Vesuvius & Pompeii

Crater (Mt Vesuvius)

Our second day in Rome, we climbed back on the bus for a 3-hour drive to to the bay of Naples.  Destination: Mount Vesuvius, an ancient volcano that erupted in AD 79, spewing deadly ashes and killing an estimated 25,000 people.  We had only 30 minutes to hike up the mountain.

 The day was hot and sunny.  I booked it up the mountain with a couple other students in order to have time to enjoy the view from the top.  It wasn't obviously a volcano until one reached the top, where a huge crater dug deep into the earth.  On the mountain itself, vegetation hid most of the evidence of the ancient eruptions.  Still, you could see pumice popping out here and there and a long dried river of dried lava in the valley.

Pompeii was perhaps the most famous city hit by the volcano.  It was completely destroyed and buried in rubble and ash, soon forgotten, and wasn't rediscovered until nearly the 17th century.  We headed to Pompeii just after the hike down and had a 3.5 hour guided tour there.  It's so amazing to see such an extensive part of an ancient city - stones still intact, an amphitheater, houses, everything.