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!!!