Amalfi Coast Ahoy!
Today is Monday morning and once again I have just returned from an amazing weekend! Last night we got back from the Amalfi Coast. The trip was through a company called Bus2Alps that plans trips for students. It was a nice change to have all of the transportation planned out for us in advance, especially since the towns we visited are small and do not have extensive public transportation. I wish more elements of the trip were included in the price up front, but it was still a nice break from all the planning that usually goes into traveling.
Last Thursday night, we went to the main train station in Rome, Termini, and got on the Bus2Alps bus. The ride wasn’t too bad; it only took about four hours. We arrived in Sorrento around midnight and went straight to sleep. The hostel was by far the best that I have stayed at so far. It was very modern and had large bathrooms and a really pretty bar/ gathering area downstairs. We didn’t get to enjoy the hostel for very long, though, because we left for Capri the next morning at seven a.m. Once we got to Capri, we got to go on a private boat tour around the island. It was so beautiful! The water in the Amalfi Coast in unbelievably blue even compared to the water I saw at the beach in Rome. The view from the boat was amazing because you can see all the towns perched on the island’s cliffs. After the boat ride, we went to Augustus’ Garden, which also had great views. Then, we took a bus to Anacapri (the town at the top of the island). The top point of Anacapri is called Mt. Solaro and we decided to take a chairlift to the top. I was pretty excited because I heard you could see the island really well during the 15-minute ride to the top. During the ride, however, the overcast day turned into rain. By the time we got to top, the rain had turned into a torrential downpour! Luckily, there was a café at the top where we stopped to get some hot chocolate and shelter from the storm. While we were there, it stared to lightning and thunder a lot. The power flickered on and off. After one particularly large round of lightning, I even smelled smoke coming from outside the café! Some people were pretty nervous about the storm, but I knew that eventually the rain would stop and we would be able to get back down to the town. Unfortunately, about an hour later when the rain stopped, they shut down the chairlift so we had to walk all the way down to Anacapri. The walk wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely would have been easier if I was wearing gym shoes! The adventure on Mt. Solaro took up most of the day so by the time we got back to Anacapri it was time to head to the hostel. That night, we went to a dinner with other people on the Bus2Alps trip that was extremely delicious. I tried gnocci for the first time in Italy and had awesome tiramisu (per usual here).
Saturday was much more relaxed and I just soaked up the sun, beach, and views in Positano. In the afternoon we went on a boat that dropped us off in an area to do cliff jumping (I actually did something more like scooting off a large rock into the water instead of cliff jumping), but it was still cool to get away from the beach and into a more natural area.
Finally, we made our way over to Pompeii on Sunday morning. I was really, really, really excited for this part of the trip because I have been interested in Pompeii since elementary school. It was really cool to get to see an active volcano (Mt. Vesuvius) too! We went on a guided tour around the ruins and learned a lot of interesting things about their excavation. A third of the ruins are still concealed underground, but excavation is proceeding very slowly so the ruins will stay well preserved for future generations. I’m glad that I went on the tour because it made seeing the ruins a truly great experience. In the afternoon the bus returned to Rome and we got back to the JFRC around 7:30pm; just in time to get dinner before the dining hall closed!
Overall it was a great weekend and I’m happy I got the chance to see another awesome area in Italy!