Amalfi -> Pompei -> Napoli(:
After a few train rides, some fun cabs, and a random boat trip, I was able to pack three cities into my first weekend out of Rome.
Running on about 4 hours of sleep, a few friends and I took a cab to the train station. Pretty neat experience with a driver who sang Mama Mia to us. We took a train down to Salerno, Italy, where we were going to catch a bus to the Amalfi coast. If you have ever been to Europe, you know that the bus system isn’t always very reliable. We waited an hour for this bus, and when it finally showed up, IT DROVE RIGHT PAST US!! We made friends with some other American’s who were on their honeymoon, also trying to get to Amalfi, and they invited us to catch a cab with them to take a ferry instead. We had no other options so we decided to tag along. It’s about 1:00 and we are on a boat sailing along the coast and it was the most beautiful site ever. The buildings of the small cities are so simple and colorful, and the ocean was so blue. Our plans didn’t go exactly how we thought, but I’m glad we didn’t have control over them. We layed out on the beach of Amalfi for a few hours with a bottle of champagne and it was the perfect way to spend my afternoon. Highly recommend Amalfi to EVERYONE! It is amazing.
Later that night we head back to Salerno where we take a train to Pompei, where we have a hostel. We woke up early the next day to check out the ruins which were so cool. If you haven’t been, the city of Pompei was buried by lava and was dug up. The city was huge and so interesting to get a glimpse of how they lived back then. Afterward, we took another train to Napoli, where we checked into another hostel and went out to explore the town a little. This is where I had the BEST cheese and ham appetizer I have ever had and probably will ever have. Everywhere I have been in Italy, the thing that always catches my eye are the streets. Black cobblestone, no street signs, people driving in cars and mopeds honking everywhere. And the sunlight reflecting off of the buildings is so pretty. Later we came back to the dinner that the hostel provided. Homemade, Italian style pasta, and let me tell you, pasta here is soooo much better than America!
The next day we walked through the town of Napoli and made it to the coastline where we walked to a castle and looked at the amazing view of the city from about 100 yards out in the ocean. The view was breathtaking, to say the least. And we couldn’t stop in Napoli and not get pizza, so that’s just what we did. Walked a little further down the coast and stopped at a random place and had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. After our time there we made our way back to Rome.
Pretty successful weekend. After a week of classes, some exams, and seeing the Pope on Wednesday, I’ll be exploring Florence!