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| Terps at the Top of Mt Vesuvius |
After leaving Vesuvius, we drove towards Sorrento, which is where our hotel was. We got there around mid-afternoon and had free time to walk around and explore the city which we did for a bit while of course running into other tour groups of Americans we knew. Sorrento was a small but cool place. Not a large town by any means but had some cool streets with lots of shops selling limoncello, what they're known for in that region, and also a beach area down by the sea. Dinner was at the hotel and afterward we went out to a few too many bars. Definitely gad a fun night though.
After a rough time waking up early Saturday morning, we were off to the island of Capri for the day. First thing we did there was take a chair lift up to the top of the town Anacapri where we had an incredible view of the whole area. Now, my camera battery was low this whole trip because I forgot to charge it since my Mom had been using it earlier that week so I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but here's one I took from the chair lift going up to the top. It doesn't do it justice at all. Imagine sitting in a chair, and literally going through a cloud, while seeing scenery all around you that looks straight out of Avatar. All of us unanimously agreed that this was the perfect land of Pandora, there's no better way I can describe it. So after coming back down towards the sea, we had time to walk around and get lunch and then we did what we were told was a must do in Capri - hire a boat for a few hours to take you around the island. After haggling with several different salesmen for a good price and boat, we found what ended up being the perfect choice. This was of course after one of the people we didn't chose literally stalked me into an ATM vestibule where he argued with me for not picking him to hire. Worst sales tactic ever, btw, to all you salesman majors. He complained that I had agreed to buy from him (a lie - his boat wasn't big enough for the 11 of us) and then tried to guilt trip me into buying from him, are you serious buddy? Anyways, after escaping the bank, I joined back up with my friends who were waiting to get on our actual boat.
To start it off, our driver was incredible. I don't remember his name or anything about him for that matter, but he was so cool. His boat was the only one big enough for my group of 11 of us but he also had plenty of pillows to lay on which is a plus. Then, he at first tried to give us some history lessons, in broken English/Italian, which obviously wasn't working since we were spread out and talking so he gave up on that but did bring out free snacks and wine that he grew himself. He gave us like 3 bottles + in total and tons of snacks. First he took us to the Blue Grotto which is a big deal UNESCO site. They had a special going that day so it was cheaper to get in, so we did that, not sure if it was worth the 7 Euro though. It wasn't anything I couldn't have google-image searched but it was neat. You had to climb into a tiny tiny boat and then duck as you went through the entrance because it was so small. In the picture here you can see that tiny circle of light, which is the entrance, then the blueness of the water inside which was, admittedly, pretty amazing looking. Apart from that, I don't know if I'd recommend paying for it, personally.
After that, which was the first leg of our trip, we went 360 degrees around the whole island, which lasted almost 3 hours. We made several stops along the way, going into bigger grottos, stopping at a cliff jumping spot where my friend jumped off, then stopping along other neat areas along the way. Here's a picture of our boat when we stopped at some ruins-esque place near the cliff jumping area. By the way, turns out the water was freezing cold. Good thing I didn't pack a bathing suit so I had an automatic excuse for not getting in. Well played, Micheal.
Oh, I also was wearing my new pants that I had bought the weekend before in Perugia with my parents, so I debuted that outfit that day. Think/Say what you want, you know you think those all white pants look awesome. The hat (and photography) was my roommates though, so I can't take credit for that. The beard however, was all me of course, but that's since been shaved for over a week now. It reached a point where it was so itchy against my pillow at night that I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I got mostly positive reactions on it though, so there's potential for it to return some day, we'll see, I never got used to looking in the mirror at it. Rest of the day consisted of laying on the rocks by the sea eating gelato with my friends until the ferry took us back to Sorrento on the mainland.
Sunday was Pompeii. My camera battery was nearing dead at this point so I had to be very frugal with my picture choices. Pompeii was awesome though, I don't really need to go into much detail, you all know the deal. In August of 79 AD Vesuvius erupted, perfectly preserving the town in ash resulting in a great tourist attraction two thousand years later. I remember this next part from last time I was in Pompeii, about a decade ago, but they have these street crossing rocks which have tons of great purposes. First, you can cross the street without having to step down into the actual street. Second, they're spaced so that a chariot can fit through, which you can still see the grooves in the road from. Third, the street is where you dumped out your bathroom waste, meaning you could step on these to not have to deal with all the waste sitting around in the streets. Don't worry, the streets are all clean now. Also, Pompeii was known for its scandalous red light district, which was also perfectly preserved (see facebook album). So after our guided tour of Pompeii, we had time to walk around the modern city. Got some good lunch then wandered around back towards the bus which left around 2 to take us back to Roma. On the way back, I caught up on the Sports Illustrated magazines my parents kindly brought over for me and then after that I started on Animal Farm (why not?) since I realized I've gone 20 years without reading that classic. Since then, I haven't read anymore of it, but it's really short so I plan on finishing that this weekend since I'm not doing any traveling and so far I'm a huge fan of it. If you haven't yet read it, go do it.
Okay well we're about caught up, considering I haven't done much since that weekend. Last weekend, Nonny came and visited me with her friend Sophie from Paris which was obviously a great time for anyone who knows how awesome Nonny is. We got to enjoy the free sites since it was culture week here in Rome, meaning everything city-run was free. So after playing tour guide, I think she saw pretty much all the big sites here. I'm pretty sure I'm now qualified to give professional tours at this point so if you're coming here hit me up, I've perfected the 3 day trip to Rome to make sure you see everything worth seeing, including stuff the normal tours don't bring you to.
Speaking of incredible places, not that tourists don't go here, but I finally made my way there last weekend with Nonny, and it was to the Capuchin Crypt. This place was full of skulls and bones of Capuchin monks whose custom was to bury them in this manner. So creepy to walk around in here knowing that all these used to belong to people who lived and talked just like I am now. Anyways, check out these pictures of it, pretty awesome if you ask me.
Alright Ciao Ciao for now. Go O's!
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