Mount Vesuvius and the Ruins of Pompeii

Visiting an active volcano has always been on Eli’s bucket list, so yesterday we headed to Mt. Vesuvius and then to see the ruins of Pompeii, a city buried by the volcano in 79AD.

To get to the crater of the volcano, we have to drive part way up the mountain, then park and get in an all-terrain bus that goes almost the rest of the way up a winding, bumpy trail. From there, it’s a steep 1/2 mile hike up to the crater.

At the crater of the volcano

The volcano may be sleeping, but there is still steam rising from the crater.

Eli on the path that encircles the crater. See all those towns at the base of the volcano? They’re toast if this thing blows its top again. The last eruption in 1944 destroyed a couple of towns, but the people had a couple of days’ warning so they were able to evacuate.

Pompeii was about a 20-minute drive from the volcano. I didn’t realize how incredibly vast the site is. It really is an entire city and you could spend an entire day walking through the now-excavated streets. It’s just remarkable, and so hard to imagine what the people went through.

One of the very eerie aspects is that they have have made casts of the bodies they found when excavating the city, so you can see how people fell or laid as they either tried to escape or accepted their fate. I just realized that I took photos of a few of the bodies with my good camera and not my phone, so I’ll have to upload those when we’re back home.

A beautiful view of some of the ruins, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.