VOLCANOES, EARTHQUAKES AND MORE

There is an Anglican Church in Naples (Napoli) where we were able to go on the Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day wandering round what is not the most interesting of cities.  There are a few not very old forts …

… and some not at all beautiful palaces.  Perhaps the most striking building is the Galleria Umbertoi – a glass roofed, cross-shaped arcade built in 1890 and now looking a little run down.

In the centre is a huge glass dome ...

... and at the end of each arm elaborate decoration suggesting a faded glory of former years.

We were staying a short distance from Naples, at Pozzuoli, where the caravan site is in the crater of an “active” volcano – Vulcano Solfatara. 

Although it has not erupted for many years, the crater has several fissures from which steam, smelling strongly of sulphur, comes with considerable force.  The caravan site uses this heat to provide hot water for showers.

There is also a small lake of boiling mud (at 140⁰C) and the remains of a natural sauna.  The mud used to be collected and sold for medicinal purposes but it was discovered to contain bacteria that had adapted to the high temperatures!

Entrance to and exit from the site was interesting in a van the size of ours!

Our next stop was Pompeii where the caravan site was right outside the ruins of the old city which we spent a day exploring. That's Vesuvius in the background.

It is incredible to think that we could wander through this city, buried under tons of volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, and see it almost exactly as it was.  Many of the buildings are still standing , though their roofs collapsed.  Mosaics …

… and even wall decorations remain in remarkably good condition.

Some of the details amused us and revealed more of what life must have been like at the time.  The Pompeian people loved to go out to lunch and there were several fast food outlets (1^st Century Macdonalds) like this one …

... serving lunches heated over charcoal burning in the round holes.  The roads were surfaced with large cobbles and the pavements were about a foot higher than the roads.  So there were pedestrian crossings like this …

… where you can see the ruts worn into the road surface by cart wheels.

While staying at Pompeii we made two excursions – the first to Mt Vesuvius.  The volcano last erupted in 1944 and although it seems to be dormant just now the current lull in activity is the longest for the last 500 years!  We were able to drive to within a kilometre of the top from where it was an easy walk to the rim of the crater.

It was a little disappointing, especially as we had to pay €10 each to do so.  There is not much to see – just a deep depression with a few cracks with steam coming out of them. 

Our second excursion was by train to, and bus along, the Amalfi coast.  On this stretch of coast, between Sorrento and Salerno, the land falls, on occasion almost vertically, into the sea.  A string of small towns and villages cling precariously to the cliffs, the zig-zagging roads often being connected by steep steps (lots of them!)  Positano was delightful …

… and Amalfi itself …

… is now a holiday destination.  Once, though, it was a major maritime super-power until most of the town slid into the sea during an earthquake in 1343! It has an unusual Cathedral …

… to where St Andrew’s bones were taken in 1208 and buried under an altar in the crypt.  Behind the Cathedral’s High Altar is a dramatic painting depicting St Andrew being crucified on an X shaped cross.

And so we travelled on south through miles and miles of roadworks towards Sicily.