Pompeii, Capri, Vico Equense

Picture Slideshow to go along with previous post!





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Sept 25-27

We began our trip to southern Italy with a 5 hours bus ride. Our budget this year has allowed us to take coach buses to all of our weekend trips and not have to worry about catching and switching trains with our weekend luggage. I pack in my backpack for the weekend trips but others do not pack quite as light. ; ) As we were approaching the Naples area, it seemed like out of nowhere this mountain just appeared. This was Mount Vesuvius, the active volcano that last erupted in 1944 and its eruption in 79 AD completely covered the city and wiped out the population of Pompeii. Our time was limited and I did not end up taking the bus to go hike along the rim of the volcano, but I did get some nice photos through the bus window and then a few more from our hotel, Pompeii and Capri.
We stayed in a town called Vico Equense… it is one of the many towns tucked into the cliffs of the coast below Naples. The view from our hotel was amazing (top picture) It was also in a great location, a one minute walk to the train station. We checked into our hotel, a pink sponge painted room with green rope trim, and orange bed spreads- it was an interesting combination, not that we were complaining- we were in southern Italy!!!
That afternoon we took the train to Pompeii- the excavated town that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 AD. The buildings, houses and streets are so well preserved because the town was covered in about 30-60 feet of volcanic rock and ash. Some of the houses are so well preserved that you can see the mosaic tiled floors and fresco wall paintings. We had audio guides for our visit to Pompeii and when we first got there in the afternoon it was quite crowded but it soon cleared out and the angle of the sun in the evening made for some great pictures and nice visit with less crowds.
Saturday morning breakfast was served in our hotel, the dining room had assigned tables for each room and there was a lady that explained the buffet line of food and then showed us to our specific tables. This hotel definitely had some odd characteristics but we enjoyed out stay nonetheless. We then hoped back on the train, then a small bus and arrived in Sorrento where we caught a ferry to the island of Capri. As soon as we were on the island and had snapped as many pictures of its beauty we all ran to the beach. It was not a sandy beach, it was full of pebbles and rocks, which are not so nice on the feet but that did not stop us from dipping our feet in the Mediterranean!! Then we took the funicular a cable car tram that takes you to the top of the island, where the main piazza of Capri is. The blue grotto was closed the day we were in Capri and had been for the past five days for rough waters so we decided to walk around the island and see some of the sites by foot. The loop path that takes you from the main piazza and out and around one side of the island was described as an easy to moderate walk, taking about 20min in between each of the two main sites we would see. The Faraglioni and the Natural Arch. This was not exactly the case, our walk, more like a hike took us 3 hours!!! After our long trek around the island and all our site seeing we were ready to do some swimming. We took the funiculare back down, did a little souvenir shopping- we all got tee shirts! and hoped into the Mediterranean. It was a little chilly at first but very refreshing!!! We had brought a change of clothes for after our swim but after our swim the ferry was leaving in about 15minutes, we did not have time to find a public bathroom and so we road the ferry back in our bathing suits and dresses and enjoyed the wonderful sunset over the Mediterranean with the island of Capri in the background! We completed our night with a nice seafood dinner at a restaurant that was right on the cliffs of our town with a wonderful view!
Sunday we had to catch the bus back home at noon, so we had a few hours to walk around Vico Equense and so a little exploring. We found a nice panoramic overlook of the water, the next town and a beach that was covered in only seagulls. On the fence at the overlook were many locks just randomly attached… one of my roommates later researched this to find out that it is a symbol or tradition for couples to attach a lock to a fence, bridge, or bench near water and throw the key away into the water, proving their love for one another. We also stumbled upon a small market where we found some nice antique postcards and other odds and ends. We stopped at a small grocery store before boarding the bus and bought some potato ships that turned out to be a smokey barbeque flavor- something we had not found in Italy yet. It was a nice surprise and ending to a wonderful weekend!!!

Free Weekend Sept 18, 19, 20

(sorry for the delay)

The weekend after Rome was our first free weekend. One student went to Paris and another to Ireland, the rest of us stayed in Montapulciano to sit back and enjoy the town in which we now called home. It was great to actually have a morning to ‘sleep in.’ Since we left Atlanta on August 27th, we had not had a morning where we had to go to school, catch a bus or head to a museum or other tourist attraction. I am not complaining about running around everywhere because I want to get the most out of each of our weekend trips and believe it or not, getting up early for class means the rest of the day is still open and free!!!

Friday night we had ‘Fiesta Night.’ One of the girls apartments suggested a Fiesta night earlier in the week for whoever was going to staying in town for the weekend. I am enjoying all the Italian food and trying new things, but I sure do miss my chips and salsa! Thursday my apartment decided we were going to make some homemade salsa and contribute to the dinner… then we thought what about guacamole… Well sure enough we managed to find the only two avocados at the grocery store… a little more oddly shaped than the ones back home but they tasted just as good. We completed our two dips with some homemade baked tortillas and Sangria! The local winery in town lets you refill your water bottles or rather any container… we paid 10 euro for 7 liters of wine and added some nice fruit to the batch! All the other groups of students brought there own specialties or the best they could do at turning Italian food supplies into Mexican!

After the fiesta we headed down to the Garden bar… a place where many locals around our age hang out… some of the boys who had been in the Barrel parade where there and we tried our best to use the Italian we have been learning in class while they did there best at speaking English to us. While we are trying to learn their language and do the best we can and learn the language, the locals want us to speak to them in English so that they can learn ours.

Saturday we enjoyed our free time! Spent some time walking around town as locals and enjoyed watching the tourists in town for the weekend. It is funny how fast a place feels like home. We have gone from the first week of snapping a picture at every corner we come to, to taking in the scenery and give directions to tourists! That night we went to another groups apartment where we had some good old American hamburgers, complete with picante (spicy) ketchup from the Italian grocery store, and homemade French fries. The restaurant that we eat at Sunday through Thursday had been trying to give us a meal here and there to remind us of home--- hamburger patties with no buns, hotdogs- which we all agreed we could wait to have until we return home, and pizza with French fries on top of it! Our hamburgers were delicious and after that weekend my taste buds had been satisfied and it has been Italian food ever since!!!