The Amalfi Coast: Pompeii and Paestum

So, one of the real reasons I wanted to come down to the Amalfi Coast was to see Pompeii, the Roman city that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Pompeii is quite the site -- it's impressively enormous and overwhelming. We actually only saw a tiny part of it because it was extremely hot and the girls were not particularly cooperative.

Here are Anna Claire and Mariah overlooking the old Roman Theater.

Rob and the girls in the main forum, with Mt. Vesuvius looming ominously in the background. Is that smoke I see?

Mariah saw so many statues that she thought she could be a statue too.

Just a couple hours south is Paestum. Rob rode his bike along the Amalfi Coast and met us there. Paestum has the best-preserved Greek ruins north of Sicily. The setting is absolutely stunning. Grandiose Greek antiquity tucked away amidst green grass and wildflowers. One thing you can't really see in this picture is the huge swarm of MOSQUITOES above our heads. This was the downfall of Paestum and also the reason why the ruins are so well preserved. The city was abandoned due to malaria -- and not resettled because of the same threat.

Mariah and Anna Claire weren't really interested in the awe-inspiring architecture behind them. They just wanted to collect bouquets of wild flowers. But what a magnificent backdrop!

Here is another amazingly well-preserved temple. It's hard to imagine the scale of these behemoths.

We're making flower bouquets for Mommy. Who cares if this wall was built 2500 years ago!