Italy: Pompeii and Vesuvius

The third day took us to Naples. There are a lot of choices of things to do around Naples. It is the 3rd largest city in Italy and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. There are about 3 million people living in the metropolitan area. On cruises they offer lots of shore excursions and they are super expensive. Instead of signing up for any of those, we just did some homework, used the public transportation and made our own excursions. This day we had booked a local tour to see Pompeii and Vesuvius. I had no idea how big Pompeii was. It's amazing to think that a whole city was wiped out and preserved at the same time. Surprisingly after being completed covered in ash and almost 2000 years have passed, there's still paint on walls in a few of the houses.

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of pieces of pottery such as vases and bowls have been found in the excavations, as well as carts and many other things. The only historical evidence of the explosion exists because it was seen from a distance and written about in a letter by Pliny the Younger to his uncle. Pompeii was established in the 6th century BC and it was a well advanced society with running water. In a matter of hours it was covered in 6 m of ash. It was so well preserved because the dense ash kept air out.

 

 

 

The views from Pompeii are breathtaking. On one side you can see Mount Vesuvius and on the other you can see the Apennines mountain range.

Mount Vesuvius is in the back. We are soon to be on the top of it!

 

Those are the Apennines

 

They drove carts through the streets. These are crossing rocks. The sidewalks are raised higher than usual. The cart wheels go through the channels and pedestrians can walk across the top to stay out of muck and water, and to not get run over.

One of the first amphitheaters was in Pompeii. They have started to have events there again recently.

 

 

We had another pizza lunch in an ally outside this day and the break was welcome. It was almost hot enough for even me to need AC, almost, but not quite.

 

After a well needed break, we climbed, well walked, to the top of Mount Vesuvius. There is a car park some 1000 m up or so, then it's a pretty steep incline two miles to the top.

 

It's still an active volcano. There's no lava to see, but it vents gas. The last eruption was in the early 40's during WWII. These foundation posts are part of a cable car that used to take you to the top. The cable car did not survive the last eruption.

 

 

 

 

The view is often hazy from the top they say. I agree it was hazy the day we were there, but I thought it was fantastic. My Italian friend says it is truly something spectacular on a clear day. You can see the city of Naples to the right and the island of Capri to the left. The Almafi coast is on around the southern coast from here. I'd like to come back to see it some day.

 

 

That climb finished off our time in Italy and was the last stop on the cruise. The whole next day was a cruising day as we headed back to Barcelona. We made the most of the sun and the relaxation to recover from our super activity filled days. Our next adventure was ahead of us in Spain.

 

 

 

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