First we departed AUR around seven am. The bus ride was the same as always- I fell asleep as soon as the bus started moving and only woke up to have a cappuccino and an incredibly delicious pastry at a rest stop. Near eleven we got to our destination: Mount Vesuvius! This is the volcano that destroyed Pompeii in the first century AD. Our bus took us pretty far up, and then we had to hike the rest of the way up. It was…kind of tiring, as an understatement. Let's just say it was an awesome calf workout.
We walked all the way up, gaped at the volcano for awhile, and ate lunches that we'd packed at the top. The thing about Vesuvius is that it's not done- it's just dormant. "Sleeping". There could be another eruption at any time. So, as our graduate student guide told us, "if you feel an earthquake, run for the mountains."
The inside of the crater
The view from the top. That's Naples down there.
Fun fact: If Vesuvius was going to erupt again, there is no possible way to get everyone safely out of Naples. They've run scenario after scenario, even planning to evacuate people on boats- it just isn't physically possible to get everyone out. If you live in Naples and Vesuvius erupts, you're majorly screwed. Yet a lot of people still live in Naples. Personally, I'd be panicking all the time. Even staying there for a day, we were all a little nervous. We like safe, volcano-free Rome.
Snapping selfies with the volanco
There were a ton of lizards around and on the volcano. I counted twenty-seven.
It started to rain just as we were leaving. I scored some souvenirs and used the worst bathroom in Europe, I'm pretty sure, and we all climbed back on the bus.
It's worth mentioning that my shoes finally started to fall apart. I bought these tennis shoes for nine euros in a flea market on one of my first weekends here. Honestly, I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did. But they served my purposes pretty well. They're super dirty and getting ragged now- I just need them to last for three more weeks, honestly. I was never planning on bringing these home.
After Vesuvius we got back to our hotel in Sorrento around one and had free time before dinner at seven. We decided to find the beach. (My roommates are all super obsessed with beaches. I'm not so much- I think that comes with coming from Michigan. Lakes for life.)
The view from the rooftop terrace at our hotel
Also on the rooftop (featuring two of my friends claiming the chairs)
Sorrento is a lemon town. It seemed like a good third of it was lemon farms, and the parts that weren't were devoted to selling, buying, and eating lemons. I can't communicate the amount of lemon I saw this weekend. Lemons, lemon candy, lemon ceramics, lemon decorations, lemon juice, lemon aprons, limoncello, lemon lemon lemon lemon. It was only semi-touristy, too. These people just. Like. Lemons. I ate so many lemon things this weekend. Are lemons good for you? Because I ate more lemons this weekend than in the past year all together.
One of many lemon product shops
These lemons were as big as a baby's head, I kid you not. Look at those apples. Those are normal apples.
And of course, after some walking around, we decided to get gelato (which is always what we decide to do at any given moment). However, once inside the shop, the man working there told us that the lemon slushes were super popular- because lemon- and they used lemon juice from Sorrento. So we went for it. And we did not regret it at all. This was nothing like the lemon italian ice you buy in America. This makes American lemon ice look like a pathetic joke.
The view from above a main street. Look at that ocean.
These purple flowers sprung up overnight a few weeks ago and now they're everywhere in Italy. Actually everywhere. It's insane. They aren't lilacs, but they're pretty and smell good.
One of the shopping streets in Sorrento
We did find the beach but none of us were dressed for beaches (we were all dressed for hiking a volcano) so we just sat on a bench and soaked up a little sun before heading back to the hotel.
On Saturday we headed out bright and early to the island of Capri. We had to take a ferry from Sorrento. When we got off, it was a little cold and overcast, but we didn't let it rain on our parade. (All the girls were wearing skirts and dresses because we all had this faint hope that we were going to get some sun on our sad pale legs.)
Coming into Capri
My favorite cat. Just chilling in a bike basket.
We forked over seventeen euros to take a two-hour boat tour of the island. It was well worth the money. Capri is absolutely beautiful and you can't appreciate it from the populated part alone. The sun came out as we were on the boat and it was so nice. We couldn't hear much of what our tour guide was saying, but he didn't talk all that much so we just mostly drank in the island.
The port of Capri from the back of the boat.
Couples are supposed to kiss as they go under this arc. Single people are supposed to make a wish. I feel like the single part was added to make single people like me feel better but whatever.
Look at the color of this water. This picture isn't filtered. That's actually what color it was.
Jellyfish!
They took us to this cove called "The Blue Grotto" in English and took people in with these little rowboats. It cost thirteen euros to go in for about ten minutes- if you wanna talk about piracy, that's piracy right there. But it was on so many "places to see before you die" lists that everyone on the boat reluctantly paid and went in. Highway robbery. But you can't leave Capri without seeing this.
The whole thing about the blue grotto is that it glows. The water glows a vibrant blue in the dark. I can't tell you why, but it's absolutely beautiful. The only opening is a tiny hole that's so narrow that when our boats (four people all crammed in sitting on the floor and one rower) went inside, we had to lay down on each other or else we'd be too tall to fit in.
Despite the price, it was well worth it. The pictures don't do it justice. After our boat tour, we walked around Capri for awhile longer. We ate at a disappointing touristy restaurant (boo) but afterward we got lemon slushes- again- because lemons. And it was delicious.
Now my roommates were fixated on finding a beach today. So much so that we all wore bathing suits under our clothes. Again, I was kinda "eh" on the beach, but they were really into it, so I decided why not.
However, Capri is not known for its beaches, because as you might be able to tell from the pictures, it's basically all cliff and rock. The beaches are all rocks. Walking to the water barefoot was really painful. And then the water was like- you know Lake Michigan? Put that in the freezer for awhile. That was the Mediterranean. But I stuck my feet in long enough to get a picture.
Then we climbed some rocks, because…rocks? I don't understand why I always want to climb rocks when I see them. Is it some evolutionary human instinct? Is it taught? Well, for whatever reason, we climbed up some rocks- probably seven feet up- and sat there for awhile.
After that we were kinda bored, when we saw a sign that said "al centro" which basically means "to the center" (city centers are like the main piazzas) and we followed it. It went uphill on winding narrow paths for a good ten minutes. Have you ever walked uphill for a straight ten minutes? It doesn't sound bad but at a certain point your lungs are burning and your calves are on fire and we're all getting passed by these old Italian ladies.
I'm gonna have calves of steel by the time I leave here.
The centro was awesome. It was filled with all these bougie little shops and the view was incredible. We were disappointed we hadn't had lunch up here, with all these good local restaurants.
See the shoreline? That's where we walked up from.
We were bummed that we hadn't discovered the centro earlier, but it was still a nice day, and we headed back to Sorrento around four.
After that we still had free time before dinner, so we went back to the public beach (because we did not wear our bathing suits for nothing, darn it). Nobody brought towels so we just laid down our clothes we'd worn over our suits and laid on those. I stuck my feet in the water again, but it was too cold for me, so I didn't swim. Then we all laid out and soaked up the last of the sun for the day.
On Sunday we left a little less bright and early for Pompeii. Pompeii is one of the best preserved ancient cities in the world because a) when the Romans invaded, they just surrendered and were included in the Roman empire instead of fighting and getting their city destroyed b) the barbarians never came over here so a lot of the destruction they did in Rome just didn't happen here.
This city was huge. Way too big to walk in one day, or even in a few weeks.
This is a theater for plays and musicians. The Japanese tour guide before us burst out into some quality opera.
These stones were in the road because the ancient people didn't have sewage systems and they just dumped it out in the road. People who, ahem, didn't want to get their feet dirty, walked across on the raised stones from sidewalk to sidewalk.
Also people in Pompeii were way shorter than we were. Like, the guys were around five feet, and the girls were around 4'9''. So tiny. Our tour guide was talking to a really tall guy in our group and said he was "like two gladiators".
This isn't really a body. When the ashes fell on the bodies in Pompeii, they solidified around them. Then the bodies decomposed, leaving holes behind. When they started excavating Pompeii, they began to inject plaster into these holes, leaving them with exact replicas of the body, like this one.
The main square with Mt. Vesuvius in the background
The Casa del Forno
Pompeii was also super windy so there were random dust storms. I had to keep wiping dust out of my eyes and by the time we left my hair was full of it.
After Pompeii we went to Naples. Now, Naples…Naples has character. It's a little gritty, a little loud, a little dirty. Some people like that. I wasn't so charmed with it, but whatever. (Especially because our resident student told us about nine times to keep track of our stuff because Naples has an even worse theft problem than Rome.)
Castle in Naples
However, Naples more than redeemed itself with the food. For those not obsessed with food like me, Naples invented pizza, and they still do it the best. We ducked into this tiny, loud, super busy restaurant, and had the best pizza I've had in Italy. And everything was so cheap!
We also ordered this plate of calamaretti because it was on special and we wanted to have some seafood before we left the coast. Calamaretti are these little squids, served fried. You squeeze lemon sauce onto them. Delicious.
Even though I wasn't thrilled with Naples, the view was spectacular.
We also got gelato and yet another lemon slush (this was the weekend of lemon slushes). Both were super good. On the way out, I stopped at a famous coffee place to try a Naples espresso. Some people claim Naples has the best espresso in Italy. Something about the water they make it with. So I decided I'd be the judge of that.
I am slowly getting good at ordering coffee in fluent Italian. Honestly, it's the thing I'm best at doing it Italian. Ciao. Prendo un cappuccino. Quanto costa? Grazie. Solo il cappuccino. E un cornetto con marmellata. Pesca. Si.
Fighting my way to the coffee bar like a real Italian
The famous Naples espresso. I wasn't wowed by it. Well, I mean. Better than anything in America, but not the best I've ever had. Not that I drink a lot of espresso. I'm a cappuccino girl.
We rolled back onto the bus, full and ready for a nap. I dozed on the way home and after returning to AUR, we took a bus back to our apartment because we were all feeling too lazy to walk. I showered immediately, getting that layer of Pompeii dust off, finished some work, and flopped into bed. It was a great weekend, but traveling is so tiring. I'd better get used to it though- I'm traveling again next weekend. And the next. And then again- to MICHIGAN.
