Travels in the Mediterranean
My husband and I finally took the Mediterranean cruise we originally had planned for 2020. It is humbling to stand where people stood so many years ago, and to reflect on how similar they were to us. Read more
Pompeii
The Romans were Everywhere: a Cruise in the Western Mediterranean
It seemed that when I watched TV programmes about Rome they featured gruesome death, sex, or communal toilets. Now I know that death, sex and toilets are part of life, but I did not want my first cruise to the Western Mediterranean, and my first trips to Rome and Pompeii, to focus on them. In preparation, I read Mary Beard’s Pompeii, and researched various places the ship would visit. I… Read more
Gallery: Pompeii
Pliny the Younger (61–113 CE), an author and a lawyer, was a direct witness of the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 CE. Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae were covered by ashes as a result of the eruption. Pliny wrote several letters to Tacitus about this terrible event. His uncle Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) died during the eruption. Pliny the Younger, his nephew tells us how in a letter addressed… Read more