We began our four-day trip to Sorrento with a tour of Pompeii, buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. We ended our weekend by inspecting the scene of the crime.
On Sunday, May 17, two buses took our group from Sorrento to the Naples train station by way of Mount Vesuvius. The buses got us most of the way up, with only a 25-minute hike on a gravel path to reach the top.
A blustery wind (painful for us contact wearers) and short time frame kept us from doing much more than taking a peek into the seemingly quiet volcano (it last erupted in 1944) and gaining a panoramic view of the Bay of Naples.
(Let us pause now to praise the bus driver. Taking a full-length, 56-passenger bus on an “autostrada” is tough enough. Driving that big bus up a mountain, honking to alert oncoming drivers (because, inexplicably, convex mirrors haven’t been installed at the turns), squeezing the vehicle around hairpin turns and sliding past buses going the opposite way on the straightaways with only an inch to spare — well, that surely qualifies one for sainthood. Hail, bus driver!)
Finally, I’ve posted a couple of sunset shots from Sorrento to give a sense of the area’s beauty. Click on each picture to enlarge or view as a gallery.
On Sunday, May 17, two buses took our group from Sorrento to the Naples train station by way of Mount Vesuvius. The buses got us most of the way up, with only a 25-minute hike on a gravel path to reach the top.
A blustery wind (painful for us contact wearers) and short time frame kept us from doing much more than taking a peek into the seemingly quiet volcano (it last erupted in 1944) and gaining a panoramic view of the Bay of Naples.
(Let us pause now to praise the bus driver. Taking a full-length, 56-passenger bus on an “autostrada” is tough enough. Driving that big bus up a mountain, honking to alert oncoming drivers (because, inexplicably, convex mirrors haven’t been installed at the turns), squeezing the vehicle around hairpin turns and sliding past buses going the opposite way on the straightaways with only an inch to spare — well, that surely qualifies one for sainthood. Hail, bus driver!)
Finally, I’ve posted a couple of sunset shots from Sorrento to give a sense of the area’s beauty. Click on each picture to enlarge or view as a gallery.
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