Today, Monday, we started our early morning tour to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius.  It was a national holiday celebrating the liberation of Italy by the Allies in 1945.  As a result, the crowds were significant.

Pompeii was a bustling Roman town destroyed by an explosive eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD covering and well preserving the city with ash – giving us a snapshot of Roman life in the 1st century.  We only saw a small part of Pompeii as our guide told us that it would take several days to explore all the Pompeii ancient ruins.  There was also an exhibition of modern sculpture throughout the grounds which was a wonderful enhancement. The best part of the ruins was the “Villa of the Mysteries”, a home owned by a wealthy family.  This particular home was not nearly as damaged as other buildings. The frescos inside the home were quite magnificent. The ever popular brothel (there were 25 in the city) was also well preserved and is the most popular site there.  It was a tiny house with stone beds and scenes of the acts customers could request – ancient pornography!  There definitely appeared to be a lack of upkeep which has taken its toll at Pompeii.  The good news is that we did see some “renovation” going on.

Mt. Vesuvius is still active and some experts predict that it will erupt again within 10 years.  There is a very steep and winding road up to the path to Mt. Vesuvius where we passed volcanic ash and lava flows.  Mt. Vesuvius is probably the best vantage point to admire the Bay of Naples  There were many clouds and low visibility today, but we still decided to take the hike up to the top of the mountain.  Steam pours out of the rocks and, at times, you can smell the sulfur.  As we climbed higher, the clouds rose and, although it was not sunny, we could see Naples, Sorrento and the bay below us.  The views were amazing.  After the short but steep climb of 45 minutes, the winds picked up and it became increasingly colder.  We scurried up the mountain before anyone in our group; so, we were the first to arrive back to the bus when snow started falling. The tour operator freaked out and hustled everyone back in so that we wouldn’t “get stuck” on the mountain. Obviously that was overkill – a mile down the road it was all rain.

The other highlight was “the engagement”. On the top of Vesuvius, David saw a young Canadian couple from our tour kissing and she was fiddling with her left ring finger.  We walked over & offered our congratulations and took pictures for them moments after he had proposed. She hadn’t expected the proposal and now they have pictures of “almost” the moment!