High on Italy's Ankle (June 2016)

We left town almost as soon as school was out for a highly-anticipated week of sun and fun high in Italy's ankle (or low on its shin, depending on your perspective).

The places we visited... Also the island of Capri to the southwest.
Some were better than others.

We flew into Naples, got our rental Jeep Renegade (which I actually liked quite a lot), stuffed the five of us and our many suitcases in, and headed south to Sorrento. We stayed at a cool place that was an odd confluence of RV park, gardens, and apart-hotel.

An old olive mill/ press on the grounds. We were able to turn the mill but not the press.

Sorrento was nice, but I won't bore you with too many more pictures. We stayed there for the night, saw a guy riding a scooter with his Pomeranian in his lap, climbed some stairs for a great view, and saw an unexpected Italian Bluegrass band playing in the street.

Stairs outside of a building are unusual for Dutch residents.

They were very good!

Vesuvio

We loaded back up the next morning and headed out for our real destination - Praiano. As with life, the journey was at least as good as the destination: the scenery on the coastal drive was incredible. Holli spent half the drive on Facetime with her parents so they could see it. But since I was driving and she was doing that, there are no pictures. Just kidding... There are always pictures!

Not much of a sidewalk.

We made it all the way to the house, but couldn't figure out where it was. While backing up around a switchback to allow another car to pass I managed to bump into a large rock on the side of the road. This is what $370 looks like.

We did ultimately make it to the house and found the "garage" - it was an adventure getting in and out each time. But it was well worth the trouble.

The view from our house   :)

The view from my perch: Three wet young'uns with Momma supervising.
 

You could get used to the scenery around this cove.

Walking path to a couple of the restaurants

This area is in the other direction - three restaurants and a pebble beach

The girls surprised us with this one night, made from pieces of eroded tile that were scattered among the beach rocks.
2016 was the year of the Lewises - we overdid our anniversary a bit. And on several occasions.
15 years and going strong!

We did get some weather while we were there. The hail was entertaining!

After the storm... The beach is also the place where runoff from the mountains hits the Tyrrhenian Sea!

The girls talked me into assembling an old telescope that was in the house, which provided some good entertainment!

We were able to get some clear images of the moon, and were even able to make out Saturn and its rings!

Random fairy villages are scattered along the roadside. This one was on a walkway leading to Praiano.

We made a couple of excursions during the week to see the surroundings.

She may have had some tips/ suggestions for him.

In Positano, a larger town just northwest of Praiano.

In the city of Amalfi, well to the east of Praiano.

Ravello, just east of Amalfi

One of the outings was a boat trip to and around the island of Capri, which afforded us some of the best scenery.

There's a country song about the view from "my front porch looking in" - there is some truth to that.

The entrance to the Blue Grotto

Looking back from inside. The light comes from the reflection of the sun off of the sand on the bottom.
The entire cavern is reasonably well lit - and incredible to see.

It is nice on those rare occasions when they all get along!

On the way back to Napoli/ Naples we stopped in Ravello for breakfast and some quick sightseeing.

Outside the Monastero Di S. Chiara

Not all bad, right?

Looking out over the edge at the Terrazza Dell'infinito. The morning fog had not burned off...
Once it did, the extent of the drop-off on the other side of that old, rusty railing was impressive.

My favorite outings were to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, both of which I forced on my family.
I regret nothing.

You know how Roman-style columns have vertical "stripes"?
Well, this is how those were made for the columns in Pompeii. See below.

The outer covering is gone, but you can see how these columns were constructed of stacked bricks!

Covered with ash in 79 AD, the buildings, streets, etc. are in remarkable condition.

Still getting along, but it was HOT. There was much pouring of water over heads.

The cause of all this destruction - and preservation - in the background.

The previous picture with Mount Vesuvius in the background was taken from somewhere in the region of that red circle.
This one was taken from the top of the existing caldera.

Mount Vesuvius was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I could not have previously conceived (You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.) how big of an event its eruption 2,000 years ago was. From wikipedia (my added emphasis):

Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as several other settlements. The eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 600,000 cubic metres (780,000 cu yd) per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. More than 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.

So during that eruption, enough rock to fill the Superdome flew out of the volcano to a height of 21 miles EVERY 6 SECONDS. The current caldera is massive - I was utterly unable to capture the essence of the volcano - you just can't get a feel for how big this hole is. You could fit three Superdomes side by side inside. You start to understand how Pompeii - far in the distance in that photo above - was covered up by 10 to 20 feet of ash.

This appears to be an old lava flow that came out the northern side of the caldera wall.
We took this picture on the walk up the side of Vesuvius.
It is a long & difficult climb due to the heat, incline, and slippery trail. Several people took some falls during the ascent.

This is the best we could do with for a pictures of the entirety of the caldera.
I wish I'd had a drone!

A little closer - the top of the wall across from here is 1,500 feet away.

The rock slides occasionally cause false alarms as they stir up a lot of dust.

After reading up on it a bit, I realized that we have visited three decade volcanoes since moving to Europe (Vesuvius, Teide in the Canary Islands, and Santorini). I hope we get to see Mount Etna in Sicily before moving home (that would bring my total to 5 of the 16, including Mount Rainier)! Yellowstone's caldera (which measures something like 34 by 45 miles) is not on this list, I guess because it is dormant.

Arrivederci!