Vesuvius (Ad)Venture
Campania, Italy
One of the most unusual excursions I took on a trip to Italy in the fall of 2002 was a trip to see Mt. Vesuvius. I must admit that I was spending extra money on this trip to do some things I had long wanted to do while I was still able to travel on my own and sling my luggage on and off trains. So with that last excuse in mind, I will admit that I hired a driver to take me several places. One day’s trip was to cover Vesuvius, possibly Heculaneum, and Pompeii.
The weather was cloudy, but the Amalfi Drive was the only trip left, and the next day might be sunny. Gennaro, my driver, took me up and up to the small hut from where visitors had to walk the rest of the way if they were going to reach the top. Well, once I got past the hut and looked up toward the top, I knew that my out-of-shape, past middle age and asthmatic body was never going to make it to the top. But I decided that hey, I’m here; I can make it to the first bend in the path up there and rest on the bench I could see. Then I could either go a little further or head back to the van. I could hear above me giggling teen-age voices. I figured they belonged to one of many school field trips I saw while I was in Italy in November and December.
After I had been walking about 10 minutes, the rains came. I had my umbrella so figured I would carry on to the bench anyway, accompanied by much screaming from above. All of a sudden, I heard a motor, and turned to find a small, rattle trap of a car. It stopped and the man inside asked, “Want a lift?” I said sure. Luckily he spoke good English. I am still lost in Italian conversation. He told me he was on his way up to tell the school group that they had to head back down because officials were closing the top due to the weather. I figured we would go up, tell the girls, and then head down. Needless to say, I was surprised that once he had delivered the message, we kept going up. He told me I should see the top. That was fine with me, but it is a good thing I can hide the fact that I was very nervous. There was no guard rail except a very unsturdy one made of branches. And probably luckily I couldn’t see down the mountain side because we were above the clouds/fog.
We bounced our way up. You should see the video I took through the cracked windshield–the wiper going back and forth, the edge of the path very close and the fog at the edge. Finally we reached the top. He said I could get out to take a picture of the inside of the cone. I got out of the car, and the wind actually cracked the spokes of my umbrella as it turned inside out. (This umbrella had replaced the one done in by the mountainous winds around Lourdes in France in 2001. My umbrellas do not like mountains!). He told me to come on back in the car, and he would turn so I was shielded a bit by the car.
So we proceeded to turn, by going a bit forward, then a bit back, and forward and back, etc. – very close to the edge. I did a lot of nervous swallowing! After he successfully negotiated the turn, he let me out so I was by the guard rail near the edge of the cone. I took video and lots of still pictures of – you guessed it, a rocky hole filled with fog/clouds. Actually these are probably more interesting than a beautiful day would have been. And on a beautiful day, I never would have gotten very far past the first bench! Needless to say I tipped him and also thanked him extravagantly. I met a worried Genarro at the van, and we were off to Pompeii. When he saw the broken shape of my umbrella, he lent me his, a nice big golf umbrella, and I spent over 4 hours wandering the ruins in the rain, and, yes, it was fun. I am a ruin runner from way back. We didn’t have time left then for Herculaneum, which I had visited on a tour in 1996 anyway.
I have now made it to the top of two volcanoes in Italy. I made it up Etna 20 years ago on a tour of Sicily. I did manage to walk the last 1500 meters on that trip; that’s 1500 meters straight up. Our route was a walking path of switchbacks so I have no idea how far we walked. I do know I started out right behind our guide and ended up at the end of the line. But again I have a picture of the cone, and this one has smoke coming out of it, and we couldn’t get as close.
This trip was my eighth to Italy, most since 1980 and most on my own. I also spent three weeks in my favorite country with a friend in 2004. I am now planning my next and tenth trip I hope in the fall of 2006. I hope you plan to go there too!
