It was big, big day today. We had to get up at 6:00am and that really wasn't much time to get our act together. After our usual rush against time to the station, we ended up being a few minutes early at the meeting point! Yay! Times are a changing! Of course we never reconfirmed our trip and were a touch stressed that they may not let us on....luckily it was all cool. Phew!
With a little caffee stop along the way, our first official stop was at Mount Vesuvius volcano. The bus took us up about half way to the top of the mountain and we embarked on the remaining part of the journey to the top of the crater.
The volcano itself is still active, but is in a current state of siesta. The guides told us that it was likely to have a massive eruption every 2000 years, like the one that buried Pompeii. So given that Pompeii was destroyed by the volcano in 79AD, we may be still alive for the next massive installment!
The walk up was steep and tiring, but well worth the dirty feet for the stunning views. It was cool to see the steam emanating out of cracks inside the crater. This 'new' section of the volcano actually formed after a smaller eruption of Vesuvius in 1944.
Back in the bus and off to Pompeii for a well earned luncheon. Lunch was included in the price of the tour and was basically the choice of two pizzas, a side salad and a drink. This Napolitano style pizza has a much thicker base that the typical Roman style pizza and was the birth place of the Margarita. Yet another fantastic taste sensation.
After our divine meal, it was time to explore the ruins of Pompeii. As previously mentioned, when Vesuvius blew its lid in 79AD and completely covered this city and entombed the people and it's buildings. It wasn't until the 17th century that farmers living on top of this area, who were looking for water came across the city. It had not been previously found, because it should have been right next to the coast. However, because of the sheer volume of the explosion, the actual coast line was moved further out into the sea.
The Italian government finally decided to excavate this site in the 19th century and uncovered this amazing place. There have been some recreations constructed there, but the majority of the five square kilometre area is part of the original city.
As our tour was wrapping up, we coincidently bumped into Nathan and Evette from our Top Deck trip, which was a great surprise. We had just enough time for a photo and a quick goodbye, then a cheeky Limoncello sample before jumping back on the bus.
We trained it from the return meeting point of Piazza del Popolo to the Trevi Fountain metro stop and wandered around to find dinner. One of the best meals yet!
Tan: Unfortunately I was feeling quite crappy today, with sinus issues and a bit of a cold. I was still able to enjoy dinner, but was very sick when we got back to the B&B. Hopefully tomorrow will be better on the health front!
Good work Tanya. I never got to see Pompeii or Vesuvius. When we caught the train to visit Herculaneum on a Monday, we found it was closed on Mondays! Bummer. So we got the train back to go for a walk up Vesuvius instead, and realised we had inadvertently got on an express train that expressed straight through the Vesuvius station, so we just headed on to Rome, and went straight to Ancient Rome next day to find it was closed on Tuesdays! Ah, the joys of being an independent traveller in the days before the internet. Have a drink for me.
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