Italy - Sorrento

Pompeii in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius

We had a great but long train ride from Venice to Sorrento. It was a cool route as we passed through the heart of Tuscany and down the west coast south of Rome to Sorrento. Towards the end of journey we passed through a cool lightning storm, unfortunately when we reached our stop in Sorrento 9hrs after leaving Venice the storm was still raging. We had a 15min walk in the torrential rain up to our hostel, however we thought better of that and managed to con the guy at the hostel into picking us up.. So we sat in a cafe drinking until he arrived in his little bambino type car.

Ancient Roman wall paintings We slept very well that night still recovering from our late nights in Venice but managed to get up early and headed out on our first mission to Pompeii, the day started out cool and fresh after the storm. Pompeii was an prosporous agricultural town thriving on the fertile volcanic soils. The town was destroyed following the dumping of 3m of ash on the town during the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The town has now been mostly excavated from the ash revealing a snap shot of roman life in the first centry AD. Lost for 1600 years before its redescovery in 1748 the town is now reborn as a tourist trap with lots to offer including in the way of petrified bodies, amphitheates, mansions, brothels and bakeries.

A few of the 1100 plaster casts of petrified Pompeiieans When in the early stage of excavations they found voids in the ash containing human remains.. They soon figured out that these voids were the left as a result of the decomposing bodies... nice. So they now whenever they come across these voids they fill them full of plaster and the resulting form is some times shockingly graphic. We enjoyed Pompeii and had good day there.

Home made picnic on the flanks of Mount Vesuvius Being both keen hikers we decided to hike the 1300m summit of Mount Vesuvius.. This was made slightly easier as we caught a bus up to within 200m of the top. Mount Vesuvius is known as one of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes due to its tendancy for explosive eruptions and the 3 million people living on its flanks in the bay of Naples, including the large city of Naples.

The summit of Mount Vesuvius... a big hole

After the short walk to the top we walked down a bit and then did a side trip around the mountain. Again the heat intense and we used our water up quick, we headed back up the road end where there was a cafe and I dont think i have enjoyed a coke that much in my life. We headed back to Sorrento and hit the beach.

Sunset on the Sorrento Coastline

Classey hotels on the cliffs about the port The swim was awesome after a stinking day hiking on the hot and dusty peak. We swam for a good half an hour before heading back into town to pick up some supplies for dinner. We stayed up late that night drinking wine and Limoncello (a traditional lemon liqueur of south Italy) with the other people in the hostel.

Refreshed after a primo swim