We finally got into Naples around noon to find our personal driver waiting with a Mr. Thorén (pronounced: terrain) sign, directed at Tally. He led us to our extra large Mercedes minivan and headed to Pompeii. Our driver, Antonio, grew up in Sorrento, so he doubled as a tour guide on our drive to Pompei and the Amalfi Coast, which extends from Sorrento to Salerno.
Sup, Vesuvius?
We probably got to Pompeii around 1. The city was really big, once home to over 20,000 people, so in February even if there are hundreds of other visitors you don't really see them.
Main entrance to Pompei. Water about a mile straight behind. Mt. V to the left.
Basilica
Forum
Nice shot of the culprit and its damage.
Pedestrian walkways. The streets are deep and were for carts and were occasionally filled with sewage, so these stepping stones were a clever idea.
The Pompeians were 2000 years ahead of their time when it came to making street signs. Just some great craftsmanship. (I understand that this isn't authentic.)
A theatre/colosseum-type venue where gladiators from different towns fought.
A photograph of Henry the Sailor, looking rather Ray Charles like.
"Henry the Sailor Pt. II: Henry Visits a Theatre"
Another last shot of V and his/her destruction.
I took about 200 photos here. You may see the rest when I return to America.
Antonio was waiting for us a few steps out of the gate. We were off to the Coast. The drive over the 1300m mountain range (hill range?) doesn't feature a single section of road. Many back to back s-curves. Once we made it over the last hill we were looking straight down at the sunny Amalfi Coast.
It was fairly cloudy that morning, but after we got a little closer to Positano it started to clear up a little.
We caught the SITA back to our hostel in Atrani. Below is the view from the hostel, which doesn't match up chronologically since it was dark when we got back.
Antonio was waiting for us a few steps out of the gate. We were off to the Coast. The drive over the 1300m mountain range (hill range?) doesn't feature a single section of road. Many back to back s-curves. Once we made it over the last hill we were looking straight down at the sunny Amalfi Coast.
The view was met with 6 gasps and 1 thickly Italian chuckle. The rest of the drive to Atrani was only 10 miles as the crow flies, but maybe 40 minutes as Antonio drives. Time wasn't very important for us in paradise. The dropping of the jaws became more severe as our elevation decreased. We drove through the town of Amalfi and within 45 seconds Antonio announced that we had arrived in the center of Atrani. A quaint village of 900 leathery-skinned Italians. It's just a cove over from Amalfi, as you'll see later. We got out of the van, said ciao to Antonio and walked towards our hostel. We hadn't gone five steps before a man in his 60s came up and told us to follow him to his office. We exchanged some puzzled looks before we realized the hostel owner had just came to meet us. What generosity!
Atrani looking west. Amalfi is just on the other side.
Looking straight at Atrani from the beach. Our hostel faced the white building in the left arch, on the opposite side of the town square.
Here's the hostel: http://www.hostelscalinatella.com/ The building is center left. The walk to the beach was about 30 seconds. More pictures of the beach, and the walk to Amalfi for dinner:
Locals, staring at the Ugly Americans in shorts on the beach. Most were wearing coats.
Black-ish sand. (See: Mt. Vesuvius)
Crystal clear water
Alex, Me, Ali
Amalfi
Amalfi, Moon, 2 Planets
That cop got into a heated argument with that man about that car.
Church in Amalfi
Amalfi
Atrani, Maiori in the distance
Nice restaurant on the cliff. Water is directly below the guard on the right. Remember this place for later.
Went on a walk with Ali around 10. This is looking back at Atrani.
Sweet boat on the beach
The next morning, me and Alex woke up at 7am for a run up the hill (mountain). We made it as far as the city limits of Ravello. Altogether we probably ran about 3 miles. I ran much more at school than I do here, so it was nice to finally be active again. After the run we got cleaned up and went to a small bar across the square from our hotel for cappuccinos and croissants. The moment we stepped in the door, an Italian man who had been reading the paper threw up his hands in disgust and stormed out. We ordered 3 orange juices to share. The barista went across the way to buy oranges and then proceded to squeeze the juice himself. It was delicious. After breakfast we walked to Amalfi and waited for the SITA bus to take us to Sorrento. This is the famous bus that is necessary to use for getting from town to town. There isn't a person I know whom I'd feel comfortable with driving around the sharp turns among the crazy Italian drivers. The bus ride took about an hour and forty-five minutes, I think.
Church in Amalfi. One of the more beautiful I've seen (Non-World-Famous Category)
Reminds me of my Sunday School days. (That's actually baby jesus)
It was fairly cloudy that morning, but after we got a little closer to Positano it started to clear up a little.
The whole region is filled with Orange, Lemon, and what was possible Grapefruit or Dragonfruit trees. The fruit trees pretty much dominated the landscape outside of the immediate tourist areas.
This may be obvious, but I don't know how well you know the geography of the Sorrento Peninsula, which the Amalfi Coast exists on, but all photos on the Amalfi Coast with land on the left is looking East, except in Sorrento where it's the opposite. Actually, here's a nice little map for you:
1: Pompei -- 2: Atrani -- disregard the x, too lazy to make an unblemished map. Naples is just barely above where this maps ends on the left side. The yellow road from Salerno to Positano and then over the mountain to Sorrento is pretty much the only road big enough to travel on with anything bigger than a Ford Focus. It's amazing that road even exists.
Sorrento
Cliffs of Sorrento
Naples and Mt. V, I promise. Tilt your screen, or something.
Our ferry to Capri
Angry Old Men
An island looms
The town of Capri, on Capri. There is another town named Anacapri on the east side.
Travel group
Capri was first used as a vacation spot by Augustus or someone, way back in, like, 34. It's probably about as touristy as Venice, but I saw it in the sun rather than the wind and snow, so I loved it much more. It's said that this is the birthplace of "La dolce vita." It used to be the most exclusive vacation spot in the Mediterranean, but I don't think that's still the case. Fede's friend's grandma has a large mansion on this island. I didn't know about it until I got back to Rome.
Famous lemons, used to make famous, and disgustingly sweet, Limoncello
These were everywhere
Ahhhh, the world famous Faraglioni of Capri. Three rocks majestically jutting out of the sea. Home to the world's only population of some time of coral. Your eye is always drawn to these rocks. I took numerous pictures of the formation, trying to capture what I was seeing with my eyes. I soon realized that type of camera doesn't exist. The Faraglioni is one of my favorite things, but I'm not sure I could tell you why. Visit me and I'll show you. You'll agree.
This one might be my favorite
Or this one
Probably not this one
This one!
More lemons. (I stole one! Shh.. It was on the ground... It's on my shelf right now. It's not ripe yet, but I plan on having a one man feast when it's ready for me)
Sweet shadows on my teeth. Also, need to stop with the coffee.
Marina Piccolo
Top of the mountain: one of the Roman Villas from a couple thousand years ago. I actually think this was Augustus'.
It certainly felt like spring.
Sorrento from Capri
Ciao for now Capri! I'll be back to swim in The Blue Grotto someday.
The actual Capri Sun, not the fake American sugared drink.
Ciao again Sorrento. (Ciao = Hi here, not bye. Very ambiguous.)
Ciao (Bye) Sorrento
Capri was awesome. All the islanders are very friendly and helpful. Some even went out of their way to give us directions.
We caught the SITA back to our hostel in Atrani. Below is the view from the hostel, which doesn't match up chronologically since it was dark when we got back.
We got cleaned up from our marvelous journey under the Mediterranean Sun. We asked our hostel owner where to eat, since our dinner from the previous night left something to be desired. He told us about the place from the beginning of the Amalfi portion of this post with the outdoor tables lit up by stringed lights. We strolled up the road to the terrace restaurant named Zaccaria. We walked in to a empty restaurant that was built entirely into the cliff. The only visible signs of life were the two men who took ran and presumably owned the place. He gave us menus with no English translation (FINALLY!) which meant we had no idea what most of the stuff was. After ten minutes of the main Italian in charge crossing his arms disapprovingly at us, he came up and asked me what we wanted, in very broken English. I didn't know if he was talking about what I wanted in life, to eat, or if he was questioning why we were even in his restaurant. He pointed at the menu and said "Primi or Secondi?!" I said "I think we want primi, but we want an antipasti too." He smiled shook both hands and took our menus. We didn't even order...? He came back five minutes later with a bowl of the only olives I've ever liked, and baskets of toasted bread for do-it-yourself bruschette. I think he said he ordered up two pasta dishes for us and brought us a couple carafes of wine. The food was all great. I'm getting tired of telling you how good the food is here, and I'm sure you're tired of hearing it. The pasta that followed, one with mussels, the other with some sort of hearty sea life, was, again, amazing. I've had some bad meals here, but I've also had several of the best. This is somewhere near the top. Someday I'll make a list. (Spoiler: You can't dethrone Trattoria Cacio e Pepe) After this we went back and slept. We woke up the next morning and took a walk.
A 4 hour walk up a mountain. But I'll tell you about that another time. I have Italian homework to do and I'm leaving for Barcelona in less than 24 hours. Next week, I promise.
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