Last Thursday (more than a week ago, because I've had 0 time to blog this week!), I spent the day relaxing, running errands, packing for the Amalfi Coast, and doing some homework. That night just before I left, Giancarlo made me 3 (!) sandwiches for dinner that I could take on the bus with me since I would miss Francesca's cooking that night. I'm not sure how he thought I could eat 3 giant sandwiches, but the 1 and a half that I was able to finish were delicious.
Unfortunately, my seat was right next to the speaker and they played very loud movies the entire ride so I never really slept until we arrived in Sorrento around 3 am.
For this trip, we had the unique opportunity to stay in a hotel. That's right, I didn't have to bring a towel- whhaattt? Our hotel was called Carlton International and I shared a room with Michelle and Marina- Liz, Emily, and Lynde had the room next door to us.
Friday morning we woke up, showered, and headed down to breakfast around 8. At 8:30 we left for the harbor to take a ferry to Capri. Once we arrived on the beautiful isle of Capri, we got into smaller boats (12ish people per boat) to take a cruise around the island.
We sailed to the blue grotto (one the the natural wonders of the world!) and had the chance to go in, for a fee of course. The 6 of us squeezed tightly into a tiny rowboat with our driver. The entrance was so small that everyone had to lie down- including the driver who did so at the very last possible moment! Inside, the water glowed blue from sunlight that passes through an unseen break in the rocks. The cave (grotto in italian) is about 150 feet deep and used to be the favorite swimming hole of the roman emperor Tiberius.
After our boat took us all the way around the island, we returned to the harbor and then walked about 30-40 minutes up steep slopes and steps to the center of capritown. We rewarded ourselves for the exhausting climb with refreshing glasses of fruit drinks- Granita di limone con spremuta di arancia (lemon and blood orange). I would travel back right now just for another sip!
We took a bus up the nail-biting road to Anacapri and ate lunch at a restaurant called Le Arcate where I had tagliatelle with chicken and zucchini. Later, we opted to take a chair lift up to the top of Mt. Solerno where we got a fantastic view of the entire island- including the coastline and rock formations as well as a very faint sighting of Mt. Vesuvius in the far distance.
Eventually, we chair-lifted (is that a verb?) back down the mountain and wandered over to a small shop to get a free tasting of limoncello and chocolate. The limoncello was definitely not my favorite- too strong!- but I quite enjoyed the various types of chocolate covered things (almonds!). To get back to Capritown, we took an open convertible taxi which was quite the experience; especially on the narrow and winding road that serves both directions of traffic.
We walked back down to the harbor, bought some souvenirs and postcards, and then took a return ferry back to Sorrento and our hotel.
The whole day was lovely- Capri was by far my favorite place of the weekend- possibly of the semester! All day it was sunny and warm with bright blue skies and perfectly turquoise water. :)
I was able to take a quick nap before heading out for dinner (Leone Rosso) with the rest of our group. For dinner I had steak with green peppers and a side salad. The steak was a refreshing change from carbs, but the green peppers were small green balls that looked like capers but were spicy! Also, my "side salad" was just a bowl of iceberg lettuce. Kind of disappointing, but not terrible.
Since we stayed in the same hotel and town the whole weekend, Friday night we decided to go to bed early and explore on the remaining nights of the weekend.
Saturday we went to Positano! Our bus dropped us off and then we walked down to the beach where most other tourists don't go! The sand on the beach is black because of volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius.
It was nice to just be able to relax on the beach for a little while. I also collected sea glass, and we took a bunch of fun pictures. Right as we took our last picture, it started pouring rain and my necklace pendant slipped off and got lost in the sand. Such a sad end to a wonderful morning. :(
To escape the rain, we got sandwiches at "Vini + Panini"- I had a caprese (tomato and mozzarella) with pesto sauce. The bread was huge! I could have split a sandwich with someone. Even so, I had enough for a snack later.
That afternoon, we wandered around to some of the many shops that littered the small alleys before taking our bus back to the hotel. There we rested for a little while and then set out to see downtown Sorrento! Fairly un-eventful exploring because of the constant drizzle of rain, but we did get a very good dinner! I had lasagna and we also ordered a bottle of Prosecco (a sweet, sparkling white wine) for the table.
After dinner, we went to the English Inn/Beer Gardens. We arrived around 9/10 pm and with the combination of the early hour and the rain we were the only ones there! They let us DJ and we probably danced there for about 3 hours until other people started to show up. Michelle and Emily got gelato on the way back to the hotel, and we were able to go to sleep by 12:30.
First thing Sunday morning, we went to Mount Vesuvius. Despite precautions that it might be closed due to the pouring rain from the night before, the park was open and we were able to climb to the top. However it was so cloudy and foggy that we were unable to see 7 feet in front of us, much less any other "spectacular" view down. We took pictures anyway (which ended up looking like the photoshopped ourselves onto a white background) and later I looked online and realized we were standing in front of the top of the volcano crater! Ugh. Must go back.
On the trek back down it started to rain, so we hurried back to the bus. Next stop was the ancient city of pompeii, where we got huge Margherita pizzas and Peroni beer. Just as we were finishing, it started raining again. We got to a small coffee shop just as the sky opened and it began to pour... and then hail! We waited out the majority of the storm before meeting our tour guide at the entrance to the ruins for our... WALKING tour.
The day was just kind of miserable all around which was just really unfortunate. I had been so looking forward to climbing Mt. Vesuvius and seeing the ruins of Pompeii that I have studied for so long. I did still get to see Pompeii- and it was very cool but it would have been so much better minus the umbrellas and puddles. However, as someone else said- it wasn't the worst day to be there.
The highlight of the day was definitely dinner back in Sorrento, where I got to try an authentic Napolian dish: La Genovese. This dish is composed of large pasta noodles and a beef and onion sauce. I really enjoyed it! For dessert, we split 3 different dishes: Easter cake, a chocolate torte type-thing, and a pear and ricotta cheese cake. My favorite was by far the cheesecake. This was probably the only time of the entire day that it felt remotely like Easter. I'm definitely looking forward to traditional Easter celebrations next year, although I was able to participate in some festivities with the Ricci's once I returned from my weekend travel.
Monday we had our last breakfast at the hotel and then loaded our bags on the bus and left for Naples! Once we arrived, our first stop was a coffee shop for a bathroom break. Then I had hazelnut coffee- which was good, but too sugary.
Next we walked down to the Bay of Naples, where we were able to see more pretty turquoise water and a faraway view of Mt. Vesuvius. It was cloudy, but it didn't rain so I was a-okay with that. Eventually we met up with the rest of the tour
group and went to a recommended pizza restaurant. I had the traditional Napoli Margherita pizza with buffalo mozzarella.
We had a little more time to wander around and take pictures, and then we got back on the bus to ride back to Florence around 2:30.
When I got home, the Ricci's were eating dinner. I gave them their Easter gifts (crocheted chickens that my mother made and sent to me) which they seemed very pleased with.
My week was kind of thrown off, since I am accustomed to having Monday morning free to catch up on work and prepare for my classes! But overall, Amalfi was worth it. I'm definitely happy to have the weekend here in Florence to relax and get back into my regular schedule.
Unfortunately, my seat was right next to the speaker and they played very loud movies the entire ride so I never really slept until we arrived in Sorrento around 3 am.
For this trip, we had the unique opportunity to stay in a hotel. That's right, I didn't have to bring a towel- whhaattt? Our hotel was called Carlton International and I shared a room with Michelle and Marina- Liz, Emily, and Lynde had the room next door to us.
Friday morning we woke up, showered, and headed down to breakfast around 8. At 8:30 we left for the harbor to take a ferry to Capri. Once we arrived on the beautiful isle of Capri, we got into smaller boats (12ish people per boat) to take a cruise around the island. We sailed to the blue grotto (one the the natural wonders of the world!) and had the chance to go in, for a fee of course. The 6 of us squeezed tightly into a tiny rowboat with our driver. The entrance was so small that everyone had to lie down- including the driver who did so at the very last possible moment! Inside, the water glowed blue from sunlight that passes through an unseen break in the rocks. The cave (grotto in italian) is about 150 feet deep and used to be the favorite swimming hole of the roman emperor Tiberius.
After our boat took us all the way around the island, we returned to the harbor and then walked about 30-40 minutes up steep slopes and steps to the center of capritown. We rewarded ourselves for the exhausting climb with refreshing glasses of fruit drinks- Granita di limone con spremuta di arancia (lemon and blood orange). I would travel back right now just for another sip!
We took a bus up the nail-biting road to Anacapri and ate lunch at a restaurant called Le Arcate where I had tagliatelle with chicken and zucchini. Later, we opted to take a chair lift up to the top of Mt. Solerno where we got a fantastic view of the entire island- including the coastline and rock formations as well as a very faint sighting of Mt. Vesuvius in the far distance.
Eventually, we chair-lifted (is that a verb?) back down the mountain and wandered over to a small shop to get a free tasting of limoncello and chocolate. The limoncello was definitely not my favorite- too strong!- but I quite enjoyed the various types of chocolate covered things (almonds!). To get back to Capritown, we took an open convertible taxi which was quite the experience; especially on the narrow and winding road that serves both directions of traffic. We walked back down to the harbor, bought some souvenirs and postcards, and then took a return ferry back to Sorrento and our hotel.
The whole day was lovely- Capri was by far my favorite place of the weekend- possibly of the semester! All day it was sunny and warm with bright blue skies and perfectly turquoise water. :)
 |
| One of the most famous rock formations of Capri- Faraglioni |
I was able to take a quick nap before heading out for dinner (Leone Rosso) with the rest of our group. For dinner I had steak with green peppers and a side salad. The steak was a refreshing change from carbs, but the green peppers were small green balls that looked like capers but were spicy! Also, my "side salad" was just a bowl of iceberg lettuce. Kind of disappointing, but not terrible.
Since we stayed in the same hotel and town the whole weekend, Friday night we decided to go to bed early and explore on the remaining nights of the weekend.
 |
| Michelle, Lynde and I, representing APO |
It was nice to just be able to relax on the beach for a little while. I also collected sea glass, and we took a bunch of fun pictures. Right as we took our last picture, it started pouring rain and my necklace pendant slipped off and got lost in the sand. Such a sad end to a wonderful morning. :(
To escape the rain, we got sandwiches at "Vini + Panini"- I had a caprese (tomato and mozzarella) with pesto sauce. The bread was huge! I could have split a sandwich with someone. Even so, I had enough for a snack later.
That afternoon, we wandered around to some of the many shops that littered the small alleys before taking our bus back to the hotel. There we rested for a little while and then set out to see downtown Sorrento! Fairly un-eventful exploring because of the constant drizzle of rain, but we did get a very good dinner! I had lasagna and we also ordered a bottle of Prosecco (a sweet, sparkling white wine) for the table. After dinner, we went to the English Inn/Beer Gardens. We arrived around 9/10 pm and with the combination of the early hour and the rain we were the only ones there! They let us DJ and we probably danced there for about 3 hours until other people started to show up. Michelle and Emily got gelato on the way back to the hotel, and we were able to go to sleep by 12:30.
On the trek back down it started to rain, so we hurried back to the bus. Next stop was the ancient city of pompeii, where we got huge Margherita pizzas and Peroni beer. Just as we were finishing, it started raining again. We got to a small coffee shop just as the sky opened and it began to pour... and then hail! We waited out the majority of the storm before meeting our tour guide at the entrance to the ruins for our... WALKING tour.
The day was just kind of miserable all around which was just really unfortunate. I had been so looking forward to climbing Mt. Vesuvius and seeing the ruins of Pompeii that I have studied for so long. I did still get to see Pompeii- and it was very cool but it would have been so much better minus the umbrellas and puddles. However, as someone else said- it wasn't the worst day to be there.
Monday we had our last breakfast at the hotel and then loaded our bags on the bus and left for Naples! Once we arrived, our first stop was a coffee shop for a bathroom break. Then I had hazelnut coffee- which was good, but too sugary.
group and went to a recommended pizza restaurant. I had the traditional Napoli Margherita pizza with buffalo mozzarella.
We had a little more time to wander around and take pictures, and then we got back on the bus to ride back to Florence around 2:30.
When I got home, the Ricci's were eating dinner. I gave them their Easter gifts (crocheted chickens that my mother made and sent to me) which they seemed very pleased with.
My week was kind of thrown off, since I am accustomed to having Monday morning free to catch up on work and prepare for my classes! But overall, Amalfi was worth it. I'm definitely happy to have the weekend here in Florence to relax and get back into my regular schedule.
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