Vlog #8: Contiki European Panorama: Pompeii, Rome

httpvh://youtu.be/aFSQzER02y8

Pizza Cooking Lesson

I am no chef. I can’t even prepare the most basic meals, but I figured Pizza is something even the most amateur cook could prepare. I doubt the lovely Eugenio Rossi knew this before inviting me to his Scoglio di Frisio Restaurant for a cooking lesson.

A real Italian cooking class. From Eugenio I learned the value of family and the history and background of where pizza originates.  Together we cooked a batch of dough from scratch and I learned how to flip and toss the dough. I ended up cooking a margarita pizza and a half pomodoro half artichoke and mushroom pizza. Now I’m not saying this just because I made it but that was honesty one of the best pizzas I have ever had. It was so fresh, light,  soft and fluffy.

It tasted better than it looks.

Pompeii

Like all of Italy, the day we visited Pompeii was a scorcher- 38 plus degree heat. So our lovely tour guide tried to give us a super condensed quick tour of Pompeii- which is huge.

Pompeii contains: 2 graveyards, 2 ports, 1 amphitheater, 2 gymnasiums, 2 theatres, 2 main squares, 5000 shops, 46 bakery, 27 brothels, 5 roman baths and main other houses, condominiums and villas.

Unlike some other ruins, with Pompeii you really get a sense of what the city was like. You can see where the roads and walls were and you don’t have to use your imagination to fill in too much.

One of the most fascinating things I learned about Pompeii was about the plaster casts. Plaster casts are formed from filling the air pocket left under the ash from the rotten organic materials, i.e. humans, with plaster. Once the plaster hardens you then have a mold of what was once buried under the ash.

Quick and to the point; however, I truly wish we could have spent more time in Pompeii since there is simple just so much to see.