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| Crater of Mount Vesuvius |
Unlike all previous ports except for Barcelona which were
new for us, this was my 6th visit to Naples and Barb’s 5th. While Barb chose not to do an excursion
because we had a busy and interesting afternoon planned.
Having been to Naples so many times in the past, I might
have opted to do no tours, but there were three or four that were of
interest. Initially I had booked a tour
that went south along the beautiful Amalfi Coast to Sorrento. We had been there in 2000 and I had been
there at least one other time previously but it was such an attractive part of
Italy, I was looking forward to seeing it again. But over two weeks ago, our Location Guide
Brett had given a talk about Naples and what to do in Naples and he informed us
that we would be in port with the Holland America ship, Noordam in Naples. Our New
Lenox friends, Pam and Paul Floyd were on that ship but before our trips we
never thought to see if we were going to be in any port on the same day. It was just too remote a chance that we never
even thought to check specific itineraries.
However, armed with the knowledge that it was going to happen on April
14, we completed the paperwork so we could visit each other in the afternoon.
But that meant that I needed to cancel my planned excursion
down the Amalfi Coast and find an alternative.
Pam and Paul wanted to do an excursion to the ruins of ancient
Herculaneum. I had visited Pompeii twice
in the past, we had been to the beautiful Isle of Capri twice and had done a
city tour of Naples in the pouring rain two years ago when we were here, so I
found a very unusual tour that fit the time frame I had for the day. I chose to do Exclusive Mt. Vesuvius which I had never seen identified as a tour
before. Knowing Barb would never do it this year and probably would never
select it, it was a good chance for me to give it a try.
The downside was that they warned that it would involve “a
significant amount of climbing.” When I
booked it, I notice it said we would walk around the rim and I assumed we would
go up by the 4 x 4 vehicle right to at least close to the rim. Not until the night before did I read that I
had selected one that had “significant climbing.” While I walk regularly and do modest hills, I
generally don’t walk uphill for long stretches.
By then though it was too late to change tours and I was still intrigued
by seeing Mt. Vesuvius. After all I had
seen what this volcano had done to Pompeii and it would be interesting to see
the volcano itself. I pictured myself
doing this excursion with the few people on the ship that are half my age, most
of whom were doing a 12 day Easter cruise
between Barcelona and Venice. However I
was pleased to see that it was people more my age that were doing the same
climb as I!
Unlike when we were in Naples two years ago when the rain
came down in sheets all day, today dawned sunny with clear blue skies, a day
for going up on the mountain as well as to Capri, Pompeii, Herculaneum, or the
Amalfi Coast for those that chose those options. We were greeted with a smile by our guide for
the day, Umberto, a man of approximately 30 and his smile stayed on his face
the whole day as he enthusiastically told us the story of Naples, Mt. Vesuvius and
its fateful eruption in August 79 AD when Pompeii was buried in lava, as well
as the most recent eruption in 1944. He
commented that it was particularly devastating for the area in 1944 as Fascist
Italy under Mussolini had surrendered after a long battle for Italy in
1943. Gratefully though no one died in
the 1944 eruption.
When we reached the entrance Vesuvius National Park, we
transferred to a smaller 4 x 4 bus and took the hairpin tours up to near the
top of the mountain. It was there that
Umberto showed us the path to the summit.
It was reasonably steep, but most of the climb was doable at one’s own
pace. We had been given 1 ½ hours to
make the ascent, walk around for pictures, and go back down to the bus. The guide tore right up the mountain (or so
it seemed) with several people with him the whole way. I was near the front of the second group and
well ahead of those who had a struggle to get to the top, but everyone did
reach the goal. Along the way, we were
able to stop for beautiful pictures of the vast expanse of land below which
included many vineyards, villages, and the beautiful Bay of Naples down to the
Amalfi Coast. At the souvenir shop there
was a volcanologist who gave greater explanations of the crater of Vesuvius far
below and showed us the smaller mountain, Mt. Zuma, formed as a result of the
Vesuvius eruption. Vesuvius is an active
volcano though there has been no major eruption in seven decades, but he did
point out that there would be a big catastrophe if Vesuvius did become active
again since the population density was so great within the path of a possible
eruption. Naples is Italy’s third
largest city (behind Rome and Milan) and with surrounding areas, a population
of about 3 million people potentially impacted, a major eruption would be a
complete disaster. I walked along the
rim, looking down into the crater as well as out to Naples and the beautiful
coastline. Several places we notice
there were small plumes indicating an active but harmless volcano. We did detect very faint scents of
sulfur. It was certainly not the size
eruption we saw happening at Mt. Etna on Sicily in 2012 and people on the
ground below would never realize that there was a bit of activity on the
mountain.
After the experience of being on Vesuvius, I made the much
easier descent along the pathway where we all rejoined the 4 x 4 bus and
eventually the modern coach for our return to the port in Naples, after of
course the seemingly compulsory brief stop at a cameo workshop and sales room.
We planned to meet Pam and Paul at 2 PM near the security
point for the Prinsendam but what
made it easy was that the Noordam was
docked directly behind our ship and guests on both ships used the same security
checkpoint. Once inside security, we
could go back and forth between ships easily.
We decided it was best for us to visit the Noordam first as they were sailing earlier and we were required to
be off their ship by 3:30 and they were required to be off our ship by 4:30
since they sailed at 5 PM and we at 6 PM.
Pam and Paul gave us a tour of their much newer and much larger Vista
class ship before we brought them on the Prinsendam,
the smallest ship in the Holland America fleet.
Pam and Paul are finishing their 25 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale
tomorrow in Rome and are flying home.
They visited a few of the same ports as we but had their own itinerary
different from ours (such as a port in Tunisia, Monte Carlo, and Corsica. Our visit was brief, but it was fun to
connect with friends from home in another part of the world!
CT
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