John: Trip to Mount Vesuvius.

The volcano at Mt Vesuvius erupted on 24th August 79AD and showered Pompeii and two other towns with volcanic ash and dust, as well as flooding them with rivers of molten lava

An artist's impression of the eruption.

Tracks of the molten lava river beds, although these are from later eruptions.

The bodies were turned rigid by the 300C temperature so they did not endure long pain. According to the National Geographic article I just looked at they were "flash heated" their remains have been put into plaster casts and a few are on exhibition. 

Although we now that a volcano is a natural occurrence, the people then believed that it was a result of the God Jupiter being angry with them.

Here endith the history lesson which proves "Mr Yellow Hat," DOES pay attention sometimes. So trip and impressions.

The first thing that struck me was the date of the eruption - 24th August - our wedding anniversary; although that 24th August was a bit before ours.

For some reason I seem to remember someone telling me that volcanic soil is very fertile so I thought it would be good if we could take some back to Melbourne because our soil at home is rubbish ( I must have been having a very strange day thinking about lead pipes and soil fertility, but as they say travel broadens the mind)

 

As Julie had told you we let other intrepid souls climb the mountain.

While we sat around at in "Base Camp" eating ice cream and talking to a very interesting Isreali gentleman.

So to sum up it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon and Vesuvius is now in the "been there" basket.