We hiked a Volcano!

Today we hiked up to the top of Mount Vesuvius.... one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes... located near Naples, Italy!!

I feel like I must start this post with the end of yesterday's adventures. So as you know we've arrived in Naples, Italy by train from Rome and have checked-in to our Airbnb. When we got everything settled we decided to go hunt for some of the famous Naples pizza! The place we REALLY wanted to go to was closed for the summer.... of course. But it does open back up in two days so we might check it out before we leave. We ended up going to this place called Di Matteo... when were arrived there was a semi-large crowd in front waiting for their pizza or to be seated. We decided we wanted to be seated and try specific pizzas (the window only offered one type). The pizza here was SOOOO good! And huge! We probably should have shared one.... but we didn't.

After we stuffed our faces we headed back to the apartment.... but before we took a picture of the GIANT crowd that now formed outside this legendary pizza establishment. 

Remember when I said I took Madrid for granted because Rome wasn't the most amazing romantic place I imagined... and instead it was dirty and run-down.... well Naples is worse. It's like Rome but dirtier and down-right scary in some places. To find this pizza place we had to go through some seriously sketchy areas..... I told Ryan that I didn't care if it added hours to our trip to walk through more popular areas .... because some streets made me extremely uncomfortable (Ryan seems to be oblivious to scary places.... or he puts on a tough guy attitude...idk).

Anyways.... we got back to the apartment unscathed and relaxed for a little bit. We then started to run low on our holy water so I decided to do a quick check if the sink water was drinkable and received mixed results.... I drank it anyways but Ryan was being such a baby and refused. So we HAD to walk to the nearest grocery store.... which happened to be THROUGH THE MOST SKETCHY AREA EVER! We spent like 15 minutes trying to decide which water to get because the prices were all over the place. We finally made our decision and walked MY WAY... which added time to our trip but I couldn't care less. After our long walks to and from the market we were desperate to drink the water we purchased..... we POPPED one open (that was an ominous sign)..... took a swig... and both cringed when we realized we bought carbonated water. It is probably the most disgusting type of water there could be. I've never seen Ryan so devastated over water.... he even tried to de-carbonate it by shaking and opening the bottle over and over lol. I ended up drinking sink water because I didn't care (Ryan still refused and pouted over the water being carbonated all night). 

The next morning we decided we would go climb a volcano.... we were going to go to Pompeii but we were both feeling a little ancient-ruined-out.  

Before we went to buy our train ticket to the volcano I told Ryan we needed to get cash out since I read that the train and the volcano area only accepts cash. He thought it was a better idea to buy the ticket then look for an ATM. After purchased our tickets for the train we only had fifteen minutes to look for an ATM. We searched far and wide trying to located this mystical ATM the train station map said there was..... Ryan finally asked someone and they said that there wasn't any ATMs at this train station. At this point I was pissed because we only had 41 euro in our wallet... and the stinking bus and ticket to the volcano was going to cost 40 euro.... leaving us with one measly euro to get back (we needed a minimum of 4 euro cash) . Ryan was convinced the place would accept a credit card (even though I said they most certainly did not according to very recent information I read on a blog post). I would have NEVER gotten on the train if I didn't have a backup plan (Uber) so I just went grumbling along with his plan. We got on a super busy train... I was on high alert because this train is known for pickpockets.

Super packed train (we were standing in the area between two train cars... it was kind of scary the way it moved)

When we arrived we headed to the Vesuvio tour bus area and we found that they definitely DO NOT accept credit card...... so I reluctantly handed over our 40 euro.

Very last Euro

Ryan asked if there was an ATM nearby and got some directions. We had about 15 minutes before we had to be on the bus so we headed to the ATM. Since we are cursed, the ATM decided it did not want to process our transaction (we tried multiple times with different amounts to see if it would give us anything). Defeated, we walked back to the bus and headed up the mountain to at least enjoy our little hike on a volcano. 

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano that has erupted many times in the past.... actually destroying civilizations (like Pompeii). They say it's one of the most dangerous volcanoes today because it is an active volcano with tendencies towards eruption with millions of people living in the immediate vicinity. We were hoping it didn't decide to erupt while we were there. =P

Scenery

Bring on the incline!

We <3 switchbacks....... not. 

Coastline.

A look inside the crater

Coast Side

Volcano Side.

I'd like to call this a hike.... but really the bus drove us almost the whole way up....we only had to "hike" up the last bit (which was only about a mile). It was steep and the ashy/gravel ground made it a little more difficult than you'd think...we were pretty sweaty when we reached the top. 

The trail goes around about 3/4 of the caldera... there were only a handful of good vantage points.... I think the selfie I put up was one of the best. After exploring the caldera for a bit we headed back down to meet up with our bus. There were a few tourist shops on the trail and that ONE STINKIN' EURO was burning a hole in my pocket.... but I held back. On the way back down the mountain I got extremely car sick....I was lucky I made it out without blowing chunks. For some reason my motion sickness has been TERRIBLE.... I have motion pills but they make me so drowsy that I am basically gone to the world.... stupid damned if you do damned if you don't shenanigans. 

We are so lucky we have a phone that has internet everywhere! Otherwise we wouldn't have found a working ATM. Actually, Ryan is lucky... but because we found an ATM of course he was like "See I told you there would be an ATM"..... psh. I would have slapped him if I wasn't so happy that he actually had funds to make it back.

That's the volcano behind me.

I had to get Ryan in the action too.

We decided to get some lunch/dinner at a restaurant near our apartment . It's actually REALLY hard to find food around 3-4p in Italy. We had this same problem in Naples. Madrid was suppose to be the same but we were always able to get food somewhere. 

Did I mention the wine in Italy is soooo good?? And CHEAP! 

5 Euro. No problem

I was desperate for some veggies... these we cooked in oil but that okay.

Gnocchi

I decided to try something I've never had before and ordered the Gnocchi. Ryan ordered the chicken and potatoes.... the potatoes being french fries lol. 

Of course Ryan loved my dish better.... so I switched with him... I didn't need to be eating all the cheesy anyways. The chicken was super delicious too.... the fries were fries. 

We are now in for the night.... I'd like to say we will be planning our day for tomorrow but it seems the wine hit Ryan a little hard since he is napping. I'm hoping we go down to Sorrento and rent a boat to cruise around Capri.... but we will see.

Ciao!