When H first asked me how far Pompeii was from Rome, I said it was a good day trip away and did he really want to lose a whole day of his vacation going there? He said, "Oh...okay", and slunk back into the cave. But the more I thought about...well why not?! I've been to Rome multiple times already but had never been to Pompeii. And when I found a tour that not only took you to the ancient city but also allowed you to CLIMB AN ACTIVE VOLCANO, we were both sold.
Funny side effect of taking this tour - because the meeting point was Piazza del Popolo at 7:15am (!!!), we got to see several sites with no-one climbing over them.
No. One.
It was a bit creepy.
And kinda inconvenient because the supermarkets and cafes where we'd normally get something to eat were bloody closed or only just opening.
Although we did see these snob confetti for sale in a cafe that was open!
The three hour coach ride from Rome to Vesuvius flew by. Was it because I was asleep in the back seat of the bus? Maybe! But I'll admit that I don't think I've ever been so excited to climb a mountain before.
And we're off!
The climb itself is not so arduous: from where the bus was dropping us off to the peak, you ascend a distance of less than 300m. But due to the winding-ness of the pass, the distance travelled is approximately 1.6km. If you look at the photo of H on the path, the real hazard is actually walking on the fine volcanic dirt. It was quite slippery.
The crater! The last eruption was in 1944, during which the volcano fell in on itself. This of course meant that we wouldn't see any lava (dammit!), because it's clogged with dirt and you can see trees growing in the fertile soil. We were told to not be alarmed if we saw steam rising from the ground - that just means the volcano is venting, which is a good thing!
Me at the crater. The volcano would probably erupt if I fell into it as a rejection of the sacrifice.
You get a lovely view of the Bay of Naples from the top. Massimo, our tour guide said that Vesuvius is the most dangerous volcano in Europe because 3 million people live in the vicinity.
I had actually only purchased these shoes the day before flying to Rome, and were therefore a blinding white before the climb. No more. That volcanic ash gets everywhere.
After an interesting pizza lunch (seriously, nice pizza but very strange restaurant), we headed on to Pompeii.
The old city walls. Below was a ditch which contained a columbarium.
The small ampitheatre, an indoor theatre.
The large ampitheatre.
People still take the stairs even when there's no one on the seats.
The guy in white in the centre is Massimo!
The main street of Pompeii.
Wagon wheel grooves in the street.
The atrium/courtyard in a bath house
The bath house is one of the few places that has its original roof.
A plaster cast of a victim. I was surprised that you can actually make out his face!
A fresco from a brothel
A BED from a brothel. Mmmm, comfy. As an aside, the room was about as large as what the cubicles in Amsterdam look like.
Other members of our group. It was a hot day and shade was scarce.
The raised bumps in the road allowed people to cross the street (which doubled as a drain) without getting their feet dirty!
Stairs. Rare in Pompeii because most were made of wood and didn't survive the eruption (and time).
The forum
The temple of Jupiter with Vesuvius in the background
Looking south, away from the volcano
Hey!
Another victim.
After the tour, we had some lemon granita made from the biggest lemons ever!
Seriously, this one was nearly as big as my face.
We made it back to the Piazza del Popolo at dusk, so we wandered around while following Massimo's instructions to eat somewhere on Via del Governo Vecchio.
like...*sigh*
Campo de'Fiori by night
Oooh...
Gelati from Frigidarium! Best gelati ever?! The choc dip was a bit of a surprise.
No trip to Rome is complete without sitting in a gutter eating gelati.
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