Italy 2009 Orvieto Sorrento Pompeii

Orvieto
On Saturday, June 13 we boarded the bus and began traveling to Florence. On the way we stopped by the charming village of Orvieto. We had to ride a tram to the top of the hill. We discovered a quaint Italian village with hand painted pottery everywhere.

This is a 14th century Roman Catholic Church in Orvieto. It is very famous for its blood stain on the altar. It has a beautiful facade.This is some of the beautiful pottery we saw. I bought a spoon rest and a tile with a georgeous scene of Tuscany for my kitchen. I am redecorating it in a Tuscany style and the colors are perfect.

After lunch (more pasta!) and shopping in Orvieto we took the tram back down. As we traveled up and down we could see them most beautiful vineyards and olive trees. Then it was back to the roads for some breathtaking views of rolling countrysides and vineyards as we travel by bus.

Sorrento

We arrived in Sorrento later that afternoon. We stopped for a breathtaking view of the coastline.

This is the area that I had never traveled before. We passed through Naples (Napoli) before arriving at Sorrento where we stayed at the Hotel Caravel. After checking into the hotel several of us walked a few blocks and had the most beautiful view of the coastline. We saw a bride engaged in a photo session. She was absolutely beautiful. Since it is Saturday, we saw many people on the beaches. I love this area!!This was a very pretty building in downtown Sorrento.A view of Sorrento from the water. This was actually taken on Sunday after we arrived back in Sorrento from the Isle of Capri. We took a bus up the hill. We were all too tired to walk up the steps.

The lemons were huge.This was one of the beaches. We are looking down from a cliff.

Pompeii

Pompeii stands on a lava spur which extends out into the plain from the slopes of Vesuvius. It was destroyed by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Most of the residents were killed and the whole city was buried beneath a rain of ash and cinders. The first signs of the buried city came to light between 1594 and 1600. Since then excavations of this area have been in progress and continue to this day. The following are pictures of the ruins. This was an amazing tour. More recent excavations has presented the houses and streets as they were. The people in the pictures were preserved in the positions they were when this horrifying event happened.

This is the outside entrance to Pompeii.A man caught in the devastation.

A trapped dog.

Another man who died. The bodies were perserved just like they were when the eruption occurred.

This was a bakery. This was an actual oven used over 2000 years ago.

This was part of the Temple Fortuna Augusta. In 3 AD a cult was established in honor of Augustus who was the "Father of his Country".

Pottery found in the city.

We found Pompeii to be so very interesting. The last part of the tour took us inside a Brothel where we viewed cubicles with panels of erotic scenes. I chose not to post any of these pictures. The names scratched on the walls attest to the fact that the prostituted slaves were almost always of Greek or Eastern origin. Wish I could include more pictures of this interesting place. Maybe I will add some more later.

After touring Pompeii, we traveled to Naples where we boarded a water jet that took us over to the Isle of Capri. It took about 45 minutes over the Bay of Naples to the beautiful island.