Just a short post today as blogger is being very sluggish with uploading photos. The day after I went to Pompeii, Robert and I 'climbed' Mount Vesuvius. I have climbed in quotation marks because there wasn't much climbing involved. Our old walking guidebook (the same one we had in Sardinia) suggested a number of paths you could take up Vesuvius. These were all closed. However, after discussions with Tourist Info, I was told that no one walks there anyway. You can take a bus up to the Mount Vesuvius Visitor Centre and then walk along a path along the crater. The starting point for buses is the modern suburb of Pompei. Note: I had a spelling mistake in the previous blog. Pompeii is the archaeological site, Pompei is the modern suburb where it is located.
The bus stopped half way up. These are the views down towards the main part of Naples. When I reported back from Tourist Info, Robert and I had the impression that a bit of trekking would be involved in climbing to the summit, which, at 1281m above sea level, would be a tallish Munro. So, we had walking poles, rucksack, water, food and a first aid kit.
We were quite surprised to see that the 'path' was better than most roads in Bolivia. People were even going up in high heeled shoes and taking their dogs. The Visitor Centre is just below the lip of the volcano. It took about 30 minutes to reach the crater. The path didn't go all the way around. It, quite surreally, ended at a little hut where you could buy souvenirs.
Here is the view into the crater. Apparently, in the past, you could get guided tours to the crater bottom. Below is a photo I pulled off the web. It shows quite clearly the road up the mountain and the path that goes part of the way around the crater.
The most amazing thing about all of this is that Vesuvius is an active volcano. Geologists are saying that it could go up again at any time. This would be quite a disaster for Naples and the surrounding area.
4 comments:
That is a cool picture of the volcano. Is the little white line at the very top of the volcano the trail? Obviously this photo was taken from an airplane. Do you know how wide is the mouth of the crater. It looks huge.
Curious Mamoo wants to know.
You can see the road zig zag up the right hand side. You will notice a bit where the road branches and continues around to the back side of the mountain. This is the road the buses take. I am not sure where the zigzags above the junction lead. The tourist road goes around the back side and then gradually spirals up to about 300m below the summit. You can't see the car park and visitor centre, as it is behind the mountain. The thin line you can see going halfway around the crater to the front is the path. I am not sure how big the crater is. As you can see from one of the other photos, it was quite easy to see across to the other side. To give you a bit of perspective, look at the valley between the cone and the top of the picture. What you see here is the edge of a much older crater from an earlier eruption. The length of the valley between the old crater and the new one is 5 miles (according to wikipedia).
I guess living in the shadow of Vesuvius would be like living in San Francisco. Just ignore the possibilities and hope that nothing happens.
Very cool! It's a pity most tourists are so lazy that no one climbs the volcano anymore.
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