The big V… and me

Mt Vesuvius is big! Really big. And still active. It dominates the Bay of Naples and was easily visible from 60km away as we approached from the north towards Campania. It was an eagerly anticipated part of the trip for me as I felt that I had been here so many times before (Google Earth is a beautiful thing) and, as a teacher, it was topic of the first lesson I ever designed. A’lora, as we entered the outskirts of Naples, Vesuvius loomed ominously against the blue sky before us, I was imagining the death and destruction it had rained down upon Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano).

It wasn’t till the next morning, after frantically trying to find a Meteo report on Italian television (not an easy thing to do), did we discover that it was predicted to rain heavily for the next two days. We had prepared ourselves for such an occurrence with allowing extra time and had our recently purchased, slightly dodgy umbrellas from Florence, and Sharie had her emergency poncho! We decided to take the risk that the weather would improve and set out for the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Napoli is a sea of humanity: it pushes and shoves and feels rather intimidating. Cars constantly honk horns, piles of rubbish and the detritus of city life line the streets (as does virtually everywhere else in Campania) and hordes of people, even in the pouring rain, rush down narrow alleyways where all forms of merchandise are pushed towards you. It was with some relief that we found the museum, a peaceful place in stark contrast to its surroundings. The museum houses some of the most recognizable artifacts left after the Vesuvius eruption, including the mosaic of the Alexander the Great from the House of the Faun. Amazing! Over one million pieces went into making that mosaic alone. And there were rooms of the stuff! There was even a special adults only room, The Secret Room, which housed a collection of erotic art. A particular cardinal’s collection was very interesting.

On our second day, with the rain easing, we headed towards Pompeii. Vesuvius was still obscured from sight by low level clouds and I was beginning to fear that our first sighting in the car would be our only viewing. It drizzled on and off for the first three hours, but it only seemed to add to our visit. It was easy to see why large stones had been placed regularly across streets because we needed to use them at times to avoid the pooling water. We saw the Villa of Secrets, House of the Faun, Lupinarium with interesting anatomical paintings, the Stabian Baths and so much more. We wandered the streets for seven hours and could have easily spent the same amount of time again and not seen everything. We were rewarded for our perseverance in the last hour when the sun came out and Vesuvius was revealed. The sun glistening on the wet cobbled streets and light on the walls of the ancient city is a moment I will remember forever.

On our final day in Campania, we drove the Amalfi coast and attempted to scale Mt Vesuvius. The former was beautiful and remarkably blue. We stopped on several occasions, both legally and Italian style (pull over wherever you want and put you hazard lights on). The drive is a thrilling rollercoaster with twisting bends, blind corners and long straights with majestic views. The latter, the scaling Vesuvius, was a frustrating experience of poorly signed directions, horribly potted and dangerous roads and a depressing and decaying human landscape. On arriving to the entry point to the Vesuvius park we found the road closed a quarter of the way to the summit. In the end, Vesuvius was bigger than both of us, not surprising really, as its bigger than everything else around here.