This weekend was hands down the best weekend of my entire
life. Thursday night, courtesy of Bus2Alps, all 20 of us UNH students headed
out for an amazing weekend in the Amalfi Coast. On the agenda for the 3 day weekend
was Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompeii. We spent the weekend staying at the
Seven Hostel in Sorrento and from there we took day trips to each of the three
other towns. The ride up to the Amalfi Coast, on a huge tour bus, around the
windy roads (on the side of a cliff no less) was just as expected: terrifying.
I had heard stories from my family of how terrifying the ride with the crazy
Italian drivers and narrow roads but you don’t quite understand the fear until
you experience it. The only thing I could think of the entire ride was this
scene from Harry Potter:
But, we made it! The first day trip we took was to Capri and
the view was absolutely breathtaking. We started the day taking a two-hour boat
tour around the island of Capri where we got to see all of the amazing
landscapes. AND IT WAS OUR LUCKY DAY, BECAUSE: BLUE GROTTO! The Blue Grotto is
definitely one of the major touristy sites of Capri and it is very rare that
the tide is in your favor to be able to enter. So lucky for us, we got to go
in! The men came up on their little row boats, packed us in four to a boat and
he made our way to the extremely small entrance. When you get to the front, the
rower has your all lay down on the inside of the boat (it’s that small, you
can’t sit up to enter) and he lays down (essentially on top of us) and he pulls
you using a wire that is connected to the inside of the cave. There is a huge
wind gust as you pull in but once you get in you are immediately dazzled by the
glowing of the blue water. These pictures do not even begin to show the real
beauty of the cave!
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| Capri |
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| Erica, Emily, Me, Kate |
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| Boat Ride Selfie! |
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| Blue Grotto Entrance (Left cave) |
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| Blue Grotto |
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| Blue Grotto |
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| Blue Grotto |
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| Cliffs that inspired scenery for Jurassic Park |
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| Erica, Emily, Me, Kate |
After the Blue Grotto, we finished our boat tour and we
docked at Capri and were given the afternoon to explore the island. We hiked
our way up to the top of the island to Anacapri and treated ourselves to a
Granita (lemon/orange slushee with a hint of vodka) while enjoying the view.
From there we walked around the town and stopped to have lunch in one of the
recommended restaurants. We treated ourselves to homemade ravioli and obviously
a Ceprese Salad (it is the birth place and all).
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| Top of Capri |
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| Granita! |
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| Caprese Salad in Capri! |
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| Ravioli |
After lunch, we stopped in to one of the shops called
Carlo’s Sandal Shop who makes you your own custom designed, fitted to your
feet, sandals! He is famous for making sandals for Jackie O back in the day. So
obviously, I treated myself to a new pair of Deep Purple Braided Sandals!
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| Man who made the shoes for Jackie O |
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| Making my Sandals! |
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| My Custom-Made Sandals! |
We then took a chairlift ride to the very top of the
mountain and enjoyed the most spectacular view of the entire island. It was a
one in a life time experience and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity
to experience such a beautiful place.
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| Top of Capri |
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| Me at the top! |
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| Capri |
That night we headed out to dinner to Leone Rosso where,
FAMILY GET READY, I tried my first ever Clam … AND LIKED IT! Oh, and I
accidentally ordered myself a scotch on the rocks at dinner. When in Rome (or
Sorrento…) …
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| My accidental Scotch.... |
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| All smiles for the clams... |
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| "It's so slimy!!" |
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| Not bad... |
The next day we headed to out Positano where we spent the
whole day enjoying soaking up the sun and exploring the different caves of
Positano. A few of us rented a boat that took us around Positano where he let
us swim in and out of the beautiful caves and then took us cliff jumping at the
end! It was the most amazing experience of my life!
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| Positano |
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| Me @ Positano |
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| Positano |
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| Me, Erica |
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| Erica & Me on the boat! |
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| Positano Cave |
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| Boat Selfie! |
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| Me & Erica Cliff Jumping! |
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| SO MUCH FUN |
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| Cliff jumping! |
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| Me @ Positano |
That night we stayed at the Hostel and celebrated our
friend’s 20th birthday (shout out to Kasey!!) and prepared ourselves
for the long day that awaited us in Pompeii!
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| Kasey's Birthday Bowl of Gelato! |
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| Birthday Girl! |
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| Kate, Garlande |
Our last day we spent in Pompeii which was absolutely breath
taking. A few of us decided to opt out of the guided tour (it was 90 degrees
and no shade) and we decided to get lost on our own! While it would have been
nice to have been told by a guide what we were looking at it was definitely
self satisfying to be able to figure it out on our own. We saw all of the ruins
of the city and the statues of the victims of the volcano eruption. Pompeii was
definitely a huge eye opener of all the history that lies within Italy and I am
so lucky to have been able to experience it!
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| Pompeii |
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| Pompeii |
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| Kate, Me |
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| Pompeii |
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| Pompeii |
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| Pompeii |
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| People of Pompeii |
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| Pompeii |
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| Napoli Pizza |
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| Napoli Pizza (Caprese) |
We left Pompeii and set out for our 8 hour commute back to
Ascoli Piceno, but despite the long bus rides with no AC, it was totally worth
it!!
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