Day 8: Trips to Herculaneum & Capri
Ahhh my first official weekend without “jet-lag.” 🙂 A great thing about study abroad is the trips that the school plans for you that are included in your tuition. In my case, I got 2 day trips included in my tuition for JFRC. Our first trip was to Herculaneum, which is a town that was preserved by Mount Vesuvius. Much like Pompeii, Herculaneum is an amazing site that was captured by a volcanic eruption and even though it is a much smaller site than Pompeii, it much better preserved. We first went to a museum that depicted the city before the volcano destroyed it and afterwords we got lunch with the group and then had a guided tour of the ruins. Our tour guide was great and it was fascinating walking though all of the houses and up and down the streets of an ancient city and learning about how lived with the resources in the area.
After our tour almost everyone went on their own trips for the weekend, which I highly recommend doing. A couple of friends and I traveled to the the island of Capri on the Amalfi Coast off of Sorrento. If any of you are traveling to Italy this is a MUST SEE!! We got onto the island right around sunset and it was absolutely breathtaking! The harbor was lite up by the sunlight at just the right angle and the colors of the houses up the mountain looked so bright. My group and I stayed in Anacapri which is on the other side of the island from the main harbor. On our way up the mountain we got a view of the entire island, after which we all yelled “OHHHH MYYYY GODDDD!” because we had never seen anything like it.
The rest of our weekend was spent walking around the island, going to the beach and taking a boat tour around the whole island (Which, again, I would highly recommend you do if you go to Capri). We got a great history of the island and learned a lot about the special areas of the island like the blue and green grotto and the private houses of Giorgio Armani, the Gerber family, Sofia Loren, Dolce & Gabbana and not to mention Bill Gates’ private yacht. (Who knew right? Capri is the place to be! haha) We also soon found out that the road that we yelled “OHHHH MYYYY GODDDD!” on, is actually called “Oh My God Road” because that is what everyone says when they drive on it haha.
Needless to say, we all had a great weekend on the island. Between its gorgeous views and the fabulous limonchello (which Capri is famous for), it was impossible NOT to have fun! Off to another week of class and site seeing in beautiful Roma! Arrivederci (see you later)!
