Sightseeing in Herculaneum and Vesuvius, Italy - 4th June 2008

Whilst in Italy, there was an excellent opportunity to take in both some history and some geography on the same day. All of it was related to Mount Vesuvius, the big (and still active) volcano that erupted in 79AD, burying a few of the towns nearby in mud and lava and ash. Pompeii was the most famous victim, and there is a huge excavation site there where the lava and mud has been removed, and the remains of the town put on display for people to walk around. Herculaneum is pretty much the same idea, except much smaller, more compact, and easier to get around in a couple of hours. It also has the advantage of being closer to Mount Vesuvius itself, so you can do both in a day. So it was that Herculaneum got the nod to visit.

Walking into the site, which basically used to be a small Roman town, it was amazing how much of a "hole" it sat in. Clearly, the influx of lava and mud managed to completely bury the whole place, as well as pushing the seafront out by a few hundred yards too. When you think that this all happened all around the volcano, you start to think about the huge volumes of stuff that must be required to bury towns, add lots more to the landmass, and build the whole land area up by several metres.

Looking around was an interesting experience, you can still see the (narrow) streets, gardens, restaurants and crossroads that were part of the ancient town. Most of the houses have survived in amazing detail - much better than many of the excavations in Rome - and were obviously built of strong stuff. It was amusing to think that modern day Italy has in many respects not managed to better many of the innovations and techniques that the Romans introduced. I'm not sure if that says more about the Ancient Romans, or about modern day Italy.

After a good tour of Herculaneum, we went to catch a taxi bus to Vesuvius. We paid 16 Euros for the trip, and waited until a minibus full of people had arrived, then set off. The journey was a bone shaker, the minibus being driven up extremely steep hills, round endless very tight bends, and over roads that hadn't seen a coat of tarmac for a while. The journey was a bit nauseating in parts, but just as it really started to get tedious, we entered the Vesuvius National Park, and the roads got much smoother. We were dropped off at about 1000 metres up, and left to walk the rest of the way up to the crater.

The walk was tiring and steep, not least because the ground was made of volcanic dust, which felt rather like walking through sand - not easy. As we approached the top and saw the view over the surrounding countryside, it was again incredible to think about the sheer volume of crap that must have come flying out of the top of the volcano, to cover such a large area so comprehensively. At the top of the volcano, the view inside the crater was awesome - I expected to see a hole down the middle of the volcano, where lava flows, but of course there was none. The only disappointment was that you really can't take a photo inside the crater that does it justice - it is just too big to get it all in with a normal camera. A stunning view though, and well worth the walk, plus the bone shaking journey up and back.

A really good day's sightseeing here - from both a geographical and historical perspective, this part of the world really does have some world class attractions, and it was great to be able to take in so much in such a short time out of a holiday.