Amalfi - Wk. of July 2

After landing from Russia at 8pm, I had time to quickly add some additional clothing to my bag, go to work for a few hours the following morning, and then board a flight at 4pm to Rome to start my next trip.  My initial flight was delayed 5 Hours, but I still managed to get a run in in Rome and start my laundry as I had recently sold my washing machine in Switzerland; it was a long, late night!  Fun fact in retrospect while editing this from this US is all flight delays/cancellations within the EU are regulated by laws so there tend to be less delays and you're compensated!

Views of Rome at night while on a midnight run

The following day, Melissa and Terry arrived from Minneapolis and I led the group on a self-guided walking tour of Rome to show them the Pantheon, Castle of the Angel, and the Vatican.  The last time that I was in Rome was in 2010 on my first trip to Europe so I tried my best to cover some of the major sites of the city with the limited time that we had; however, the city is so impressive and it's never possible to cover everything as there is a historic landmark everywhere you look!  The following day, we went on walking tour of historic Rome (Roman Forum and Colosseum); we also had the added unplanned bonus that all museums in the city and the forum were free as it was the final Sunday of the month.  

Are you not impressed!

Following our sightseeing, we rushed to the train station to get to Naples to use as our home base for the next few days while sightseeing the Amalfi coast area.  The city is the birthplace of pizza, has great seafood, and access to some gorgeous locations (Capri and Amalfi); however, I will warn others that arriving at night can be difficult when trying to navigate.  

Naples Piazza del Plebiscito

The following day (Monday), we had planned a day trip to Pompeii and Vesuvius.  The size of Pompeii and the level of preservation from the ash/lava was very impressive; there was much more to the site than I had originally anticipated and after hearing of the volcanic blast within history class.  In addition to the city, we hiked to the top of Vesuvius for views into the caldera and to reach a great vantage point over the Bay of Naples:

Main street of Pompeii

Vesuvius Caldera

Bay of Naples

On Tuesday, we took ferry day trip to the island of Ischia where we hiked to the top of the island to Mt. Epomeo, which was 789m.  This took a few hours and it was quite hot!  To celebrate the days accomplishments, we went to Sorbillo pizza once returning to Naples.  Supposedly, this is the best pizza in the city of Naples so we had to try it while in the birthplace of the food, but this is widely contested.

Top of Mt. Epomeo

Castello Aragonese d'Ischia

Pizza!

On Wednesday, we packed up to ferry to Capri; we had some minor 'excitement' in the morning where the housekeeper came to collect the keys of our apt. 1 hour early and spoke no English so this was a bit of a rude awakening, but humorous in retrospect.  We reached Capri later that morning and the first impressions were the island is a mountain protruding directly from the sea with very little flat terrain.  We took a taxi to the other side of the island to Anacapris where our hotel was located and were dropped off at the bus stop.  This was slightly confusing at first as we were dropped off only to then wait for our hotel driver.....Our hotel then picked us up in a jeep as it was located midway up a very steep hill that taxis are unable to reach; the actual hotel was great while the journey took some time.

Sunset from the hotel

Birthday cake in Capri

After getting settled, we went to the Grotto Azurri and also hiked to Monte Solaro, which was 589m.  Note to other travelers that this can also be accessed relatively easy by chairlift.

Traffic jam to get into the Grotto Azurri

View from Monte Solaro

View from Monte Solaro of the Grotto Verde

The following morning (Thursday), we took the ferry to Positano and bused to Praiano where we were staying for the evening.  We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach after moving relatively quickly the prior few days.  

Arrival in Positano

On Friday, we hiked the 'Path of the Gods.'  The trail head to start the hike is not the easiest....From the Amalfi coast area (Positano, Praiano, Amalfi, etc.), one must take a bus to the trail head and this is a very windy road into the mountains so it was nice to have a flatter hike after several days already and no one was feeling great after the long, windy trip.  The scenery was quite pretty even when cloudy; it was very nice to have some shade from the sun.

Once completing the hike, we bused to our hotel and took a taxi to Saltano to then take a train to Rome as Melissa and Terry were to fly home the following day while I would go to Florence.  The day was a bit of a whirlwind given the cities of the Amalfi coast are connected by small, mountain roads that are serviced by buses on hourly routes; however, when the buses are full they will not pick up additional riders so give yourself extra time!  I was getting quite nervous when not seeing a bus, having one then drive by, then finally getting home!

Within Florence, I visited the Uffizi and Galleria dell'Accademia as they were closed during my first visit to Rome in 2010:

David

View from Galleria

Although this was a short trip, we covered many sites with lots of hiking and meals of pizza!  I had a lot of fun, but after a string out-of-town trips the prior few weeks, I was ready to go back to Geneva to relax a few days while working.