POZZUOLI

One of the first places I visited was the Flavian Amphitheater begun under Nero and completed by Vespasian in about AD 79.  It could accommodate about 20,000 spectators if they were very close friends.  Christians were eaten here in AD 350.  The snack bar is closed now, but you can visit most of the rest of the site.  Many of the areas remain off limits due to reconstruction and poor condition.

Here I am in one of the off limits areas underneath the amphitheater.  This is where they kept the caged beasts and the gladiators and the equipment for the various spectacles. By the way, the Christians were not actually eaten.  They, out of mercy I guess, were beheaded.  They were: Januarius, Festus, Desiderius, Sosius, Proculus, Euthyches and Acutius.  Know any of them or their kids?

Here is dad pushing over one of the support columns. 

The subterranean structure is actually the best preserved in the world.

The sign that I am holding says, "Do not go past this sign."  I can not read it because I'm on the "Do not go past side."  Dad did not want to go in to the forbidden areas with me (but he did).  He thought that I could get away with it because I'm a girl, but that he would go to an Italian jail and we would have to bring him food.

These steps lead up to the spectator's seats.

CASTELLO DI BAIA

This tour adventure turned out to be more interesting than most.
The guide book says:

On the way to the castle, we stopped for lunch.  This is a mozzarella di buffola, procuito crudo, lutuga, and pomodoro pannino.  When this guy's partner saw me taking his picture, he asked (in Italian), "Why aren't you taking my picture?"  While I don't understand any Italian, I understand jealously, so, I did.

I was hungry and the sandwich was big.  They got tough bread over here.  Had a nice view too. You can see mount Vesuvius in the background

My first view of the castle.  Most of it was not accessible, but what I did get to see was worth it.  Here is a picture of the tunnel we walked through to get in.

I know that it is hard to believe, but I am horsing around in the museum part of the Castle.  These statues are about 2000 years old. 

This room had a door marked exit (USCITA).  We went through it to see the castle grounds.  It did not lead to the castle grounds and it locked behind us.   We were outside the castle and inside the outer wall.  We could not get in and we could not get out.  No one could hear us.  At that moment I understood how difficult it was to lay siege to a building with 20 foot high walls.  After about an hour we found a hole in the castle wall, climbed out, got a farmer to let us go through his vineyard (It took my Dad 15 minutes to explain, in his rather poor Italian, that we were locked out and would he let us walk across his property.  He turned out to be very nice and actually went out of his way to shorten our walk.

THE HOLE!

Email us