From Naples: Pompeii & Capri

POMPEII & MOUNT VESUVIOUS

Our first day trip we took from Naples was a trip to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. Only a short train ride from the city, it was fairly easy to find our way to the ancient Roman town that was destroyed and buried under ash from a Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD.

To be completely honest, Pompeii is a place you have to see in Naples, but there's also not much to see at the same time. Just as it should, it really does come off as an ancient deserted town. What's amazing is the preservation, not only after all these centuries, but after a volcanic eruption that should have left literally nothing behind. But columns still stand, amphitheaters still in place and houses are still in tact. You can even see the people just before they took their last breath. Wow.

Other than that, we pretty much just walked around for a couple of hours. It wasn't the most thrilling activity, but it was very interesting. We mostly entertained ourselves by picking the streets we would have lived on if we had been citizens of Pompeii. I chose a street close to what used to be the shopping district...

After visiting Pompeii and eating DELICIOUS Italian pizza, we started making our way over to Pompeii's mortal (but beautiful) enemy: Mount Vesuvius.

Going to Mount Vesuvius felt just as death-defying as sitting in a mafia restaraunt. Today, the volcano is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and the fact that it's still active. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world!

It turns out that the hike we had in mind to the top of the volcano was actually about a 3-hour hike unless you took a bus. We were told the bus would take you up the majority of the way and then it was just a 20-minute hike from there. Sign us up!

We boarded the bus and slowly started making our way uphill to the base of the volcano. But as we pull up to the base, we're greeted with HUGE MILITARY TRUCKS. Suddenly, we're ushered off our school bus and loaded on to the monsters. My friends and I looked at each other with puzzled looks..."Well, this seems dramatic."

Before we set off, with a lack of seatbelts I should add, the driver turns around and in broken English and harsh mannerisms, says, "Bumpy ride! Hold!"

"What did he just say?"

Then we go FLYING. The only thing scarier than being on an active volcano is driving up full speed in a military truck, flying out of your seats and holding on for dear life.

In actuality, it was probably one of the funniest experiences I had on my trip. The ride was so uncomfortable and so TERRIFYING that we were crying from laughter the entire time. I could hardly breathe. The truck took the sharpest turns up the mountain at 40 mph and if there was a rock (or better, boulder) in the way, well...to the driver it wasn't in the way.

When we finally got to the top after about 20 minutes, we were literally sore.

Driver, pointing up the mountain: Okay, now walk!

Our inner thoughts: NO, YOU WALK! And never, ever drive again...

Once we got to the top, everything was worth it. The volcano was beautiful, and you could even see smoke coming from the center. The views were obviously gorgeous as well.

After surviving the way up...

ISLAND OF CAPRI

Our second day trip from Naples was completely opposite from the first. I really don't think we could have survived another military truck experience...so instead, we took a ferry boat to the beautiful, peaceful Island of Capri.

There's really not too much to do in Capri, but there's so much to see simply due to the fact that everywhere you look is like staring into a painting. We took a nice private boatride around the island, ate lunch, grabbed some gelato and walked around. The island was breathtaking. It was the perfect, relaxing last day in Naples.

Capri, you treated us well.

#travel