Saturday 18/02/23.
Driving up a volcano, is not something we’d ever envisioned doing, but the steep, windy roads were thrilling. And it’s not just any volcano. It’s one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, the volcano responsible for killing the residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum and creating some of the biggest tourist attractions in Europe. The volcano that changed history. Mount Vesuvius.
Traffic held us up on our way to Mount Vesuvius. The traffic being a man pushing a cart full of clothing rails, with jeans hanging off one side, winter jackets off the other. That’s a first for us. Large stone statues decorated the route to the volcano: a man crouched in an uncomfortable position, and a partial face, with the mouth seeming to disappear into the grass.
Puppy Love
We parked halfway up then continued on foot. Today, the parking was free. There was a shuttlebus to take you most of the way but we wanted to walk to experience more of it and to enjoy the views. Plus you had to pay for the shuttlebus and we’re not a fan of such commercial enterprises when walking is free. We met a gorgeous fluffy golden Labrador cross puppy on route. His name began with a T, and apparently he loved women. He certainly pulled to come and meet us. We would have missed him had we taken the bus. This made our day and we hadn’t even reached the volcano.
Mount Vesuvius
Where the walk up Vesuvius begins, are a shop selling snacks and drinks, and also market stalls. We weren’t expecting that. We know Yr Wyddfa (Snowden) has a café at the top, but that’s a mountain. It seemed strange that a volcano would have a gift shop. They’re basically mountains with acid reflux. But who doesn’t love a gift shop? We bought some things made of lava – a coffin, a mini volcano, a dog for our niece, a tortoise and winged penis for our sister, a Roman helmet for our brother-in-law, and a giant obsidian heart for us.
Kindness of Strangers
We hadn’t realised that we needed to buy tickets to climb the volcano, (yes, we realise this is something we should have checked, but it never occurred to us) so the guy at the market stall helped us out, as we couldn’t get internet signal. Tickets are around €40 but that also includes the shuttle bus there and back.
At first the market seller gave us his WiFi details and when that didn’t work, he logged on with his phone then handed it to us so we could buy the tickets. He not only gave us a discount from the stall, but also let us leave our purchases there so we wouldn’t have to carry them with us. Italian people are always so generous to us, especially as we seem to make a lot of mistakes when travelling! Whether it’s getting lost, getting confused or getting overwhelmed, friendly Italians are always around to help us.
Cone of Fame
Mount Vesuvius is 1127m tall, with a circumference of 450m and a depth of 300m and dates back to around 400,000 years ago. The current volcano is apparently a union of an older external cone, known as Mount Somma, and Vesuvius, the younger, internal cone, which formed due to violent eruptions. The two cones are separated by a depression called Valle Del Gigante.
The climb up the volcano was easier than the walk up the road! It’s about 300m to the cone which means you start level with the inner depth. And the views were spectacular! You can see over the Gulf of Naples. When we think of volcanoes, we think of conical mountains with a tiny circular opening. We were so very wrong. When we reached the cone, Gran Cono, it was smoking, which made it more atmospheric. Like her breath was escaping as she slept. They class it as being in a phase of “active rest”. Like when we go paddleboarding on our only day off work.
Smoke Gets in your Eyes
It would have been very disappointing if it hadn’t been smoking. We want clichés! We want drama that isn’t self-inflicted! You can see down in to the crater, which is such a bizarre, incredible experience. It’s like meeting your favourite celebrity and finding out they’re not a dick. It’s very windy on the side of the volcano and phone signal is terrible but at least it didn’t smell. Cat’s migraine GP had been very excited when he learned we were visiting Pompeii and Vesuvius and warned her that the sulphur from the volcano usually smells like rotten eggs. Sir, that’s not the volcano you can smell. That’s demons.
We video called our family. Our sister was convinced Vesuvius was going to erupt. If it did, at least it would be a very swift end for us, and dying on the world’s most famous volcano would certainly be a talking point on our death certificates. It would almost outshine our relative who was (allegedly) eaten by a crocodile.
Rock Stars
Another gift shop sat at the top, so we bought a decorative wall plate with mount Vesuvius and old Pompeii in the foreground for our mum, pieces of lava and a lava rock with crystalised lava inside. We love rocks. We brought rocks home with us from the Grand Canyon and they sit proudly displayed in our downstairs toilet room. Years later, we’d learned there was a curse attached to taking rocks from the Canyon, but thankfully, that was attached to the rocks we gave our sister. Ours were curse-free.
Halfway down the volcano are more gift stalls. The woman running the stall called us over because she thought we were beautiful twins, which is a great sales pitch. She made lava jewellery so we bought a pair of earrings that had tiny lava balls and skulls. On our descent we also collected rocks and pieces of lava. They can join our display in the downstairs toilet. Hopefully without a curse.
Herculean Effort
We drove straight to Herculaneum, arriving at 3 p.m. Last entry was 3:30 p.m. It closes at 4:40 p.m. Yes, we were pushing it, but we were in the area.
Herculaneum is very different from Pompeii. It’s carved out of four embankments in a huge square with the new town positioned around it. So people in nearby apartments get to look out over the ruins every day. It’s more intact than Pompeii, despite being buried four times deeper.
As you cross the bridge to enter the ruins, you look down over the boat houses, where the casts of collapsed skeletons of the residents still remain, gathered at what was once the water’s edge awaiting a rescue that never came. The majority of the buildings are still in good condition, but the site is much smaller than Pompeii, so despite our limited time, we managed to walk around it all and see everything, although it would be nice to visit it when we’re not in a rush. At least we didn’t get lost, and Cat didn’t disgrace herself on a pedestrian crossing.
Wild West
We drove to Pompeii for something to eat, as the restaurants in Herculaneum didn’t open until 6 p.m. That’s usually the earliest restaurants open in Italy. As we drove around, we witnessed the aftermath of someone driving into a shop. We saw the car, definitely parked illegally in the shop entrance, and police directing traffic.
Back in Pompeii, we chose a restaurant, the Old Wild West. It’s basically a McDonald’s dressed like a saloon. Two western saddles sat outside the restaurant, so we decided to eat before posing on them in case we got barred. Again, we ordered fries. We walked off our chips, exploring a market which had closed by the time we left the restaurant. We saw an American bulldog in one of the shops who looked our dog, Romeo. He smiled at us each time we waved. We returned to our cave at 9 p.m. Volcanoes, ruins, skeletons, and a cave. Today was pretty unbeatable.
Word of advice when travelling: check to see if you need to buy tickets before you end up on a volcano with no phone or internet signal. Also, check opening and closing times of attractions and try not to show up in the last hour. Learn from our mistakes. Maybe one day, we will too.
Read Day 3.
Read Day 5.