The Amalfi Coast of Italy

Well, my stint in Italy ended down on the Amalfi Coast. I based myself in the small town of Sorrento which is about an hour south of Naples and there are only about 20,000 people who live there. It is rather touristy, but it is still a great place. My travels there began by taking 2 trains to get there. When I got off in the actual town of Sorrento, I met up with a couple who was going to the same place I was, so we tried to figure out the buses together there. I then saw another couple who I had traveled to my last 2 places with because our travel schedules happen to be the same so together, the 5 of us attemped this. We got directed to the main square and then down more cause apparently what we thought was the main square actually was not. Then we figured out that you had to go into the bar to get the bus tickets (because that is where I would usually think of to buy bus tickets is at the local bar!!!). Once we finally arrived, we grabbed a really yummy dinner at the campground restaurant that was super cheap!

The next day, I took the bus ride down the Amalfi Coast from Sorento, through another small little town and then ending in Amalfi. I actually did it more for the bus ride than to see the towns because the view from the road was supposedly gorgeous and boy was it! This road though was absolutely insane and I am not sure how it was managed to be built and how the bus drivers drive it everyday. It is the equivalent of the Ortega Hwy, only more curvy with no lines to mark the 2 lanes, much narrower so that at times only 1 car or bus can fit through, the drop is much higher down into the water, and the road actually is built hanging over the cliff so at times there is nothing underneath the road. It is a real knuckle girpping ride of which I started to feel a bit quesy, but the view was amazing. We were perched high up looking down on the most beautiful coastline of azure and blue in the world. I took some incredible pictures.

My last day there, I headed off to check out Pompei about an hour away. This is the town that was ruined by a volcano and buried under hot lava in the first century. It was really somthing to see. The ruins truly are an entire town to walk through and you follow a map with an explaination of what everything was used for. The creepiest thing is that the excavators have made plaster casts of some of the victims who had died there so you can actually see facial expressions and there body possitions and stuff. That was kinda strange and the kids ones were sad, but overall it was great to see. Some of the things were better preserved than in Rome. There were some houses that were just amazing with colorful frescos on the walls and elaborate mosaics on the floor. I spent about 5 hours there and still could not see the whole town!

Italy was great and I really liked it. My last stop there is going to be Venice, but not until I have seen some other countries, so off to Greece I go....