Vesuvius Visit

Another super day in southern Italy. We went by coach, which took us as high up Vesuvius as vehicles are allowed, leaving us to do a half-hour climb to the edge of the crater. Lesser mortals (ie tourists!) aren't allowed to climb up to the highest point of the rim but we certainly got a good look down into it. Happily it was behaving itself, as it has done since its last eruption in 1944. (We've been told however that there have been at least 3 earthquakes here since we arrived 4 days ago - but only tiny ones measuring less than 1.5 on the Richter scale, so we've not even noticed them.)

On the way back we stopped for lunch and a wine-tasting at a "Cantina" (winery) which farms its vines on the lower slopes of the mountain where they take advantage of the nutrient minerals in the soil. Apparently the "spongy" nature of the volcanic soil holds moisture well so that irrigation isn't necessary. They were very keen that we should taste all their wines (white, red, red reserva, bubbly) - "hic"! - as well as their delicious vinegar and olive oil. Yummy!

The main blip shows Vesuvius as viewed later from the vineyard. The highest that we had been allowed to walk up the mountain was to the place in the very centre of the thumbnail. The first extra shows the crater (formed in the eruption of 1944) photographed from its rim. It's hard to show its scale, but it's about 300 metres deep and about 600 metres across. Quite a sight!

The third blip is a nod towards Tiny Tuesday - the tiny beginnings of the grapes on the vines at the vineyard. The 4th extra is the sunset we saw this evening from the dining room of our hotel; the island on the left of the photo is Capri (where we went yesterday).