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With the one hour time change from Greece, we got an extra hour of sleep last night which was nice after our long trek. By the light of day, we really appreciate how beautiful this apartment is. The foundations of the building go back to Roman times, but the actual apartments are recently renovated. The ceiling is log and timber, tile floor and wonderfully furnished and decorated. It looks out onto the old part of Sorrento and the bay on one side. On the other side is a large garden of lemon and orange trees mixed in with blossoming cherry trees. With the clear blue sky this morning, it is one of the nicest places we have stayed over the last 8 months.
We had told Benjamin and Joshua that today would be a light day, but with the weather so perfect we re neg and plan a trip to Mount Vesuvius, the only active volcano in mainland Europe (as well as the cause of the devastation at Pompeii and Herculaneum ). The hotel proprietor was able to give us information on how to get there, so we set off through the narrow streets for the short walk to the
train station.
The coastline from Sorrento towards Naples is spectacular and by the light of day from the train you pass from tunnels into incredible vistas of coastline and ocean stretching out towards Capri. Orange and lemon trees grow so close to the tracks that at times you feel like you could reach out and grab one from the laden branches.
The bus for Mount Vesuvius leaves from close to Pompeii Scavi station (the same place you get off to visit the ruins of Pompeii), so we bought tickets and walked down the road to the bus stop. As is the case in any tourist place, prices are highest closest to the attraction so we ended up buying very expensive (but good) pizza slices for lunch. Also waiting for the bus were a man and woman from Quebec, visiting Italy with wife and daughter(respectively)who were here on a Pregnancy and Diabetes conference. Evy managed to catch up on some news from Canada with them while we waited. It was wonderful to connect with someone from home.
The bus to Vesuvius takes about an hour as it wind back and forth up the mountain towards the volcano. As
it cuts though the old lava flows, the road narrows and the driver honked as we went around the many blind curves, meeting several tour buses going the back down. Part way up the mountain, we stopped at a roadside food and souvenir stand where a woman gave a short talk about the history of the volcano. Her father used to run a cable car to the top (which, I believe, was destroyed during the last eruption during the war). Joshua bought a collection of volcanic rocks from her small store.
Once back on the bus, we continued up to a parking lot at the 1000 meter point - the furthest that tour buses go. Here, to our surprise, we had to pay again for the privilege to walk up the remaining distance to the top. The path to the top was actually a small gravel road making for an easy climb - certainly far easier than the 3 hour climb up Mount Sinai in Egypt. At the top, wisps of cloud rolled past. Looking into the volcano, it is difficult to take it all in at once and certainly hard to take a photo that looks like the classic
volcanic cone. For that you would need to be further away like in an airplane or helicopter. In spite of this, it is quite impressive to see the steaming vents and know that this volcano is overdue for an explosion. Looking at the myriad of stainless steel instruments mounted around the rim, you can see that this is well monitored but still, there always seems to be that small element of danger to keep things interesting.
We took a photo of our world traveling penguin mascot looking out over the cone and got a few quick shots of what we thought were the ruins of Herculaneum down below before the clouds moved in and everything lower than the mountain disappeared into a white mist.
On the bus ride back down, we got some photos of giant ogre sculptures that reminded us of some placed under a bridge in Seattle. Photos to send to auntie Nancy. Back at the bus stop, we said goodbye to the Quebec couple and then arrived at the gate of Pompeii two minutes too late to buy tickets for that day.
Back in Sorrento, we made a quick visit to a travel agency
to make certain about the Sunday bus to Rome, before heading to the grocery store. This was our first time buying groceries in Italy and the prices did not seem as expensive as some of the other costs, such as train travel.
The streets leading back to our apartment are a maze of narrow alleyways yet are packed with small stores. There seems to be an almost casual mix of old building and ancient buildings - a 17 th century church no longer seems incredible when so many of the structures go back much further.
After dinner Evy and I headed out again to buy some dish soap (oddly not supplied) and try to check our email. At a small bridge I was able to pick up an open wifi signal and download our email, hopefully not looking too suspicious parked outside the hotel where the signal came from ! After that we wandered the narrow streets until the stores closed up at 8:30.
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