Climbing Mount Vesuvius

Art at the roadside

View over Napoli

Having seen the scavi at Pompeii we discussed where to go for our next destination. Some of the crew wated to go back and then there was only me, Andreas and Andrei who shared same interest to climb Mount Vesuvius. 

Lava road from the last eruption

Caldera

Well, all said and done we gave our marching orders to the taxi man and off we went. The Mountain is nowadays declared a National Park and the road up is beautiful with greenery and art posted on the roadsides. 

Caldera

Volcano is still smoking...

We arrived to the base of the caldera and had to walk up the rest of the way. My legs were under pressure as I had exerted myself the previous evening with my stint down Mount Faito. It hurt but I just took it plodded onwards and upwards. The caldera was pretty much lifeless and consisted of rubble and rocks. There was a path leading up and once there the path continued along the edge of the caldera. 

Caldera

Pompeii

The view was fantastic although the visibility was not that great as the air was a bit hazy. Peering down the caldera I could still see smoke rising up in the air testifying to the fact that the volcano was only sleeping, not extinct. We continued walking and came around about 180 degrees. 

View over bay of Napoli

From this point we could clearly see Pompeii that was covered by the volcano in it's famous eruption during the Roman era. As the path ended there was a souvenir shop cum bar and we sampled some local wines while admiring the scenery. 

Andreas, Andrei & me

As we finished whetting our whistles we turned back and headed for the parking lot. During the walk we passed another 2 souvenir shops cum bars and had a cup of wine in each of them. Finally we came back down to the parking lot and headed back to Marina di Stabia.