Mt. Molare, Sorrento Peninsula, Italy	April 2004
View towards Mt. Molare from the edge of the crater of Mt. Vesuvius.  We went there first to get an idea of the area.  Downtown Napoli is off to the right, and just to the left of John's stomach is a round vegetated patch in the sprawling suburbs of Napoli and that's Pompeii.  Just to the left of Tony's head is Mt. Molare, which is shown in later pictures.  In the distance on the right is the Sorrento peninsula and the town of Sorrento, where we stayed, is on the flat bench below the crest of the peninsula.  The route to Mt. Molare began with a cable car up the first 1000 m, then a hike along a ridge, gradually climbing to the summit. On this trip, we alternated between hikes and visits to archaelogical sites.  We stayed at a great place, www.rotasuites.com in Sorrento.
Photo taken in Pompeii with the ridge of Mt. Molare behind.  This is the forum of Pompeii.  Most of Pompeii is rubble, but interesting rubble.  Of particular interest is the long, curved shopping street with numerous shops opening onto the street in a continuous row several hundred meters long. Homes occupied entire blocks, with slave quarters and stables.  Considering the size of the population, there were comparably few homes, owned by the very wealthy. Canadian students enter free. US students pay. Why the prejudice? Canadians offer reciprocal benefits to Italians visiting Canadian museums.
This and the next photo are from a hike on the south side of the Sorrento Peninsular a few days before we hiked Mt. Molare.  They both show typical terrain on the Walk of the Gods along the south slopes of Mt. Molare, with the south cliffs of Mt. Molare above.  The peak shown is a little to the west of the main peak.  On our hikes here, we met just two people on the south side of Mt. Molare in 4 hours of hiking, and on the north side, in 7 hours of hiking, we met two horses roaming freely, two muleteers and their mules and dogs.  Meanwhile, below, on the Mediterranean coast, it is all very, very crowded, even off season.
On the Walk of the Gods again, looking down on Positano, a cliff hugging town on the Amalfi Coast.  Capri is in the distance. The scenic drive along the Amalfi Coast can be seen on the cliffs below.
The peak that looks like a molar is Mt. Molare - 4400 ft above the Mediterranean.  The approach is from this side, on the slopes just to the right of the peak.  This was lunch.  We got here by taking the Circumvesuvio train from Sorrento to Stabia Castellamare then took the gondola up to the St. Michel mission.  This was after about 2 kms along the St. Michel ridge.
The trail descended onto a ledge on the north slopes of Mt. Molare and wound its way on a fairly level track marked with Alpine Club markings past several springs.  Eventually, the trail headed up on some steep switchbacks to a pass between peaks of Mt. Molare and onto grassy but steep slopes above the cliffs  shown above the Walk of the Gods.
Jenny on the final ascent slope of Mt. Molare.  Stone steps eased the grade through the only cleft in the cliffs surrounding the peak.  The perspective in this picture is difficult to understand.  The blue in the distance is the Mediterranean Sea, not sky, and the peak in the distance is some 500 meters below where the photo was taken, so the angle of the photo is about 40 degrees downward, and the clouds are far below.
Carolyn on the top of Mt. Molare looking back down on Mt. Vesuvius and its obvious crater.
Tony standing right beside the cleft that allows access to the top. Positano is far below, with the Mediterranean off to the left.
After leaving the top of Mt. Molare we thought we could follow a trail around the mountain on the north east to a small town.  We took what we thought was the trail and ended up, shrouded in cloud, on some seriously steep, wet and slippery cliffs with snow in gullies between the cliffs.  After being urged by some muleteers to go down through the woods, passing ancient olive groves, we came to a small town from where we took a bus back to Castellamare.