we finally caved and did an organized trip through florence for fun to the amalfi coast. there is simply too much to see and not enough time to see it. so we decided to let someone guide us instead of aimlessly wandering around and missing half of it. our home base was in sorrento but we honestly only slept there. every day we went on day trips to nearby towns such as...
capri- friday was capri day. our bus got in at 230am and we had a few hours to sleep before leaving for capri at 8am. we took the ferry to the island and immediately embarked on a boat tour around capri. which was nothing short of stunning. the weather was gorgeous and the water was sparkling. we stopped at the blue grotto and some lovely friends of mine paid for me to go in as my belated birthday present (ps i'm broke.). you have to lay flat in these skinny boats and go through a 1 meter opening in the cave at the moment wave goes down or your boat will be crushed. pretty thrilling. and inside is so cool. it's really just a cave but something about the reflection of the sky on the bottom or on the water causes the water to be brilliantly bright blue. like unreal. our boat tour continued and we saw some natural beauties as well as the houses of sofia loren, giorgio armani, and mariah carey. from there we climbed up to the top of capri (which is actually much farther and steeper than we'd assumed) and back down the other side the to the beach. the view was amazing and the whole time walking down we were skipping with excitement to get to the beautiful beach. we finally made it down to the clear water and smooth rocks and laid out for hours. swimming was limited due to an overwhelming number of jelly fish but south carolina stacy and i decided to jump in anyway. so we dove headfirst into the mediterranean sea. freezing, jelly fish infested waters. but worth it. made it home ate dinner and passed out. very long, adventure filled day. i loved it.
walk down to the beach
boat tour
positano- day two was a trip to the black beaches of positano. weather decided otherwise. beaches were out of the question but we still walked the 800some steps down into the city in the pouring rain. quite and adventure. without weather we didn't have much to do so we shacked up in a cafe and capuccino-ed all morning. eventually we started playing cards. and ended up staying for four hours. we did get food (some of the BEST calzones i've ever had in italy!) and sat around and talked and laughed all day. when the rain mostly subsided we ventured out for a little shop browsing and ended up with nothing. positano wasn't really what it was intended to be but was still actually quite a lovely day. friends are wonderful. and we're only together for a few more days so might as well make the most of it. we ended up playing cards again after dinner and having a mostly chill day compared to the go go go day we had before.
playing cards
ridiculous girls in hotel room.
pompeii and mt vesuvius- i have had this weird obsession with pompeii ever since i was in like elementary school. i have no idea why. it just fascinates me. so being there was quite cool. unreal really. 25 feet of ash covered the entire city. yet archaeologists far more brilliant than myself managed to restore it to almost what it would have looked like before the tragedy. this is beyond me. we saw casts of skeletons in the exact position they were in when they died. strangely twisted bodies with horrific facial expressions. and teeth. they still had teeth. we walked around for a while with a tour guide who's name i cannot remember. it was very cool. i'm a big fan of pompeii. eerie and a little on the depressing side, but so interesting. then we ventured up mt. vesuvius. busses can only drive a little up so we had to hike the rest. we walk a ton in italy but rarely uphill so we were a little more out of breath than we'd bargained. but it was very cool. how often do i climb volcanoes, much less mt. vesuvius? it was cold up there and we were actually in a cloud so the view wasn't incredibly impressive. but we could see inside it. and it was smoking. creepy. plus we kept hearing these huge bangs which sounded like it was exploding. it didn't. but we still don't know what that sound was. we couldn't see actual lava and we were coated in bugs but well worth the hike. then hopped back on the bus for the seven hour ride home.
body cast in pompeii
pompeii ruins
vesuvs
inside vesuvs
amalfi was beautiful. very eventful and exciting. full of adventure. it was a great final excursion and i think i'm finally ready to leave. i feel like i did italy. i did europe. i've lived harder in the past four months than my whole 21 years combined. and i'm ready to take it all home and see how i fare in good old ellicott city, maryland. the adventure is only beginning.
