HUGE ITALIA POST

Mmmmm…Italy is a very beautiful and amazing country!

It's also quite a tournaround from Hungary: (1) Italians are a LOT less reserved than Hungarians; (2) Italy has better weather; (3) Italy has better food; (4) Hungary is much cheaper; (5) there are about 50 times more tourists in Italy. These differences made Italy a great place to visit with my friends Jim, Ivan, Lauren, Tom, and Anna, for a week, but they also made us happy to be back in the good ol' Magyarország.

The trip was excellent. Instead of going through the whole weekend hour by hour, I think I'll cover some of the highlights for your enjoyment, and provide a ton of photos to arouse your jealousy.



We started out in Rome for three nights. It's been only four years since I visited the Eternal City with my family at the end of our last London stay, and I actually found myself wishing I had maybe a day fewer in Rome. The city still impressed me, but after seeing the main attractions for the second time, and walking through countless churches and museums, I got a little tired of the standing around and the constant presence of other tourists. We did go some places I hadn't been, like a crypt in which were artfully arranged the bones of thousands of monks who died centuries ago, the Palatine hill (where the word "palace" comes from), Trastevere (a quaint, narrow-street section of Rome), and the Christian Catacombs. We also headed to St. Peter's Cathedral on Palm Sunday morning, where we joined a crowd of people attending Mass in the courtyard and saw the new Pope (from a distance). Monday was my 21st birthday (!) and we celebrated that night at the hostel with random hostelgoers from around the world, a cake, and plenty of wine and limoncello.

Roman Forum

Ivan, Lauren, Tom, Anna, Jim



Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Basilica

I'm all about healthy snacks.

Map Room in the Vatican Museums!




I was glad to leave Rome, though, and head down to Sorrento, on the Bay of Naples, for four nights. Sorrento is "unashamedly a tourist town" according to guidebooks, but it was a great base for us to explore the many attractions of the bay. Here is where I had the most fun on the vacation, taking day trips to…

Shopping in Sorrento

View from our cabin! Sorrento in the morning haze…

…and across the bay to Vesuvio




The Amalfi Coast: Take a bus out of Sorrento, and after 15 minutes you find yourself on a narrow road high above the sea, speeding around sharp turns, the loud Italian driver using his horn to constantly converse with other drivers and people on the street, all the time with the brilliant sun illuminating astounding views of small towns perched on high cliffs or nestled by the sea. We eventually made it to the town of Amalfi, quite exhilliarated. The beach was very nice, as were the views, but the tourists were getting to me, so I decided to take a hike. The others weren't very interested, so I set off alone…

My Amalfi hike was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I don't think I'd ever gone on a hike like that alone before, and it was really fun to go my own speed and go where I wanted. Leaving the coast and the town of Amalfi behind, I climbed up a riverbed through lemon groves and past waterfalls, stopping every once in a while to admire the view up and down, and investigate ruined stone buildings and aquaducts which I happened across. After losing the main trail for a bit, I struck out uphill through more lemon groves, finally reaching a little town, Pontone, perched high above Amalfi. I walked past local farmers in the groves and local children playing in the afternoon sun, and after taking lots of cool photos I headed straight back down to Amalfi--basically a knee-busting staircase with thousands of steps.

Arriving in Amalfi!

On the beach in Amalfi

View down to Amalfi from the path





Pontone



This is Positano, the most picturesque, and most photographed, town on the Amalfi Coast. I feel like this picture is redundant, but it's so beautiful too.




Vesuvius and Pompeii: The next morning, we decided to meet the monster who broods over the whole Bay of Naples: Vesuvio. From the train station, we had the option of taking a 10 Euro minibus on a 20 minute ride to within a 15-minute hike of the summit. However, some of my friends had the idea of walking the whole 6 mile distance, something which I didn't want to do, because the walk would be entirely on streets, would take a long time, and would not afford extra good views. With the others going back-and-forth on what to do, Jim and I made a decision and took the minibus ourselves. It was very windy on top, and after enjoying the view and gazing down into the crater we were happy to head immediately down. On the drive back, we passed the others hiking up (it turned out to be a very disappointing experience for them, and so we were glad we took the fast track).


Worn out from the minibus journey

The crater

Volcanoes are the best for deep meditation


The quick visit to the volcano gave Jim and me plenty of time to explore the mountain's famed victim: Pompeii. We went all-out, bought audio guides, and went through nearly every building we were allowed to go through in the ruins. The opulence of the Roman villas was amazing, and we had a lot of fun admiring the best-preserved and most extensive remains of the Roman empire.

Pompeii!

Plaster cast of a victim of the eruption in 79 AD

Pompeii and its nemesis

"No High Fives"?

Yeah…we've been working out.




Cápri: The Isle of Cápri is a very well-known tourist destination, and on a strikingly beautiful, tiny (at its widest 3 km by 6 km) Mediterranean island so easy to get to, you'd expect to be stifled by swarms of sightseers. Indeed, the number of American accents I head on the boat, and the time it took us to navigate the crowds at the marina, put me off a bit. So I turned to the maps I had printed up earlier, and declared to the others that I wanted to hike. Only Tom, Anna, Jim, and I had traveled to the island (Ivan and Lauren slept in and did other things), and they all agreed to follow me this time.

The Isle of Cápri consists of two towns, Cápri, and Anacapri, which are separated by a steep rock cliff. Until recently, the only way between the two towns were three narrow hiking trails which climb steeply up the cliff--now, they have a road that is an amazing piece of engineering in its own right. However, the trails are still in place, and so we took the least travelled one of the three (we saw no one else on this trail). It was an exciting climb, with the view of the town below growing grander and grander, and once at the top we were elated. We continued on to the highest point of the island, which, unfortunately, lazier tourists can reach via a ski lift, and ate our packed picnic there. Happy with the walk so far, we continued down the ridge all the way to the other corner of the island, eventually descending through the suburbs of Anacapri, past more lemon orchards down local road/footpaths. We ended up at a spot by the sea, with a lot of locals around sunbathing. We really wanted to try jumping in, but the waves were coming in pretty hard, the water was pretty cold, and no one else was swimming. However, after a time, an old guy (at least 65) tottered over to the water, hesitated, then plunged in! He was tossed around a little, but did fine, and of course we couldn't let him show us up. So we all ended the day with a little icy swim and rock-jumping!

The marina at Cápri


The town of Cápri








I think those photos speak for themselves…