Island Hopping

For our Easter Break, Shannon, Jess, Megan, Kelsey and I went to Sorrento. Everyone wanted to go to the beach; therefore we traveled southward. We planned to see Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, Positano, and the Amalfi Coast. I was especially excited to be going to see the Amalfi Coast since I had heard how beautiful it was. But before we got too wound up, we had to get there first. From Sansepolcro, it would take us one bus and two trains; one from Arezzo to Naples and the other from Naples to San Agnello. Overall the whole trip took about seven hours. We reached San Agnello at about 9:45 p.m. on Thursday.
The name of our hostel was Seven Hostel. It seemed to be dedicated to the teenage crowd because all I saw were half dressed drunken teens walking about. The interior was very modern and appeared to be clean. I was relieved to see that there was a restaurant and bar on the first floor. Since we were all tired from the trip, we could eat downstairs and not have to walk far for dinner. Once we settled in to our room, called Style, we headed downstairs for dinner. The people were being entertained by others singing karaoke. We found a table for the five of us and immediately looked over the menu. No one knew what to order, so we just randomly picked. I order gnocchi with melted cheese and white sauce. It sounded appetizing as the waiter described it, but was nasty. It tasted as if someone had poured sand in my mouth. Luckily, I was able to switch my meal and I had a burger instead. It was not an American burger, but it was better than my first dish. Once we finished eating, we joined in the party and did karaoke. It was really fun; I sung Rihanna’s Rude Boy and Usher’s Hey Daddy, while the girls snapped pictures and laughed.Some of the girls had a few drinks then we all went upstairs. As soon as I got into bed, I fell asleep.
On Friday, we took a day trip to Pompeii. It was not far from our hostel; only two stops away on the metro. Once we arrived we had no idea where to go so we followed the crowd. It led us to the entrance to Pompeii, where we paid 11 euro to enter. This exhibit was a very large one; it was filled with the ruins of Pompeii. I was able to see the two preserved victims who were killed in the volcanic ash and the brothels were women were held. I found these two sights the most interesting. In the brothel there were stone beds and frescoes painted of the different sexual positions that these women were forced into. Some of the pictures were very disturbing. It was very crammed inside and only took about 10 minutes to walk through. The brothel was very hard to find, but it was much easier to leave. After seeing the brothel, the fast food restaurant, the biggest house in the ruins, and the baths we left. We spent about two hours inside Pompeii Museum. Next we went to find food for lunch. We found a little corner restaurant, just outside the exit. The food was very expensive so everyone decided to share pizzas. Shannon and Jess split one, while Megan and I did the same. Kelsey wanted only a sandwich, so everything worked out perfectly. Once we had all finished eating and had seen all that Pompeii had to offer, we hopped back on the metro.
We got off the metro at the last stop, Sorrento. Here we planned to shop, which turned into window shopping, and to take lots of pictures of the coast. Things seemed to be much more costly than I expected, and I was not prepared at all. I did not buy much, but I was able to find a doll for my niece. It was a cute little rag doll that read Italy on the bottoms of the feet. It resembled a doll that my grandmother had in here house when I was younger. It is something that my niece can keep forever. After getting lost in the tiny streets of Sorrento, we found a cute little place for dinner along the coast. Ironically, it was a place that was mentioned in Kelsey’s Rick Stevens Guidebook. The prices were very cheap; the spaghetti was three euro and fifty centesime. I spent seven euro on a great meal and was very pleased. The walk back from the restaurant was a lengthy one. There were numerous steps and streets to cross. It took us so long to reach the main street, Corso Italia. Luckily, when we reached the street we were just in time for the procession.
It was called Verendi, (I’m guessing since it takes place on a Venerdi). It was amazing. We scurried down the street and found a place to stand just before the music began. I was in the front and able to see everything, which angered many of the citizens. It was very hard to understand what was actually taking place because I was being shoved the entire time. There was a very rude Italian old man trying to see the procession, who kept pushing me to see, although he was able to see just as much as I could. The procession was not too long. It consisted of men and children dressed in black robes marching along the streets. Some people were carrying different symbols as they walked which reflected the twelve Stations of the Cross. This was an important parade that takes place every Easter and I’m glad that I was able to witness it.
Once that was all over, we hurried through the overcrowded streets to the metro. We knew that we would be squished but wanted to attempt to get seats. The station was flooded with people. It was very hard for us to find seats, but we did. Since it was the last train to leave; it took a long time for it to finally pull off. The conductor was waiting patiently for the last few people to buy tickets and get on. After about 15 minutes we finally took off, thank goodness that we were only one stop way. It was even more difficult for us to exit the train than to enter. We slid past people until we were free. We quickly walked back to our hostel, cold and tired.
On Saturday, we planned to go to Capri. Fortunately, we were able to save money since our hostel provided a trip to Capri with our stay. We would only have to pay 52 Euros apiece to get a guided boat ride around Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, and then to Capri. We would be able to see all the grottos, caves, and beautiful waterfalls along the way. Plus, we would be provided lunch and unlimited drinks for the entire 6 hour trip. It was simply an offer that we could not pass up, so we accepted. The view was breath-taking; I was able to take incredible pictures. The water was so blue; I had never seen anything like it. I cannot wait to get home to show my family. There was only one minor problem, sea-sickness. I felt pretty good the whole way up the coast, but as we got closer and closer to Capri I began to feel sea-sick. I thought it was a bad idea from the beginning to sit at the front of the boat, but I did it anyway. Once I felt bad, I crawled to the back of the boat and waited for us to reach land.
Finally we reached Capri and it was as beautiful as the postcards. Once I was able to feel land under my feet, I felt much better. We were advised to take a bus of some sort up to the main piazza, but had trouble finding it. We walked back and forth until we finally saw all the other tourists racing into a line with tickets. We mimicked them and were soon on the trolley. It was different than anything I had ridden before. It inched up the mountain slowly as if we were climbing stairs. It was very time-consuming and took about 15 minutes to reach the top.
We were let out at Piazza di Capri, the main square of the island. It was lined with many shops, restaurants, and booths for iced drinks. Most of the shops were pricey, so I mostly window shopped. There were plenty of shoes that I wanted, but simply could not afford. After we had seen enough we headed back to the main square. We were supposed to meet with back at the boat at 3 30 pm. We all bought lemon and melon iced drinks for our hike back down to the dock. I had a mix of both and it was delicious. By the time I finished my slushy we were at the dock. We quickly removed our shoes and hopped back on the boat. I was a little iffy about going back to the front of the boat so I stayed in the rear. The ride went much smoother than coming. We stopped by the blue grotto, where Shannon and one of the other girls from our hostel jumped in the water. The driver advised for people not to go swimming since the tide was high and the water was freezing. However; they went anyway. Once the girls were back on the boat, we proceeded to Sorrento. From the blue grotto it only took about 20 more minutes. When we reached the dock, we were happy to see that our van was waiting to transport us back to our hostel.