Going Up Mount Vesuvius

On Saturday, our last full day in Italy for this trip, we decided to try Vesuvius. The weather was cool but clear, so it seemed a good day for scaling a volcano! We took the Circumvesuviana to Ercolano Scavi, the stop for both Herculaneum and Vesuvius. According to my "Rick Steves" guidebook, just next to the train station should be tour busses going up the mountain. When we inquired, we were told the buses had quit running for the day, but that we could rent a van with a guide. So, for €50, we got a large van and a driver who barely spoke English—just enough to try to convince us to spend money on every piece of junk between the Bay of Naples and the mountaintop!

Vesuvius sits right on top of Ercolano. On the drive up, we were treated to spectacular views over the Bay. Our guide pointed out various places where lava flows had occured in prior years (such as the big 1944 eruption).

Vesuvius is actually a mountain that has grown up inside an older volcano called Mount Somma. This photo shows you the road through the crater of Mt. Somma up the flank of Vesuvius.

The landcape had that barren, moon-rock look that I would expect to see within a volcano. I wished we could have gotten out and gone rock hunting, but most of the mountain is off-limits to the public.

It was not until we reached the end of the road, a short distance below the peak, that our driver informed us that the peak was closed for the day because of wind conditions. So we couldn't go any further.

We thought about climbing over the fence, but it really was incredibly windy and cold (I missed my down jacket that gets me through sub-zero weather in Chicago). Plus, we didn't want to run afoul of any park rangers!

So, when Luigi decided we weren't going to buy any junk from his local friend's bar and souvenir shop, he drove us back to Ercolano.
On the trip down, we were better seated to enjoy the spectacular views. Upon reaching Ercolano, we realized that Herculaneum was just a very short walk away from the train station. So, we gave our guide an undeserved tip and walked down the hill toward the water to see the other great city buried by Vesuvio.

Herculaneum