Neapol Day 3: Hiking Castello di Arienzo

Previous day was for Wojtek, this day was for me :) Before we arrived to Neapol, I checked thoroughly the best hiking routes for families and this was one of them. And it was a real blast! Pretty close to our stay, just enough demanding, completely stranded... The weather was amazing, I didn't expect such heat in April even in Italy. And the views were magnificent. See yourself.

I'm not going to lie - I know nothing about the castle we visited :) There was a table somewhere down the path but it was all in Italian so no help for me. But it really didn't matter. I was truly exhilirated by the surroundings and by the charm of the moment. Even the kids were way more better behaving than the previous day.

On our way back we made a stop in the shadow of a tree since Kamila decided to take a nap :)

But the day wasn't over. As always, after coming back to the house we needed to go check out the running routes around. I thought it might be difficult to find a better circle than the last year (see here). But I was wrong. It was equally charming if not even better! I guess you'll see more of the running photos in the next post, here is a teaser.

Neapol Day 2: Vesuvio and Herculanum

So how did it happen that we landed in Neapol? The story is simple, our 4-year-old son was fascinated with volcanos. He wanted to know everything about them, every day we had to read a book about volcanos, we would watch documentaries about volcanos etc. And when we sat down and thought where to go for holidays, we came up with a "volcano" idea pretty fast. There are two big ones in our vicinity - Etna and Vesuvio. There are no flight connections to Etna in May, so we didn't have to think too long :) And so, the day after our arrival, we set on a path for volcano adventure :)

Although it was not the best idea to start our stay with such a demanding day, we had no choice - Wojtek wouldn't want to hear about any other options. In general, the road to Vesuvio crater is a hiking route. It can be longer or shorter (we chose the latter) but one needs to hike. On the way up we saw the remains of lava and recent fires that burst on the slopes - a truly interesting landscape. The day was very hot and children not so much cooperating but in the end we reached our destination - the heart of a volcano.

Wojtek was in heaven but for us it was also pretty cool. Only Kamila somehow decided not to cherish this longly awaited moment. Let's forgive her, she's not even two y.o. yet. From the top except for the great view inside the crater we had a nice sight on Neapol itself. Although... the smog over the city was impossible. I thought Poland was polluted but what I saw in Neapol was so far the greatest smog mist in my life :(

When we finished our geology trip we headed to Herculanum which in the past was flooded by mud when Vesuvio erupted. Now it's a renowned archeological sight definately worth visiting.

After a pretty action-packed day we were happy to return to our countryside to breathe in fresh air, delight in sunset over fields and oranges and to indulge ourselves in peace and quiet!

Neapol Day 1 Sant'Agata de Goti

We're on the move again! Destination: Neapol and surroundings. We rented a lovely house on the suburbs of Sant'Agata de Goti - just like we like, in the countryside, with views on hills. We hope to breathe in some nature :)

There is something very charming about Italy that keeps pulling us. Those narrow streets, cafes with espresso, stylish people, history in walls, sun, nature... Within just first 15 minutes on place we started feeling relaxed and joyful. And Sant'Agata de Goti greeted us so warmly that we stayed till late hours strolling around on its paved streets. It's going to be fun vacation!