Sorrento, Capri, and Almalfi



This weekend was a go with the flow wonderful relaxing trip in Paradise... which pretty much means we winged the whole thing, got lucky, and it was awesome! Unfortunately we had school on Friday, really who does that?, so we couldn't leave til Friday afternoon. We headed to the train station- no tickets, and picked up the next train to Napoli (Naples). Apparently that is a very popular destination because the train was freakin packed! Lucky for us we stole a spot on the floor, ahhh the high life. Eventually people did get off and we got some seats. Now, Naples is notorious as the unsafe area of Italy, mafia, pickpockets, etc., but those are just stereotypes.... So seriously about two stops before Naples this pack of men gets on the train in pinstripe black suites, greasy hair, gold chains, and they are smoking..on the train. I mean come on! You can say what you want, but we've seen the mafia and you can't convince us otherwise. Wonderful trenitalia arrived in Napoli about an hour late, and we caught one of the last trains to Sorrento and the coast! Yeah Mediterranean ocean! We also ran into another group from school who caught our same train, their hostel was like right next to the train station, we had to take a bus to ours... so we cancelled ours and got a room there: Hotel Nice. Random. But it worked out well, we had dinner with them, some lovely Neapolitan ravioli!

The next morning was bright and early- ready to go by 8am. We caught a ferry to Capri! This island was a popular vacation destination for the fab rich and famous of ancient Rome. Tiberius was one famous emperor to hold a residence there. It is by far one of the most beautiful places ever! The water is soooo blue, and soo clear that ou can see straight through to the bottom, and the fish! We were walking around in bathing suits and sipping granitas- essentially lemon ice, Capri is famous for their lemons and the famous italian liquor limoncello. We hiked up a private road in the mountainous island until we could go no further, then we took a boat tour around the island. Now, the highlight of the boat tour is something called the blue grotto, and we were told we could not go in because of the waves and the tide, but we went on the tour anyway. But when we got to the grotto, people were going in! So the blue grotto is this cave inside the island accesible by rowboat through about a 3ft entrance. Oh but that day, the entrance was about a foot high and kept getting blocked entirely by waves! We went anyways. Sarah, Emily, and I got into this tiny rowboat and the guy was like: lay down! and we were like: I don't think so, this boat is a mess! Then we saw the entrance up close and we were like: shit! okay we are laying down already! There was a chain attached with one end on the outside of the cave and one end on the inside, and when a wave subsided he pulled us inside! Wow, was it worth it though. Inside, the light from the opening reflects off the bottom and the entire thing illuminates in a deep royal blue. Awesome!

After our three hour trip around Capri, we headed back out to the beach and laid on some rocks for a while. Yup, I got burnt, but it was worth it! Italians apparently do not need sunscreen, because they don't sell it anywhere. Late afternoon, we sailed back to Sorrento. We got some Neopolitan pizza, which is much thicker than Roman pizza- mine with frute del mare- seafood! And just to be healthy we doused everything in olive oil, because it is soooooooo amazing there! Then we wandered about Sorrento which is the cutest little vacation town, and had a great girls night of Italian MTV, mango face masks from the market, and a 4 euro Cosmo (the magazine not the drink).

Sunday Emily and jumped on a public bus and headed up the Almalfi coast, which if you've ever been to California, is like driving up highway 1. It is a beautiful coastal drive that is also freakishly scary. Seriously, Italians need to learn to build roads big enough for 2 cars, one going each direction, it would make life a lot safer. We ended in Almalfi, had a picnic of paninis and granitas by the sea, and headed back again. Life is rough in the Mediterranean islands.... can't believe I have to leave in 3 weeks!!!