...Mount Vesuvius... When we reached the cone all I could think about was James Mason in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" And with trumpets blaring, his incredible voice exclaims "Behold, Kraken!" The only active volcano in Europe, there is smoke still coming forth.
When we reached the cone all I could think about was James Mason in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" And with trumpets blaring, his incredible voice exclaims "Behold, Kraken!" The only active volcano in Europe, there is smoke still coming forth.
Other active volcanoes: in Italy the Etna, Stromboli; and indeed volcanoes in Iceland where the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" begins.
We took a Circumvenstevia, the local service, to Naples where we caught a speedy train to Rome.
Circumvesuviana. A narrow-gauge network around the Vesuvius. The "speedy train" must be a high-speed train.
I believe with a strong Euro, instead of exporting the Italians are investing in themselves. I see new construction and remodeling everywhere we go.
As good as that sounds, I doubt this construction is a novelty since the Euro became strong, and suspect the EU also has to do with some of the new construction. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
And I haven't seen one, not one tattoo and very few piercings. Kind of restores my faith in fashion.
I wonder about this. Thinking of the Italian football national team, I would think tattoos are very much in fashion. (Here is a photo for our female readers...) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Stromboli is the most impressive. I climbed to the top at night about 10 years ago: you could stand above the crater, and watch it errupt every 20 minutes. These days I think it's acting a bit less regularly, and for now they don't allow you to climb all the way.
I needed to wear a warm coat, even though this was southern Italy in June. They don't call these islands the Aeolian islands for nothing...
Seriously now. Etna beats Stromboli on all scales of awe, hands down... But for catching a volcano in the act, Stromboli is brilliant. (Mt Vesuvius just scares the crap out of me. The countdown to catastrophe is running...)
Visits to Stromboli are a bit more micro-managed since the northern flank partially collapsed and resulting mini-tsunamis wrecked parts of the main village in December 2002. The volcano itself is still very regular, Europe's best equivalent of ye Old Faithful geyser. It's the accessibility to the viewpoint that has become more variable, depending on the wiliness of the volcano.
Eruptions of Vesuvius always were dramatic, destructive and very sudden prior to the lull since ~1944 - and now for the worrying bit: the period of quiescence is one of the volcano's longest in recent history.
Of course Vesuvius could also sleep for another 200, 400, 500 years.
There is an evacuation plan which looks fine - on paper. What struck me immediately when I first read about it, is that it is run on the 1631 eruption - which was not by any standard the most severe eruption, and I'm not the only one to point that out.
Or am I a doom-monger now? Though everyone seems to love doom-p0rn these days.
Link? Would be very interested. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
