Naples, Italy

Next on the itinerary was one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world: Naples. There were several tours available and I really would have like to have seen the ruins of Pompeii or Herculaneum. But, Kim and I both thought that Tyler would enjoy hiking a volcano rather than seeing more old stones. Granted, these sites had some signs of human remains at the time of the eruption, but we still opted on the tour up to the top of the crater.

Good choice, as it turned out. We took a 45 minute bus ride to the entrance to the Mt. Vesuvius National Park, where we then boarded our Mercedes off-road vehicles. These things were pretty huge and the suspension was softer than any vehicle I have ever been in. The ride up to the top of the mountain was an entertaining one as everyone bounced around considerably to the sound of laughter. We then began our approximately one-mile walk from the base station up the crater. The views were spectacular as we could see Sorrento, the Island of Capri, and the former location of Pompeii.

Once at the top, we spent a while looking into the crater and could even see smoke emanating from the side walls. Our guide told us of the fact that the volcano used to be two-thirds taller than its current height and that the current crater was formed from subsequent eruptions. The crater rock had a red-ish tint to it and our guide illustrated the immense echoes that could be generated as she had us all shout in unison. We had some leisurely time to walk around a little more before making our way back down to the station where we then rode back down to the bus.

Before getting back on the boat, we decided to try a pizza as Naples is said to be the food’s birthplace. The pizza wasn’t that memorable, but this might have been to our choice of getting one from one of the harbor vendors.