Another big / long day for us on day #2 in Rome. We had signed up for a guided tour to Pompeii and Mt.Vesuvius. Since Pompeii is near Naples (Napoli), we had a 2-1/2 hour drive in front of us. We had been asked to meet in Piazza del Popolo in front of the obelisk at 7:15am. We had requested the hotel to pack a breakfast for us which we picked up on our way out. Of course, later we found that the breakfast wasn’t very appetising. It was mostly hard crackers / rusk, some boiled eggs (which only I was willing to eat), a croissant and an apple.
We caught the Metro at Termini to a station called Flaminio. From Flaminio, the piazza del Popolo is just a short walk away, so we were able to get there on time. The square itself is very beautiful with the obelisk in front of a large pair of cathedrals (Santa Maria?).
We were about 50 tourists on a large bus divided into two groups with one tour guide each. They kept us entertained about the local sights as well as the program for the day. Half way to Naples, we stopped at Cassino for breakfast. Problem was that I had forgotten to convert our money to Euros, so we were running short of cash. The restaurant would not accept credit cards, so I had to use some of the cash I had for breakfast (mostly coffee and doughnuts).
We reached Pompeii at around 10:40am and met our local guide (Sasha or Sascha or Sacha). He led us through the streets of Pompeii in a smooth and well-rehearsed way. He had only a couple of hours to do this, so we only managed to see the highlights of Pompeii but whatever we saw was very impressive. We did a lot of walking in a very short amount of time as he led us through a vast mesh of interesecting roads with houses, baths, brothels and shops on either side. At the end, we also got a chance to look at several protected exhibits like the dog, the pregnant woman and hundreds of amphoras and other artifacts from that era.
The eerie stare of Mt.Vesuvius never leaves us, though, so you're always aware of the danger that awaits if / when the volcano decides to rumble again.
We broke for lunch at around 1:10pm. Lunch was paid for by the tour guide company and they took us to a pretty decent restaurant just outside Pompeii. We shared our table with a lady from Denmark who was visiting Italy with her teenage son. She worked as a graphic designer in Copenhagen. She said she was looking forward to an opportunity to visit India whereas we said that we were very keen to visit Denmark. We exchanged a few tips / pointers on visiting each other's countries during lunch.
After the fairly heavy lunch, it was time for us to head up to Mt.Vesuvius. The bus would drop us off about half way up and we had to hoof it up the rest of the way. It was going to be quite arduous, the guide warned us. 25 deg slope, about 1 mile to the top of the crater. She didn't tell us that the road was not tarred / asphalted. It was completely loose gravel that prevented us from getting a real grip both ways (climbing up / down). We have always thought that we were reasonably fit for our age, but that climb up Mt.V really showed us up for how poorly conditioned we were. I was gasping for breath by the time I was about 200m up and had to take several long breaks to be able to reach the top while older people were just passing me by. Ashwin was the fastest up to the top and I caught up with him after about 10 min. Sahana and Sneha were coming more slowly so Ashwin and I decided to continue walking around the top of the crater as far as the path would take us. In the distance, we could hear rumbling and theorized that it was normal for a dormant volcano to experience frequent rumblings like this because of the movement of magma under the surface. We didn't realize at that time that we were very wrong!
The view from the top of Mt.Vesuvius was spectacular. Although it was a bit hazy, we could see Capri and Sicily in the distance. Naples was, of course, clearly visible with it's coastline and the buildings in downtown. The crater itself was not as deep as the Halemaumau crater in Hawaii but it was still a good 1000-1200 ft down.
Sahana and Sneha caught up with us just as we turned around and headed back down. We had just about 20 min to make it all the way down to the bus parking. Again, Ashwin and I went off at a faster clip, slipping and sliding down the slope whereas Sahana and Sneha followed more slowly and cautiously. The rumbling, we now realized, was due to a quickly developing storm. The sky became ominously dark and the wind picked up steadily. By the time we reached the exit to the bus parking area, the wind was just howling and making it nearly impossible to put one foot in front of the other. I would guess that the wind speeds were nothing less than about 75 km/h. I couldn't see Sahana or Sneha and started worrying that one or both of them may have been carried away by the wind. Just when I started feeling a couple of drops of rain, I saw them turn the last corner and heaved a sigh of relief. We quickly ran towards the bus and stood in line to get back on. Thankfully, the rain held off until we got on to the bus and, in fact, held off till we got back on the highway towards Rome.
On the way back, the bus stopped once again at Cassino for a quick coffee and shopping for wine, limoncello, chocolate, coffee and souvenirs. We bought a bit of everything since they accepted credit cards (remember we had almost no Euros by then!). From Cassino till we alighted at Rome, the tour guides did their best to plug / market / sell their other tours. Finally, they dropped us off at the same place (Piazza del Popolo) around 8:20pm. We caught the Metro back to Termini, having walked about 19000 steps, 7.8 miles and climbed about 26 storeys.
We caught the Metro at Termini to a station called Flaminio. From Flaminio, the piazza del Popolo is just a short walk away, so we were able to get there on time. The square itself is very beautiful with the obelisk in front of a large pair of cathedrals (Santa Maria?).
We reached Pompeii at around 10:40am and met our local guide (Sasha or Sascha or Sacha). He led us through the streets of Pompeii in a smooth and well-rehearsed way. He had only a couple of hours to do this, so we only managed to see the highlights of Pompeii but whatever we saw was very impressive. We did a lot of walking in a very short amount of time as he led us through a vast mesh of interesecting roads with houses, baths, brothels and shops on either side. At the end, we also got a chance to look at several protected exhibits like the dog, the pregnant woman and hundreds of amphoras and other artifacts from that era.
We broke for lunch at around 1:10pm. Lunch was paid for by the tour guide company and they took us to a pretty decent restaurant just outside Pompeii. We shared our table with a lady from Denmark who was visiting Italy with her teenage son. She worked as a graphic designer in Copenhagen. She said she was looking forward to an opportunity to visit India whereas we said that we were very keen to visit Denmark. We exchanged a few tips / pointers on visiting each other's countries during lunch.
After the fairly heavy lunch, it was time for us to head up to Mt.Vesuvius. The bus would drop us off about half way up and we had to hoof it up the rest of the way. It was going to be quite arduous, the guide warned us. 25 deg slope, about 1 mile to the top of the crater. She didn't tell us that the road was not tarred / asphalted. It was completely loose gravel that prevented us from getting a real grip both ways (climbing up / down). We have always thought that we were reasonably fit for our age, but that climb up Mt.V really showed us up for how poorly conditioned we were. I was gasping for breath by the time I was about 200m up and had to take several long breaks to be able to reach the top while older people were just passing me by. Ashwin was the fastest up to the top and I caught up with him after about 10 min. Sahana and Sneha were coming more slowly so Ashwin and I decided to continue walking around the top of the crater as far as the path would take us. In the distance, we could hear rumbling and theorized that it was normal for a dormant volcano to experience frequent rumblings like this because of the movement of magma under the surface. We didn't realize at that time that we were very wrong!
The view from the top of Mt.Vesuvius was spectacular. Although it was a bit hazy, we could see Capri and Sicily in the distance. Naples was, of course, clearly visible with it's coastline and the buildings in downtown. The crater itself was not as deep as the Halemaumau crater in Hawaii but it was still a good 1000-1200 ft down.
Sahana and Sneha caught up with us just as we turned around and headed back down. We had just about 20 min to make it all the way down to the bus parking. Again, Ashwin and I went off at a faster clip, slipping and sliding down the slope whereas Sahana and Sneha followed more slowly and cautiously. The rumbling, we now realized, was due to a quickly developing storm. The sky became ominously dark and the wind picked up steadily. By the time we reached the exit to the bus parking area, the wind was just howling and making it nearly impossible to put one foot in front of the other. I would guess that the wind speeds were nothing less than about 75 km/h. I couldn't see Sahana or Sneha and started worrying that one or both of them may have been carried away by the wind. Just when I started feeling a couple of drops of rain, I saw them turn the last corner and heaved a sigh of relief. We quickly ran towards the bus and stood in line to get back on. Thankfully, the rain held off until we got on to the bus and, in fact, held off till we got back on the highway towards Rome.
On the way back, the bus stopped once again at Cassino for a quick coffee and shopping for wine, limoncello, chocolate, coffee and souvenirs. We bought a bit of everything since they accepted credit cards (remember we had almost no Euros by then!). From Cassino till we alighted at Rome, the tour guides did their best to plug / market / sell their other tours. Finally, they dropped us off at the same place (Piazza del Popolo) around 8:20pm. We caught the Metro back to Termini, having walked about 19000 steps, 7.8 miles and climbed about 26 storeys.
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