it's a lil after 8 pm now and i got home for capri probly about an hour ago. how can i sum up this weekend? absolutely amazing.
so we left friday morning from rome and headed to naples by train. the train ride was kinda long but it was kinda nice cause we got to nap. here's a picture of me and collin on the train. i wanted a nice picture documenting our travelling but she messed it up as she was (at the time) eating the stupid crackers she bought at tuo di the day before.
so we get to naples and walk around for a lil bit trying to figure out which train to take to sorrento. we finally find it and realize the train ride takes about an hour and a half as it goes from naples, around mount vesuvius, then to sorrento. we finally make it to sorrento, find our bus, and head all the way up the hill to find our camp site. we originally thought we would have a room and a tent but it ended up we had two cabins to share between the 5 of us. here's a picture of our cabin (cabin O). it actually was kinda nice and had clean sheets and all but for some reason when we got back from capri it was damp inside. i bet we were supposed to leave the window open or something. collin termed the ambiance as that of a "damp sandwich."
so we spent friday evening walking around sorrento. we first headed down the hill to explore a bit to see what we could find. we stumbled upon this beautiful church on the way down. it was a bit unsuspecting but once we went inside it was beautiful. unfortunately pictures are not allowed inside the church but here's the picture of the front it. completely unassuming, no?
after walking around in the church for a bit, we headed into town and grabbed some dinner at an outdoor cafe. the place was real cute and the food was good and cheap. i enjoyed spaghetti alle cozze (spaghetti with mussels) as everyone else enjoyed pizza, gnocchi, and spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams). after dinner, we grabbed some gelato at one of the local places and kept walking around to see what we could find. there was so much shopping it was ridiculous! and so much english spoken, too. i guess i never realized what a tourist town sorrento actually is. after a bit of wandering, we stumbled upon the public gardens of sorrento. it's a lookout point where you can see the bay of naples, naples, mount vesuvius, and capo di sorrento (the top of the hill). here's the best picture (of about 3409823490238409328 that we took) of us with capo di sorrento all lit up.
shortly after our stroll through town, we decided to head back to the camping site since we were planning on leaving for capri around 630. we headed up and went to bed early so we could be up by 6 and out by 630. on friday, we didn't pay for the buses because there was no one checking, but since we were the only JO's on the bus at 630 the bus driver asked for our tickets and we didn't have any. so we got off the bus and decided to walk down the hill instead. it was only about a 15-20 minute walk and it was downhill so it really wasn't a big deal at all. this is a picture of me and collin at the lookout point about halfway down the hill.
we run down to marina piccola to find that the ferry is leaving in 10 minutes. we buy tickets and run out to the boat with ample time. the ferry ride over was quite short but pretty and the breeze felt really nice. we started out inside but then decided it would be so much nicer inside. here's a picture of battaline, me, and collin chillin in the ferry before deciding to enjoy the outside deck.
so we get to capri and first get a bit of food and then buy tickets to the blue grotto. we get on the boat to the blue grotto and it ends up just being the 5 of us and this one other american dude travelling in capri for the weekend. this is a view of the seaside town from this boat.
and here's a picture of the 5 of us on the boat on the way to the blue grotto.
la grotta azzura, as they call it, is this lil grotto that's actually within the rocks on the island of capri. the hole to get in is so small that the people sitting in the rowboat have to lie along the bottom and the boat driver (term?) lies one level above, pulling on a chain to get in. its amazing...you get inside and its a small grotto. the water is so blue and gorgeous. and the acoustics of the place are amazing! our boat driver sang for us a bit and it sounded amazing even though he doesn't have much of a singing voice. here's the best picture of the grotto i could get. it's just amazing how this lil opening in the rocks could create this natural affect on the water to make it light up so bright blue!
so we headed back to capri and couldn't decide what to do. it came down to us wanting to lie down on the beach all day. so we headed over to the closest beach (2 minute walk) and started walking. after a few minutes we realized that there's no sand on the beaches in capri! i guess the beaches aren't that old cause in some parts the stones are HUGE and in others, theyre smaller. it was amazing to me cause i had never seen a beach like that and i have to say it is quite painful to walk on those stones without shoes. we ended up spending most of the day at this beach since the weather was so beautiful and the water felt nice. i, personally, chose not to swim cause i had to be wearing my bathing suit for the rest of the day and the water was ridiculously salty. but i did wet my feet (belmar style). here's a picture of the rocks that made up the shore.
as the sun got stronger, and we got hotter, we headed back into the town. we hit up a "snack bar" as they call it for a delicious caprisian lunch. sara got risotto al pescatore with all kinds of amazing seafood. lisa got a caprese sandwich (fresh mozarella, sweet tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and deliciousness) and i got a caprese sandwich with some fresh grilled tuna. i can't even begin to tell you how amazing the seafood is down there and how cheap it is too! i also had a lemon soda which tasted like non alcoholic mike's hard lemonade and it was also delish. apparently capri and sorrento are known for their lemon products (something i didn't know before) so of course i had to try it all. shortly after, we hopped on a bus to anacapri, the historic center on the top of the island. anacapri is a cute lil place that really reminds me of the greek islands. all the buildings are painted white and there are tons of lil shops and things for tourists to walk around and visit. we stumbled upon this chairlift up to mount solaro. its literally like chairs attached to cables that just constantly go up and down the hill. it's kinda cool. well anyway, mount solaro dates back pretty far and there some ruins and statues and things up there. by far one of the most beautiful and breathtaking things ive ever done in my life. from the top of the mountain, if you look down at the marina to see the boats, this is what you see. cute, huh?
here's a picture with me and the view of capri from the mountain.
now on the other side of the mountain, you see a different side of capri. this is me, lisa, and sara with collin standing on the chair to take the picture in order to get the background.
one of the most famous statues on the top of the mountain is of this guy hanging off the building. it looks like he's saying what up or flipping someone off. this is collin showing him how its done.
on top of the mountain there are a bunch of tables and lounge chairs where you can sit and enjoy the view. the weather was so beautiful but we were totally all up in the sun's grill.
we met some other americans who agreed to take a picture of the 5 of us with some kind of view. here it is.
so on the way down i figured would be better to take pictures of the panorama considering the way its positioned. here's a picture of a random k person (one of collin's people that happen to be one of 92383948329 in sorrento and capri this weekend) on his chair and the beautiful view of the countryside from the chair.
there's collin on the chairlift doing her fob pose.
by the way, this chair lift isn't too high from the ground (20 ft maybe?) but it goes down this really steep hill and at some point slowed down which was kinda shady. good thing none of us were afraid of heights. though the entire time i was kinda wishing i could take babiak with me to see how he would react. anyhow, we get back down to anacapri and realize what time it is and try to run down to the ferry terminal to catch the last ferry. we get on a bus that only takes us halfway down the hill which is uber lame but then hop on the funicolare. it kinda reminded me of the tram in santorini that anna and i RAN to catch in order to make the last hydrofoil back to the boat. here's me, sara, and gretchen on the funicolare.
we catch the ferry back to sorrento with great ease and it all went pretty smoothly. once on sorrento, we enjoy a nice meal and the lovely evening. of course we managed to make the restaurant hate us and pretty much ban us for life but you know whatever. anyhow, here's sara walking through the beautifully lit alleyways of sorrento.
this morning me, battaline, and collin headed to one of the limoncello stores to buy these like lemon chocolate almond candy things we tried the day before. they're so amazing. i know lemon chocolate almond doesn't sound too appetizing, but i have to tell you these candies are amazing. the guy was this old italian man who kept singing and telling us how italian men love women and so we asked him to take a picture. the lady taking it was kinda stupid so its blurry but nonetheless, its a funny picture.
after buying our long awaited candy, we decided to go back to the lookout point to see the bay of naples by day. here's what the country side looks like during the day.
also, down in the bay of naples, they have restaurants, beaches, and bathing platforms. the shore of sorrento only gets a strong enough sun for sunbathing between the months of april and october. they have these platforms that you pay for to head out and grab a chair and take in the sun. when october rolls around, they dismantle the platforms and put them away. theyre actually really cool since the water is so clear and all. these are the bathing platforms.
and here is a picture demonstrating exactly how clear the water is.
this is mount vesuvius. its kinda weird cause i heard a tour guide saying that when its even a lil cloudy, mount vesuvius gets completely lost in the haze and can't be seen at all. also, if it ever erupted where i was standing would be the perfect place to watch from.
so then we decided to just head out since sorrento really isn't close AT ALL to rome. and by not close i mean it takes like 6 hours to get there. we luckily caught the train right away and headed out to naples where we thought we barely made the train but of course the train left 30 minutes late. here's me and collin after not having showered for 2 days and sweated lots during the heat. yum.
ok well that's it for now. next weekend i think we're just doing a day trip to tivoli to see hadrian's villa and then probably trastevere and the vatican on sunday. but after that more adventure to come.
ps one more addition to my lil traveling calendar
Nov 10-12 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY barbie goes to hungary! no i'm not barbie and i'm sure yall can figure that out from the pictures. actually there's this low cost carrier called wizz air that has pink and purple planes which is what i booked with to head to budapest. collin and i found a decent flight and a good hostel so we decided...budapest it is! it's pretty off beat but i bet itll be amazing and my aunt and uncle will have just been there and can sort of guide us. yay!
so we left friday morning from rome and headed to naples by train. the train ride was kinda long but it was kinda nice cause we got to nap. here's a picture of me and collin on the train. i wanted a nice picture documenting our travelling but she messed it up as she was (at the time) eating the stupid crackers she bought at tuo di the day before.
so we get to naples and walk around for a lil bit trying to figure out which train to take to sorrento. we finally find it and realize the train ride takes about an hour and a half as it goes from naples, around mount vesuvius, then to sorrento. we finally make it to sorrento, find our bus, and head all the way up the hill to find our camp site. we originally thought we would have a room and a tent but it ended up we had two cabins to share between the 5 of us. here's a picture of our cabin (cabin O). it actually was kinda nice and had clean sheets and all but for some reason when we got back from capri it was damp inside. i bet we were supposed to leave the window open or something. collin termed the ambiance as that of a "damp sandwich."
so we spent friday evening walking around sorrento. we first headed down the hill to explore a bit to see what we could find. we stumbled upon this beautiful church on the way down. it was a bit unsuspecting but once we went inside it was beautiful. unfortunately pictures are not allowed inside the church but here's the picture of the front it. completely unassuming, no?
after walking around in the church for a bit, we headed into town and grabbed some dinner at an outdoor cafe. the place was real cute and the food was good and cheap. i enjoyed spaghetti alle cozze (spaghetti with mussels) as everyone else enjoyed pizza, gnocchi, and spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams). after dinner, we grabbed some gelato at one of the local places and kept walking around to see what we could find. there was so much shopping it was ridiculous! and so much english spoken, too. i guess i never realized what a tourist town sorrento actually is. after a bit of wandering, we stumbled upon the public gardens of sorrento. it's a lookout point where you can see the bay of naples, naples, mount vesuvius, and capo di sorrento (the top of the hill). here's the best picture (of about 3409823490238409328 that we took) of us with capo di sorrento all lit up.
shortly after our stroll through town, we decided to head back to the camping site since we were planning on leaving for capri around 630. we headed up and went to bed early so we could be up by 6 and out by 630. on friday, we didn't pay for the buses because there was no one checking, but since we were the only JO's on the bus at 630 the bus driver asked for our tickets and we didn't have any. so we got off the bus and decided to walk down the hill instead. it was only about a 15-20 minute walk and it was downhill so it really wasn't a big deal at all. this is a picture of me and collin at the lookout point about halfway down the hill.
we run down to marina piccola to find that the ferry is leaving in 10 minutes. we buy tickets and run out to the boat with ample time. the ferry ride over was quite short but pretty and the breeze felt really nice. we started out inside but then decided it would be so much nicer inside. here's a picture of battaline, me, and collin chillin in the ferry before deciding to enjoy the outside deck.
so we get to capri and first get a bit of food and then buy tickets to the blue grotto. we get on the boat to the blue grotto and it ends up just being the 5 of us and this one other american dude travelling in capri for the weekend. this is a view of the seaside town from this boat.
and here's a picture of the 5 of us on the boat on the way to the blue grotto.
la grotta azzura, as they call it, is this lil grotto that's actually within the rocks on the island of capri. the hole to get in is so small that the people sitting in the rowboat have to lie along the bottom and the boat driver (term?) lies one level above, pulling on a chain to get in. its amazing...you get inside and its a small grotto. the water is so blue and gorgeous. and the acoustics of the place are amazing! our boat driver sang for us a bit and it sounded amazing even though he doesn't have much of a singing voice. here's the best picture of the grotto i could get. it's just amazing how this lil opening in the rocks could create this natural affect on the water to make it light up so bright blue!
so we headed back to capri and couldn't decide what to do. it came down to us wanting to lie down on the beach all day. so we headed over to the closest beach (2 minute walk) and started walking. after a few minutes we realized that there's no sand on the beaches in capri! i guess the beaches aren't that old cause in some parts the stones are HUGE and in others, theyre smaller. it was amazing to me cause i had never seen a beach like that and i have to say it is quite painful to walk on those stones without shoes. we ended up spending most of the day at this beach since the weather was so beautiful and the water felt nice. i, personally, chose not to swim cause i had to be wearing my bathing suit for the rest of the day and the water was ridiculously salty. but i did wet my feet (belmar style). here's a picture of the rocks that made up the shore.
as the sun got stronger, and we got hotter, we headed back into the town. we hit up a "snack bar" as they call it for a delicious caprisian lunch. sara got risotto al pescatore with all kinds of amazing seafood. lisa got a caprese sandwich (fresh mozarella, sweet tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and deliciousness) and i got a caprese sandwich with some fresh grilled tuna. i can't even begin to tell you how amazing the seafood is down there and how cheap it is too! i also had a lemon soda which tasted like non alcoholic mike's hard lemonade and it was also delish. apparently capri and sorrento are known for their lemon products (something i didn't know before) so of course i had to try it all. shortly after, we hopped on a bus to anacapri, the historic center on the top of the island. anacapri is a cute lil place that really reminds me of the greek islands. all the buildings are painted white and there are tons of lil shops and things for tourists to walk around and visit. we stumbled upon this chairlift up to mount solaro. its literally like chairs attached to cables that just constantly go up and down the hill. it's kinda cool. well anyway, mount solaro dates back pretty far and there some ruins and statues and things up there. by far one of the most beautiful and breathtaking things ive ever done in my life. from the top of the mountain, if you look down at the marina to see the boats, this is what you see. cute, huh?
here's a picture with me and the view of capri from the mountain.
now on the other side of the mountain, you see a different side of capri. this is me, lisa, and sara with collin standing on the chair to take the picture in order to get the background.
one of the most famous statues on the top of the mountain is of this guy hanging off the building. it looks like he's saying what up or flipping someone off. this is collin showing him how its done.
on top of the mountain there are a bunch of tables and lounge chairs where you can sit and enjoy the view. the weather was so beautiful but we were totally all up in the sun's grill.
we met some other americans who agreed to take a picture of the 5 of us with some kind of view. here it is.
so on the way down i figured would be better to take pictures of the panorama considering the way its positioned. here's a picture of a random k person (one of collin's people that happen to be one of 92383948329 in sorrento and capri this weekend) on his chair and the beautiful view of the countryside from the chair.
there's collin on the chairlift doing her fob pose.
by the way, this chair lift isn't too high from the ground (20 ft maybe?) but it goes down this really steep hill and at some point slowed down which was kinda shady. good thing none of us were afraid of heights. though the entire time i was kinda wishing i could take babiak with me to see how he would react. anyhow, we get back down to anacapri and realize what time it is and try to run down to the ferry terminal to catch the last ferry. we get on a bus that only takes us halfway down the hill which is uber lame but then hop on the funicolare. it kinda reminded me of the tram in santorini that anna and i RAN to catch in order to make the last hydrofoil back to the boat. here's me, sara, and gretchen on the funicolare.
we catch the ferry back to sorrento with great ease and it all went pretty smoothly. once on sorrento, we enjoy a nice meal and the lovely evening. of course we managed to make the restaurant hate us and pretty much ban us for life but you know whatever. anyhow, here's sara walking through the beautifully lit alleyways of sorrento.
this morning me, battaline, and collin headed to one of the limoncello stores to buy these like lemon chocolate almond candy things we tried the day before. they're so amazing. i know lemon chocolate almond doesn't sound too appetizing, but i have to tell you these candies are amazing. the guy was this old italian man who kept singing and telling us how italian men love women and so we asked him to take a picture. the lady taking it was kinda stupid so its blurry but nonetheless, its a funny picture.
after buying our long awaited candy, we decided to go back to the lookout point to see the bay of naples by day. here's what the country side looks like during the day.
also, down in the bay of naples, they have restaurants, beaches, and bathing platforms. the shore of sorrento only gets a strong enough sun for sunbathing between the months of april and october. they have these platforms that you pay for to head out and grab a chair and take in the sun. when october rolls around, they dismantle the platforms and put them away. theyre actually really cool since the water is so clear and all. these are the bathing platforms.
and here is a picture demonstrating exactly how clear the water is.
this is mount vesuvius. its kinda weird cause i heard a tour guide saying that when its even a lil cloudy, mount vesuvius gets completely lost in the haze and can't be seen at all. also, if it ever erupted where i was standing would be the perfect place to watch from.
so then we decided to just head out since sorrento really isn't close AT ALL to rome. and by not close i mean it takes like 6 hours to get there. we luckily caught the train right away and headed out to naples where we thought we barely made the train but of course the train left 30 minutes late. here's me and collin after not having showered for 2 days and sweated lots during the heat. yum.
ok well that's it for now. next weekend i think we're just doing a day trip to tivoli to see hadrian's villa and then probably trastevere and the vatican on sunday. but after that more adventure to come.
ps one more addition to my lil traveling calendar
Nov 10-12 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY barbie goes to hungary! no i'm not barbie and i'm sure yall can figure that out from the pictures. actually there's this low cost carrier called wizz air that has pink and purple planes which is what i booked with to head to budapest. collin and i found a decent flight and a good hostel so we decided...budapest it is! it's pretty off beat but i bet itll be amazing and my aunt and uncle will have just been there and can sort of guide us. yay!
posted by el cruz at 7:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home