So much traveling.

The past week and a half has been so ridiculously busy from traveling and sightseeing and enjoying the cities of Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and Sicily! So I will do as brief a summary as I can for this past Sprink break...

Day 1: We went to Naples straight from Certaldo (with a lunch stop at an auto grill, so cool!) 

lunch at the auto grill with a wee little nutella

and had a small bus tour plus we parked on the side of the road up the mountain so we could see the arial view of the city.  

Fancy waiter at our fancy cappuccino break in Naples

After that we spent a little while in the city walking around to different places and it was pretty cool, although a little windy for my pleasure because it was about to rain. 





Seriously, we all thought a hurricane was about to come through the winds were that crazy. Afterwards we rode another hour or so to our hotel in Vico Equense and unpacked before dinner which was delicious, as I posted about before. 

View from Vico

Day 2: We intended to go to Capri for the day with a boat tour but the winds were so bad that we wouldn't be able to make it across the water on those waves.  Instead we pit-stopped in Sorrento before turning around and heading to Pompeii for the day.  

by the water in Sorrento

Pompeii was pretty awesome...lots of buildings and roads and open areas.  








It was cool walking through the town thinking about the fact that people used to live that and walk the same streets.  

I mean, all of the cities in Italy are ancient anyways, but when modern people are living in them it doesn't seem as ancient.  

person covered and preserved in ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

We also got to see replicas of ash-covered people who died during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.





After Pompeii we had a free afternoon so Charlotte and I took a walk in Vico Equense and decided to stay a while for the sunset.

Day 3: We tried for Capri again, but the water was still too choppy so we decided to take a public bus to one of the cities off the Amalfi Coast and spend the day there.  

After spending a day in Positano, I can safely say that as of right now it is my favorite place in the whole world.  








I spent my day relaxing, ate some delicious pizza, and sat on the rocks above the clear blue water all afternoon with the warm sun beating down on me.  





It was fantastic.  





On a side note, Emily did lose her jacket in the water due to a huge gust of wind, but Morgan played superman and jumped in to get it for her (he really just wanted to get in the water).  





Day 4: We took our tour on a private bus through the Amalfi Coast and stopped at a few places including this awesome area with a family owned ceramic shop and a cave boat tour! 





It was so cool! We just circled this little area, but still, the cave was awesome and the water beautifully clear, not to mention there was a tunnel under the water in the rock so there was a burst of light shining through the water.  





After an hour there we went to the town of Amalfi for lunch.  Amalfi was really cute, but I wish it had been warmer.  





Fortunately, I was able to climb and explore some rocks (always a winner).  After Amalfi we stopped briefly in Ravello where we saw a limoncello factory with free taste testing.  I had no idea there was such thing as melon cello, but it tasted like medicine; however, the limoncello and cream cello were pretty nice.  Then, on the way back to the hotel we stopped on a mountainside to take pictures.

















Day 5: EARLY rise to the Rome airport and departure for independent travel! SICILY! Palermo wasn't what we expected (more urban and port, less seaside)


 


but it was still a great city to walk around and explore, and our hostel was adorable! 

(these were taken literally a minute before we left because I kept forgetting to take them)

little hobbit door that we had to step into and duck for 

That night Paige accidentally found an amazing restaurant with delicious food at a really good price (we ended up going back two more times).  The dish I ordered was a linguini surrounded by muscles with little clams and shrimp mixed in the past, and all for 8 euro. 

How awesome.  





The best part was that the owners of the restaurant were Indian.  Who knew Indians made such amazing Italian food?


Day 6: In true Spring Break fashion, we hit the beach on our first full day in Sicily.  We took a bus to a small town called Mondello and soaked up some sun almost all day.

Seriously, beside lunch, dinner, walking through the sidewalk market, and the little details, that's all we did on day six. 

People in Italy like to lay fully clothed on beaches...it's quite entertaining

this thing was called something like an African cream/chocolate pastry thing

Day 7: Some people went to the Valley of the Temples on day seven and I intended to, but the previous night I passed out before I even finished setting my alarm (with the lights on and ipod in hand ready to set the alarm...tired much?).  So I woke up at 1:30...how did that happen? I have no idea, but a few of us went to Modello again for a late lunch and to hang out on the beach again.  

sunset on Mondello beach behind the houses

Dinner at the amazing Indian-owned delicious Italian food place again.

HAD to get calamari while in Sicily. It was delicious.

Day 8: We spent our last day in the adorable fishing town of Cefalù.  






It was also the warmest day!! SUPER PLUS!  We ate authentic Sicilian pizza, 

I had my first cannoli, 

and then we walked towards the beach where I found perfect climbing rocks! 






It was an amazing adventure in the warm sunny sun. 

I was a happy camper. Then we laid out for a few hours in the soft sand.  Great day.  

Day 9: Craziness trying to catch a bus for the airport, finding out we couldn't take a bus and taking a taxi, flying to Pisa, waiting in Pisa for hours because there was a train strike, being exhausted...not a great day. Although I did enjoy my last cannoli for a long while






I was just ready to be back in Certaldo and needed a break from the end of our break.


Spring Break is over, second term has started, classes are rushing, and we're all trying to get back in the groove of things.  Luckily it's getting more and more beautiful outside!!!


Yay warm weather!!