we turned round and saw Vesuvius looming over the vineyards, even though the volcano’s quiet right now (that’s a serendipitous cloud, not ash), it makes you realise just how little protection we have against nature.