Monday, June 25, 2007
Eric's Thoughts from Serranto (part two)
Well, I am having a wonderful time here, but I am a little worn out today. I know, I know I am usually the gung-ho guy, but we spent almost the entire day out in the heat yesterday hiking up Mt. Vesuvius (Europe's only active volcano) and around Pompeii. Both experiences were amazing, and I recommend them to anyone traveling to Italy, but if possible, I would try to do them in cooler weather.
The hike up Vesuvius was fairly steep with no shade, but the views from the top are incredible (we will post some additional pictures). It was a little hazy, so the views were not as clear as they could be, but it was still cool to get a bird's eye view of the area. The crater was also impressive. I think it is cool to be hiking another volcano so close to our second wedding anniversary. We hiked Fuji on our first date, we hiked Haleakala after we got married, and now we are hiking Vesuvius on our second anniversary. I guess we have a thing for volcanoes.
After Vesuvius, we hiked around Pompeii. I did this as a child, and I have fond memories of this experience. As an adult - as with most of the experiences I have relived on this trip - I enjoyed it even more. It is amazing to walk around in a town that is around 2000 years old that has been fairly well preserved. Granted that preservation was the result of tragic circumstances, but it is still an amazing place. While some of the areas were closed off, we were still allowed to walk around almost the entire town and go into some fairly intact structures. It is very interesting to see how much of the artwork on the walls survived the eruption. I think that I enjoyed this experience more than the ruins of Rome mostly because it was less crowded. I also liked the ever present views of Vesuvius as a constant reminder of what happened to the town.
Well, time to post some pictures. I hope all is well. Take care.
Adventures on Mt. Vesuvius and in Pompeii, and an Upcoming Trivia Challenge!
Well, we didn't post to our blog yesterday because we didn't get home until very late (in fact we didn't even eat dinner until after 10 pm, although that is not late by European standards.)
As I've mentioned before, it is extremely hot here. We knew that both Vesuvius and Pompeii would have us in the direct sun for most of the day. So Eric came up with a very good plan to hike Vesuvius first, because Rick Steves said that it would be cold and windy on top. Then we would go to Pompeii later in the day when it would be cooler.
We had quite an adventure trying to find the bus to Vesuvius. We took the train to Pompeii. The map showed that the bus stop was supposed to be very close to the train station. Somehow, we ended up on the wrong street and wandered for about a mile, in the hot hot sun. (Are you sensing a theme here?) :-)
We finally found the bus stop, after asking some locals. It wasn't very well marked, and the funniest part, is that we were supposed to buy our tickets from the guy across the street who had a little souvenir table, and a very tiny sign. But it all worked out, and about an hour later, we were on the hour-long bus ride to Vesuvius. The bus was air conditioned, so we were very happy. Until about 30 minutes later when the bus pulled into this dumpy souvenir shack and told us we would be staying there for 20 minutes. This cranky old man borded the bus and told us to go outside, where he proceeded to deliver a 10 minute sales pitch to buy his book on Mt. Vesuvius. We felt so scammed. It's obvious that the bus driver gets some sort of kickback from stopping there, but we were surprised, because this was a public bus. Now we understand why it is a 1 hour bus ride, because you are stuck at a dump for 20 minutes.
But aside from that little adventure, we made it to the mountain which was.... very hot! Oh that Rick Steves has fooled us again! We even lugged jackets with us (because Rick recommended it!) Now in his defense, he did say that it was "often" cold and windy. I guess we were just hopeful.
Anyway, the hike to the top was amazing, filled with gorgeous views. It's not a bad hike (either that, or all the other hiking we've done on the trip has gotten me into better shape), but the direct sun and heat made it a bit challenging. It was amazing to see the views from Vesuvius, and also to look down into the crator. Not nearly as big as Fuji or Haleakala, but still impressive. We met a teacher from Georgia on the hike down and had fun talking to her.
Once we got down, we had about an hour's wait for the next bus back to Pompeii. It was a long, hot hour, but finally the bus arrived and we were back in Pompeii in about half an hour. On the bus were several college kids who were doing a semseter abroad. This made me think of my brother. These kids were about his age and were getting some incredible life experiences. Maybe something to look into, Daniel? One guy was an advertising major and he was having a great time studying marketing in Europe. (For example, there are only Coca Cola products here (no Pepsi) and Diet Coke is called Coca Cola Lite. You never see the word diet here. It's interesting.)
The highlight of our day was wandering around the ruins of Pompeii for about 2 hours. Eric's plan worked perfectly, because by the time we got to the ruins, there was plenty of shade and hardly any other people there. The ruins are incredible beyond description! It's a huge city and it's amazing that so much survived. To see mosaics and artwork from a.d. 79 in their original setting is unbelievable. I just can't put into words what an enjoyable experience this was. I had no idea that Pompeii was so large! As much as I loved the Colliseum in Rome, I loved Pompeii even more. This is the first place that I've broken down and bought a book for school. (Julie - when we teach Historical Fiction, we can use "The Dog of Pompeii" story, and the book that I got here (it has a DVD movie with it) and some of the pictures we took. (That is, if we are still teaching 6th grade! Ha! But that's another concern for another day...) :-)
After Pompeii, we were incrediblly exhausted, but it had been a great day. I think it's a lot to try to both in the same day, but I don't know how else you would do both. It truly was one of my most favorite days of this trip, even inspite of the heat!
Today we are having a lazy day...slept in late...and are now just wandering Sorrento a little bit. We'll go back to the hotel to lay out by the pool. Hope everyone is doing great, and by the way. At the end of our trip, I'm going to post a trivia contest for everyone who has been reading our blog. We will have European prizes for the top 3 scores. So be on the watch for that! :-)
As I've mentioned before, it is extremely hot here. We knew that both Vesuvius and Pompeii would have us in the direct sun for most of the day. So Eric came up with a very good plan to hike Vesuvius first, because Rick Steves said that it would be cold and windy on top. Then we would go to Pompeii later in the day when it would be cooler.
We had quite an adventure trying to find the bus to Vesuvius. We took the train to Pompeii. The map showed that the bus stop was supposed to be very close to the train station. Somehow, we ended up on the wrong street and wandered for about a mile, in the hot hot sun. (Are you sensing a theme here?) :-)
We finally found the bus stop, after asking some locals. It wasn't very well marked, and the funniest part, is that we were supposed to buy our tickets from the guy across the street who had a little souvenir table, and a very tiny sign. But it all worked out, and about an hour later, we were on the hour-long bus ride to Vesuvius. The bus was air conditioned, so we were very happy. Until about 30 minutes later when the bus pulled into this dumpy souvenir shack and told us we would be staying there for 20 minutes. This cranky old man borded the bus and told us to go outside, where he proceeded to deliver a 10 minute sales pitch to buy his book on Mt. Vesuvius. We felt so scammed. It's obvious that the bus driver gets some sort of kickback from stopping there, but we were surprised, because this was a public bus. Now we understand why it is a 1 hour bus ride, because you are stuck at a dump for 20 minutes.
But aside from that little adventure, we made it to the mountain which was.... very hot! Oh that Rick Steves has fooled us again! We even lugged jackets with us (because Rick recommended it!) Now in his defense, he did say that it was "often" cold and windy. I guess we were just hopeful.
Anyway, the hike to the top was amazing, filled with gorgeous views. It's not a bad hike (either that, or all the other hiking we've done on the trip has gotten me into better shape), but the direct sun and heat made it a bit challenging. It was amazing to see the views from Vesuvius, and also to look down into the crator. Not nearly as big as Fuji or Haleakala, but still impressive. We met a teacher from Georgia on the hike down and had fun talking to her.
Once we got down, we had about an hour's wait for the next bus back to Pompeii. It was a long, hot hour, but finally the bus arrived and we were back in Pompeii in about half an hour. On the bus were several college kids who were doing a semseter abroad. This made me think of my brother. These kids were about his age and were getting some incredible life experiences. Maybe something to look into, Daniel? One guy was an advertising major and he was having a great time studying marketing in Europe. (For example, there are only Coca Cola products here (no Pepsi) and Diet Coke is called Coca Cola Lite. You never see the word diet here. It's interesting.)
The highlight of our day was wandering around the ruins of Pompeii for about 2 hours. Eric's plan worked perfectly, because by the time we got to the ruins, there was plenty of shade and hardly any other people there. The ruins are incredible beyond description! It's a huge city and it's amazing that so much survived. To see mosaics and artwork from a.d. 79 in their original setting is unbelievable. I just can't put into words what an enjoyable experience this was. I had no idea that Pompeii was so large! As much as I loved the Colliseum in Rome, I loved Pompeii even more. This is the first place that I've broken down and bought a book for school. (Julie - when we teach Historical Fiction, we can use "The Dog of Pompeii" story, and the book that I got here (it has a DVD movie with it) and some of the pictures we took. (That is, if we are still teaching 6th grade! Ha! But that's another concern for another day...) :-)
After Pompeii, we were incrediblly exhausted, but it had been a great day. I think it's a lot to try to both in the same day, but I don't know how else you would do both. It truly was one of my most favorite days of this trip, even inspite of the heat!
Today we are having a lazy day...slept in late...and are now just wandering Sorrento a little bit. We'll go back to the hotel to lay out by the pool. Hope everyone is doing great, and by the way. At the end of our trip, I'm going to post a trivia contest for everyone who has been reading our blog. We will have European prizes for the top 3 scores. So be on the watch for that! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)