World Italy Campania Pompeii

Forde's European Trip

Travel to Pompeii, Mt Vesuvio Sep 12, 2011

Monday, September 12: Today we travelled from Rome to Pompeii. Checking into our hotel...Hotel Pompeii, we set out to conquer Mount Vesuvius. Driving to the base of the mountain, we disembarked sat base camp and joined a tour. The tour, which took us 8 km up the mountain in a what can only be described as a Mercedes military vehicle, to a second base camp. From there, we had two hours to climb the rest of the way to the top of the crater on our own. The view of Naples, the Bay of Naples and Pompeii was magnificent. At the top of the mountain, looking down into the crater of the active volcano Vesuvius and seeing with steam vents spewing was indescribable. Took a few photos for you but they really so not do the volcano justice. The weather was somewhat hazy when looking down into Naples and Pompeii but I tried to capture what I was seeing. After hiking to the summit, we headed back down to meet our bus that would take exhausted travellers back to the base camp. Returning to Pompeii, we arrived back at our hotel. Showered, we headed out for dinner. Pompeii is a dirty, garbage festooned city with little appeal to the traveller. We decided to try and find a restaurant within walking distance...not a good idea. Ended up back at the hotel and actually had a wonderful meal with a great waiter. Off to bed exhausted again. Tomorrow we are touring Pompeii. The streets of Pompeii are so narrow that barely two cars can pass. Everything with regard to driving here is totally insane. I am so stressed out with the driving; today we nearly struck a pedestrian, and narrowly missed crunching the car uncountable times due to narrow roads and Italian attitude. This is insane. How can people live here and drive every day and maintain their sanity? I remember RoseMarie saying to our past Deputy Chief that after travelling the world, her favourite country was still Canada. I can totally concur with her comments. We have so much in Canada. It is a blessing and privilege to be able to travel to distant lands, but until one does so, we can have no appreciation of what we have in our own country. RoseMarie, you are right again.

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