Family Holidays: Conquering Volcanos

The summer is nearly over and more leisure time is slowly fading with it. And what a summer it was!

We started early this year, with our family holidays, just right after the end of school. The next day, precisely. So the summer felt long and we could get the best out of it.

And we got it all: the adventure, the sun, the sea, the mosquito bites, few bumps and bruises, luckily nothing serious and a new record for me - I have climbed to the pic over 3000 m.

We plan the vacations carefully, but always live the space for changes. At one point we changed the destination as we wanted to conquer the volcanos. The two nearest to our home are in neighbouring Italy. So Italy it was. Again.

We packed our trusted car once again to the full and headed to the South of Italy, to the Napoli region, for the first part of our holidays.

As the drive would be too long in one go, we have stopped the first day at in Bolsena, at Lago di Bolsena, a lake of volcanic origin with black pebbles beaches and clear water. Our vulcanic adventure has started right away and continued the next day when we visited the stunning village of Orvieto placed on a volcanic rock.

Later we have comfortably settled in the Camping Spartacus, just five minutes walk from the ancient ruins of Pompei, in the refreshing shades of lime trees. That gave the boys something to do.

For the next five days, the camp was our base from where we made trips to the surrounding area: Ruins of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city that was covered in ashes of the 79 eruptions of Mount Vezuf and which was only rediscovered by chance in 1748.

The archaeological work is still ongoing and much of the city was reconstructed.

The next trip was to the Mountain Vezuf itself. More information about the trip and how to prepare for it in one of the next posts, but let me just say that the views from the whole way to the top are breathtaking.

Then it was Napoli, a chaotic city, not one of my favourite, but one that can surprise with its chaos astonishingly working and functioning in harmony.

As the Italians are known for their let's say specific driving skills it was great that we could take the train from Pompeii and didn't have to stress over how to get there and where to park.

Last day in this region we spent at the Amalfi coast, stretching on the South coast of the small peninsula near Pompeii. The villages and the views are just stunning. The narrow streets make the drive more adventurous and a bit scary and it is difficult to park as the parking places are scarce. The car as a means of transport may not be the best choice.

The coast is stip and there you can find some nice sandy beaches of the volcanic origin of course, which my boys love and I absolutely dread (I just don't like sandy beaches; sand sticks everywhere to your body and in the sun it gets so hot that it is almost burning).

What impressed me the most was that every village had its own pottery workshop and some amazing pottery products. All handmade and hand painted.