Hello everyone! Sorry for the slight delay in getting part two up, but I'm dealing with exams right now!
When we last left off, it was the end of our last day in Rome. After leaving the zoo, we went back to our hostel to grab all of our luggage and say goodbye to the beautiful city. It really is one of my favorite places in the world now.
After night fell, we got back to the train station to catch our bus back to Ciampino, where we were meeting with our next tour group for the Amalfi Coast tour. If you're not sure where the Amalfi Coast is, here's a helpful map.
We would be based in Sorrento, where we had a beautiful hotel and got to enjoy the nightlife a little bit. We were picked up at the airport at 11:30 that night, and we just slept through the bus ride, getting to Sorrento at about 2 a.m. Cue the immediate passing out. I'd never been so happy to see a bed in my life.
The next morning we were to be ready to head out by 7 a.m. This was torture after our exhausting 3 days in Rome plus the lack of adequate sleep the night before. However, after a little breakfast and an attitude adjustment, we were prepared to take on the day!
The first day we went to Capri, an island about an hour's ferry ride from Sorrento. I'd heard so much about Capri and how beautiful it was, but I was so unprepared for everything we saw and did. This region in Italy is famous for limoncello, a really strong citrus alcoholic drink, and caprese salad, of course.
The view from our hotel room.
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.
The first thing we did in Capri was take a boat tour around the island. We got to see a lot of really beautiful sites.
The water. SO BLUE. You can literally see feet til the bottom. This is the blue grotto, one of Italy's most famous. We were supposed to be able to go swimming in it, but the water was really choppy and was deemed unsafe. Booooo.
Hello, gorgeous.
This is Anacapri, which is another town on the same island. We went to both towns this day.
Once landed, we headed up the mountain to get to some shops and to get lunch. This view was divine.
The first thing we did in Capri was explore a little bit. The other girls got grenada, which was a kind of fruity drink that I tried and didn't like very much. They drank, we sat, and enjoyed the view. It looked like something right out of a fairytale. It didn't feel real that we were all there.
After enjoying our relaxation, we headed with the others in our group to get to Anacapri. We all crowded into tiny buses that were really just vans, and took a seriously questionable route which involved a lot of cliffs with zero guard rails and some seriously questionable driving that had me saying what I thought were the final prayers of my life.
But, we made it to Anacapri unscathed! Yesssss!
It was even more beautiful in Anacapri, which was higher on the mountain. We enjoyed the cute little shops and the other girls picked somewhere to eat lunch. As I was on a budget, I had a little peanut butter tortilla and an apple and was all set. At the restaurant, the girls ordered ravioli and pizza, which looked amazing. Each of their meals got dessert with them, and a waiter who wasn't the one who took our order gave me a piece of cake as well. I stopped him and told him that I didn't order it, but he shrugged and said it was fine. Free cake? I'll take it. But then the waiter who we had originally demanded I pay for it. Obviously I wasn't going to take that and explained the situation multiple times before he finally understood he was not about to get his way. Perfect example of how much more assertive I've gotten since I arrived! (;
After lunch, we browsed a few more shops, but our main focus was on our activity for the day, which was chairlifting up the mountain for the best view of Capri. I was a little bit nervous because the chairlift looked slightly run down and I am really freaked out by heights and falling, etc. But of course, it was fine.
The four of us at the top! (:
Flawless.
Selfies for Dad.
One last look before we headed back down.
After we got back to Anacapri, we moseyed on over to the bus stop to head back to the pier and return to Sorrento. Since the buses were so small, we waited nearly 30 minutes for one and we were still crammed in, zero personal space was a thing. But we made it to the pier in one piece and all was well. The only bad part about Capri was that my camera ran out of batteries, and I (foolishly) left the rest of them in Limerick. Oh well. So the rest of these pictures are taken with my iPhone.
Back in Sorrento, we decided to go with the group out for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant and got pizza and wine. Afterward, we had a few drinks at the bar in the main square and had a great time. Afterward we went back to the hotel and were in bed by 10:30.
The next day, we were up at a decent hour and headed for the beautiful coastal town of Positano. We were hoping for a nicer day than we had in Capri because it was a little chilly and we had some slight rain. However, our wishes were not granted. Regardless of the situation we wore shorts anyways. Wishful thinking at its finest.
We took the ferry over, and due to really choppy waters it was not my favorite situation, but we got to Positano in about an hour and a quarter. It was truly beautiful, every little brightly colored house built right into the mountain. It always makes me think of the first people who ever lived there, and how they got on in such a rocky landscape. Anyway, Positano was extremely beautiful, but I think Capri was my favorite up until this point.
The fog was so badass.
This was right next to a little panini shop where we got the best sandwiches of our lives. This is not an exaggeration. The BEST sandwich of my whole 20 years of life. This is not a drill, people.
After our panini, we headed into this cathedral (pictured here). We were heavily judged for wearing shorts by some old ladies. Apologies to the country of Italy for showing my knees.
Pretty sure we weren't supposed to take photos but I like to live dangerously.
This is right on the beach. It was too cold to go in, but the sand was so neat and nice to sit on. The sand was nearly black, hence the name "black sand beaches" that Italy has a lot of.
Possibly the coolest photo of us in existence.
It's crazy that you can't even see a lot of the island because it's too foggy. There's a mountain behind that fog, guys.
Overall, despite the chill and the constant drizzle (I thought we escaped this when we left Ireland?!) we had a great time in Positano. I even got myself and Katie a little souvenir...hopefully she loves it as much as I do. I wanted to bring her back a piece of Italy so that she knows it's still waiting for her whenever she decides to return (:
After consuming arguably the best chocolate gelato of my existence, we headed back to the pier to ferry back to Sorrento. However, we ended up waiting on the dock for about an hour; the waves were really choppy and dangerous. Considering the next few events, we really should have taken the bus with the other half of the tour, but apparently we got the short end of the stick. Once the ferry docked, it was a struggle to get everyone OFF, which should have been the first sign we were in for the single worst experience of our lives. The gang plank was furiously bobbing up and down and each of us had to go single file, with crew members literally supporting us just to get on the boat. After we got on the boat, it was so choppy that it was like going down in an elevator...every 5 seconds for an hour and a half. COOL. So two of us (names will not be shared to protect identities) got sick and so we were happy to be back on land after that whole ordeal. I'm so happy that this was the last ferry I will ever have to take if I so choose, because the next few days were all places we drove to in the bus.
That night was pretty relaxed, as we didn't feel like going out. We went back into Sorrento city centre to look around at some shops. Because Easter Sunday was the next day, there were a fair amount of people. We looked around in some shops and then went to a gelato shop (obviously). I decided to have a cannoli, because the ones in Rome were so fabulous and I wanted to compare. I picked out what I thought for a chocolate one. (Backstory: I gave up Nutella for lent) When I bit into it, however, it was clear that it was not a chocolate cannoli, but a Nutella one. So I lasted, technically, 39 days without Nutella. At least it was an accident! Then, since I was already done for, I got a Nutella crepe. Dinner, in my opinion, is always best when you have dessert first.
That night we (actually) went to bed at a decent hour in preparation for our trip to Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii.
Easter Sunday, we woke up excited for our adventure to see the longest running archaeological project in history....
and that's where I'll pick up next time. I realize I didn't actually include Easter in my "pray" section, but just being in these places are so breathtaking and makes me realize how completely blessed I am to have seen these places. There are millions of people on the planet who have only dreamed of seeing everything I saw, and I was in Italy for a whole week. It really made me aware of how good God is and how fortunate I truly am. Regardless of struggles and how exhausting travel is, I would never give it up for anything.
On that note, I'm sure many of you realize my time in Ireland is dwindling. It is 11 days until my parents get here and our Great European Adventure begins. That said, I'm probably going to start my Ireland video within the next few days. So, if you have a question you want to ask me and have me answer in my Top 5/Bottom 5 video about my semester abroad, please email your question to askcarolineireland@gmail.com . It can be any question, about anywhere in Ireland, about Italy, about my experience, anything you want. I will probably start the video in about 3 or 4 days, so you have until then to email me!
Slainte! Next part, Love, will be up early next week.
Caroline.
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