Day 3
Today was our planned bus trip to Pompeii. All the books and internet talked about how easy it was to get there. And then I found the tour that included getting to climb Mount Vesuvius. Sold.
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| Misty piazza del Popolo |
It was a good day. We navigated the metro to the piazza to meet the group. And it was fun to see the piazza all foggy and empty for the most part. It was not like that later on in the day. It was about a 2 hour drive or so to get to Naples which is the closest city to Pompeii. But we had 2 tour guides so they took turns during the drive there and back to share details of what to expect and to tell us about the area. And the big pizza lesson before we were to decide on our lunch selection.
The climb to the volcano crater was a little tough but doable. It was a little tricky as the path was made of some sort of fine gravel mixture that was almost like walking in sand. The views were pretty good even if much of it was covered with clouds! It was a fairly constant incline but it was interesting to see the inside of the crater. And to see the gas still coming out as it is still considered an active volcano. And there are a lot of home and businesses along the drive up. So they monitor the activity closely.
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| Vesuvius crater |
It was a little sad that to tell us we knew we had made it to the top when we passed the first souvenir shop. There were actually 3 along the way. Mostly just selling a little bit of junk and drinks, including wine. Not sure if I would want to carry wine down with me, but maybe it's just me thinking that.
After our climb we had an included lunch and as with the bus tours we got the chance to make random small talk with other people on the tour. We sat with a couple from Austria and some fellow Canadians. I think that the weirdest moment of the day came when the Austrian lady was talking about Robin on How I Met Your Mother being Canadian and if the jokes were true. How strange, discussing an American TV show (of which the Austrian lady owns the entire series), with an Austrian lady in Italy. The strangeness of bus tours I suppose.
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| A shop in Pompeii |
After all that excitement we continued onto Pompeii. Which is incredibly commercial. They had a good dozen booths outside selling postcards, Sorrento orange juice, gelato and various other Italian souvenirs. And the place was busy, but it sounded like a lot of tours come from the cruise ships. We only had time for the guided tour but he did show us the highlights and navigated us through all the crowds. It was a strange feeling to be wandering the streets of a town covered with ash in 79 AD. They even had fountains working from the aqua ducts there.
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The stones to cross the road
which still let carriages through |
Oddly enough, the biggest attraction is the brothel. It was fairly well preserved and you can see the small little concrete beds and the dirty frescos on the walls that remain. There were lines to get in and see as it was so popular. I'm not sure if it is popular because of the novelty factor so all the guides show it or if people are really that interested in it in general.
But the weather had still been great, the clouds were gone when we were in Pompeii. And I prefer the warm to the rainy, it's hard to tour around in the rain sometimes.
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