Sunday, April 25, 2010

Mount Vesuvius

It's continental Europe's ONLY active volcano, having last erupted in 1944. It sits just to the south of Italy's third largest city, Naples. There are currently 600,000 residents in the "red zone" which is most likely to hit by a pyroclastic flow, like the one that buried the city of Ercolano (Herculaneum). And, you can hike to the top of Vesuvius!




From the rim of the Vesuvius crater looking north to Naples and the Bay of Naples.






The hike to the top is pretty easy from the parking lot. It's a nice graded footpath. These pictures don't provide the scale of the crater.





If it starts to smoke, get off the mountain!





Looking west to the Sorrento Peninsula and either Capri or Ischia.





The young rock, without any vegetation, makes the top of the mountain seem almost lunar in quality.




No comments: