Thats the feeling we got when we arrived at Pompeii.
The public transport in Italy is superb - efficient, punctual and very cheap. Today we caught the bus from a few metres outside the camp site and that took us up the winding, narrow roads to the top of the cliff where the train station is. It wasn't so much a bus trip as a funfair ride! Obviously they feel confident on these roads but we don't! The cliff edges come within inches of the bus on some of the turns and the other traffic just does their own thing, weaving in and out of the remaining spaces. These buses run every half hour so they must manage it ok. The train was waiting in the station for us - all covered with graffiti and we took the 20 minute train ride to Pompeii and disembarked right outside the ruins. The return trip, for both bus and train was 2.80 euros each - amazing value.
After paying our entry fee of 11 euros each to enter the city we set off for our mammoth expedition - it is immense, much larger than we anticipated. Even with all the crowds - and there were a lot - the city still had an eerie silence about it and we were amazed and impressed by how advanced their lifestyles were. There were the fast food outlets (the houses didn't have kitchens so people used to go out for lunch every day), the hotels, shops, temples, the forum and three theatres. Out of 22,000 inhabitants there were 8,000 slaves so most households would have one. Frescoes are still evident on some of the walls - see pics, and their communal baths were very advanced, having cold, tepid and hot areas of bathing. We could see some of the beauty of the houses and decorations behind the ruins. In fact all they didn't have was our recent telecommunication systems - or traffic wardens. Surprisingly though, for such an advanced society, they didn't think of disposing of their sewage underground and it simply ran down the roads. They coped with this by placing larger stepping stones at road junctions to avoid walking in the crap. Yet they did have plumbed water through lead pipes without being aware of the consequences and suffered healthwise as a result.
The commercial laundry used urine as a stain remover too - all that ammonia. They used a lot of it so camels came in handy in that respect. I will try that on the grease marks on Steve's shorts! - not camels of course.
We left the ruins at midday and found a cafe for lunch. We had a brilliant set meal by another very proud chef who made his own pizza, pasta and cake for dessert. The salad was gorgeous too. He told us all about his work in Covent Garden which his son now runs.
Back to the ruins in the afternoon and it was really baking hot by now. We were determined to see all the sights though so we plodded on - and managed it. Our hats were essential as there was little shade. It really does need the best part of a whole day to do it justice.
Then the train and bus back without any harm to us thankfully. Half way back though we were gobsmacked to see the train driver, and two of his cronies who were in the cab with him, just stop at one of the small stations, get out and have a smoke and a natter. All the passengers were left in the baking carriage with the sun streaming in the window and no air con - we just had to wait for them to finish! No one seemed to bother so we didn't either.
Another cold shower was needed on our return and a quiet evening to recover. Tomorrow will be a chill day before we decided where to go next.
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