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Naples
And
so we begin. Our journey starts in the idyllic town of Naples. Naples is a
little like Italy's Detroit, or maybe the bad part of Durham. OK it wasn't
the highlight of our trip. But we did go to a museum with lots of creepy
and interesting stuff from the Pompei ruins (including one room we can't
show you here because, well, this isn't that kind of web
site).
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Wicked
cool art from Pomei
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Sorento |
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From
Naples, we hit the train down the coast and around the bay to lovely* Sorento.
Sorento sits on high cliffs on one end of the beautiful Amalfi coast.
Across the bay you can see Naples and Mt. Vesuvius and toward the sea is Capri
just off the coast.
*
(from this point forward when we say
something was lovely/idyllic/beautiful, we're not being sarcastic)
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We nestled in for the night
in our cutesy wootsy little bungalow above town (which was beside that
funky little building on the left). |
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The
square in Sorento and the view from our bungalow at night.
(If
you look closely, you can see Mt. Vesuvius looming in the distance). |
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The
next morning, after the first of many many many really good coffees, we
were Vesuvius bound...
On
the right is us waiting for a looonnnngggg time for a bus which we weren't
sure was really going to show up (but those are some of the details we're
not going to tell you about). |
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The
feet to the train to the bus to the... tourist trap stop half way up the
mountain, where this cute li'l ole man told us stories about his life
running tours up the mountain.
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Finally,
we scale the peak and look down into the pit of the volcano.
(And,
yes, parts of it are still very hot).
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hill from Vesuvius (unlucky for them as it turned out), are the ruins of
the ancient city of Herculaneum, buried in lava and ash along with Pompei
in 79 A.D. While smaller and less well known than Pompei, the ruins are
actually better preserved because of the way in which they were covered by
volcanic material. The whole excavation sits 40 feet below the level of
the current town. |
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Amid
the streets of Herculaneum are many houses, temples, a hospital and the
ancient Roman equivalent of a restaurant. Those urns held food that guests
would gather around and share. |
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This
house, amazingly, was still almost completely intact after almost 2000
years. |
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Capri |
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The
next morning we embarked for Capri and the villages of the Amalfi Coast.
This is the day we learned about the, um, what's the word?... not
efficiency, not organization, um... oh, yes, the complete anarchy of
the Italian transportation system. More on that in a bit. |
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After
a coffee at "Cafeteria Ruccio" (what can we say, it's a great
name), we hopped on the 8:30 boat to Capri (which left prompty at
9:45). |
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After
a short boat ride, we arrived on Capri, built into the cliffs and wrapped
around the water's edge.
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From
the town of Capri we took a very scary bus ride up to the top of that
mountain to the tiny village of Anacapri (left). |
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And
let me tell you about the buses. These are more like a ride at a theme
park than a city bus. You're flying along these steep mountain roads with
barely one lane and 180° hairpin turns. On one side is a rock face and on
the other is a 1000 foot drop. Then you meet another bus. Another
bus. And you pass. With about an inch clearance. I'm pretty sure I left my
fingernail prints permanent pressed into the seat in front of me.
Here's
the view from the bus window è
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From
Anacapri we bussed down the other side of the island to the Blue Grotto
(ooohhh). This was bizarre. You get in a row boat, which takes you
over to a motor boat to buy a ticket, then you have to lay flat on your
back and the rowboat goes into this miniscule hole in the side of the
cliff face.
Inside
the blue grotto, the light from the hole creates this vivid iridescent
blue glow from the bottom of the pool.
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Positano |
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We
had a really solid plan. It was, it was a good plan. We read all
about our transportation options and we mapped it all out. We were going
to take the 8:30 boat to Capri, then spend some time on the island, then
take another boat along the Amalfi coast to the far end of the coastal
road. From there we were going to take the bus and village hop our way
back to Sorento. Or so we thought.
We
went to buy the boat ticket and there was no one at the ticket booth. So
we asked and we waited and we looked around and we asked some more... for
about 45 minutes. We got lots of good answers from lots of helpful people,
none of which were accurate. Then, finally, we find someone who knows
what's going on and that person informs us that the boats to the Amalfi
coast weren't running for the season yet.
So
then we came up with another good plan. We were starting to get the hang
of transportation in Italy.
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So, back on
the boat to Sorento and back on another death bus to Positano on the
Amalfi coast. These busses also drove quickly along narrow cliff roads,
but by this point we had built up a tolerance to the fear of our imminent
demise. And the drive was quite beautiful.
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The road to Positano |
Positano,
like Capri, is built into the cliffside at water's edge. The streets and
sidewalks snake around the buildings as endless steps lead up and down the
cliff. The perfect place for a sunny retreat.
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The
cathedral in the town center.
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Pompei
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Pompei,
though not quite as well preserved as Herculaneum, is much larger. It was
a full blown Roman city, and you really get a sense for what Roman life
must have been like. Popei has temples, public baths, a court, a central
market, a colloseum, amphitheatres. It's a lot like a modern city.
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