Traveling!! On Thursday morning we left for our first of two field trips of the semester! We went to South Italy. We arrived first in Naples! We first went to Museo Archeologico which is a museum which holds all the archeological sculptures and frescoes found in Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was a really neat place to go! It was cool to see that history in such good condition. We then continued to walk around Naples, with our professor Alessandro showing us around (he lives in Naples). We saw the old retail Galleria Principe di Napoli which is essentially like a mall back in the day. Next stop was food and we had pizza that was invented in Naples and of course, it was delicious. What Italian food isn't? We continued on to see Galleria Umberto I, a castle, and the royal palace. After Naples, we took a boat and headed to Sorrento!
Sorrento was adorable. Small town Italy wins my heart by far, but I still do love Rome. Anyways, we got checked into our hotels and I stayed at Hotel Angiolina. It was super adorable, had vine covered walkway with kiwis growing from it leading up to the hotel itself and there were plants and greenery all around the hotel. It was a hotel I could've stayed in for awhile.
That night we went to dinner for a full Italian meal at La Favorita O'Parrucchiano. When I say full meal I mean four courses. It started out with appetizers which was a small sampling of five different items, followed by a pasta course, then a meat course, and finally dessert. It was the most incredible meal I've had since being in Italy. Nothing will ever beat that meal! Plus, the ambiance of the hotel resembled a garden and it was a very peaceful place to be to accompany the wonderful meal.
Friday morning we packed up all our stuff and headed out to take a train to Herculaneum. Little did we know, and soon found out, the train was on strike for the morning so we were unable to go to Herculaneum. Then came the bittersweet moment of us learning we would be going to Pompeii instead. One part of me was super excited because going to Pompeii has been on my bucket list for quite some time, but the interior designer part of me was disappointed because Herculaneum has better preserved, and more, interior spaces than Pompeii does. Oh well, I'll just have to come back to Italy sometime to go to Herculaneum :p But Pompeii was gorgeous and breathtaking. to see everything that was still there blew me away. The Villa of Mysteries is the best preserved interior space in Pompeii and to be able to see old frescoes on the walls, and imagine what the space used to look like felt like an honor. I loved walking down the streets (the original street even!) and imagining what life would be like and what it would've looked like back when Pompeii was still an active city. How blessed we were to be there, and what a great way to end our field trip as a class.
My apartment ladies (7 of us) plus our friends Emily, Emily (yes both named Emily...there are 3 total haha) and Richard decided to continue our weekend on our own terms. Our next top was Capri! Upon arriving in Capri, we noticed immediately the absolutely breathtaking water and how teal and royal blue it was. I will never get over the water and how amazing it is. Absolutely one of my top 3 favorite creations on Earth. Just something you can never get used to.
We then wandered our way to find our hotel. We stayed in Anacapri which is on the same island, it's just on the other side of the mountain that's on the island. So we boarded a bus and found our way there. The hotel was called Hotel Bussola and it was super adorable as well. The lady who worked there, Rita, was extremely friendly as well as very helpful! She made a suggestion that we go down near the waterfront to Faro for sunset and then recommended a place to eat! She even set it up to where people from the restaurant would come pick us up from Faro, take us to the restaurant, and return us to our hotel when we were ready all free of charge! (We think the restaurant and the hotel had a deal lined up) So that's what we did. We headed down to Faro to catch the end of the sunset. At Faro there is a neat little lighthouse and places where you can just sit and relax on the rocks and look out at the sea. It was extremely peaceful. We were then picked up and taken to the restaurant (I forgot the name :/) I ordered ravioli with walnuts in it which was amazing and for dessert we all got Torte Caprese which is Capri Cake. It was recommended to us by our professor Jody because it is something that is unique to Capri and something Capri is famous for. And of course, delicious. It was chocolate cake with almonds in it! Yummy :) To finish our night of royalty we were escorted back to our hotel to get some rest.
Saturday morning we decided to see the sights! Our list consisted of Grotta Azzura, chair lift, the natural arch, and the Garden of Augustus, and in that order! (Remember the order, that becomes important later :p) So we set off on our way with all of our stuff with us! We went to the Grotta Azzura first, got in a small boat, and went in! By the way, a grotta is essentially a cave in the side of the mountain at water level. It was gorgeous. The incredible blue water and the amazement of that being possible. After coming out of the grotta, we headed to the chair lift! The chair lift took us to the highest point in Capri. When we got up there, we were inside a cloud. We were surrounded by fog from the cloud. It was serene. I loved being up there! It was a great view as well.
We then made our way to the natural arch. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the Garden of Augustus instead. So we decided to just go there next since we were there. And guess what, it was beautiful! Just like everything else haha there were so many beautiful flowers to see and capture in a photo. Amazing. After stopping there, we found our path to take to get to the natural arch. Little did we know what we were about to encounter would absolutely exhaust us...
We started walking and we noticed right away that it was a very hilly place, but then it only got worse. The trail we were on was more of a hiking trail, not walking, and especially not walking when you are carrying everything you have with you. There were so many stairs and hills and it was awful. We were not wearing the appropriate outfit our shoes and we were all sweating like pigs. Everyone got a little cranky during the walk...after about an hour and a half we discovered another grotto! Except this one was no longer on the water front, and we could actually go inside. It was pretty neat even with exhaustion setting in.
We finally made it to the natural arch and it was incredible. Mind blowing to know that something like that can form on its own. Very picturesque. We then continued our hike which turned more into a walk at this point to head to the marina to be on our way to Amalfi! Needless to say, we were all really excited to sit down for awhile.
Saturday evening we arrived in Amalfi and then walked about five mintues to Atrani, a subdivision of Amalfi which is where we stayed. We shopped around in Amalfi that night and sat down to eat. I had my first Italian calzone and enjoyed every bite of it. I certainly slept well that night.
Sunday morning we got up and went to see the duomo (cathedral) and crypt that are in the center of Amalfi. Both were absolutely incredible. Ceilings will never get old in Italy. I haven't seen one that hasn't amazed me and I don't think I ever will. Sally and I then took a side trip to go see the town of Postiano. It's a cute little touristy town and we took a bus over to check it out and have lunch. The rest of our group hung out in Amalfi. Postiano was super cute, but super packed with people and crowded. Definitely worth the trip though!
That afternoon we finally made our way back to Rome. It was a very long, exhausting, sweaty, weekend but it was worth it every minute. Even the hiking. I wouldn't do it again, but it was nice to experience. We literally hiked coast to coast of Capri. And eventful weekend to say the least.
This weekend we're off to Oktoberfest in Munich! What an adventure that will be haha stories definitely to come later :) Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment