Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Reynisfjara, a black sand beach in Iceland getty 2,000 years ago, five miles south of modern Naples, as the city of Herculaneum was being covered by lava from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 300 men were sheltering on its beach, waiting to be rescued by the local protection force directed by admiral Pliny the Elder. Now this beach has been reopened to the public, CNN reports , after painstaking restoration and archaeological excavation—and their preserved skeletons are visible on the beach today in what was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1997. Alternatively you could head south from Naples to the island of Stromboli , one of four active volcanoes in Italy, where tourists visit the bubbling lava before sampling the local Italian food.
Oscar-winner, Justine Trier, shot her 2019 film Sybil here, if you want to witness its stark beauty before heading there in person. Herculaneum, the city that in 79 AD. was destroyed by the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano.
LightRocket via Getty Images Or you could head north and follow the Mediterranean 2,667 miles to the west, from Naples up the coast of Italy through Rome, through the old port of Genoa, through France and Spain and then into the Canary Islands. Here you'll find La Palma, an island now distinctively recognised for its black beaches after a volcanic eruption in 2021. MORE FOR YOU ‘Are You Ready?’—Elon Musk Fans Wild Rumors Donald Trump Will Create A U.
S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve And Trigger Crypto Price Chaos ‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 6 Recap And Review: The Flight Of The Dragonriders Eminem Stops Taylor Swift From Making History It was the seventh recorded eruption in La Palma since 1470 and it lasted 85 days, the longest in recorded history with the lava burying everything in its path, including 1,345 homes, 100 businesses, 16 schools and 50 miles of roads. One man died from the toxic gases, which are still emitted in some places, because the lava is as much as 60 metres deep.
At its zenith, the lava measured two miles wide and was almost four miles long, reports The Telegraph , taking banana plantations, the islands main source of revenue in its wake. The black volcanic beaches of La Palma, Spain ullstein bild via Getty Images function loadConnatixScript(document) { if (!window.cnxel) { window.
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Surrounding beaches have long been on the radar of tourists—think of remote El Bollullo, reachable from the city of Puerto de la Cruz after walking through banana plantations and rugged coastal paths. Sunrise at volcanic El Bollullo beach, Tenerife getty Three years later, the tourist numbers that had fallen in La Palma are now rising again. Visitors are attracted by plants peeking through the lava rock that in some cases has stopped mid flow across the island and completely redrawn the coastline—researchers believe there to be over 30 new beaches and peninsulas.
The Telegraph reports that the island is attracting visitors that they call 'holiday disruptors' with a penchant for "wacky Instagram selfies" in "a scorched alien wilderness." The same thing happened in Iceland in 2010 when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted and led to a tourist boom for visitors keen to see the magma flows and how it transforms a landmass. Indeed, about 4,400 miles due north of La Palma you'll find Reynisfjara, a beach in Iceland that Vogue describes as one of the best beaches of Europe in 2024 due to its impressive basalt columns drawn into the cliffs and towering sea stacks—at low tide you can even explore the sea caves along the shore.
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