Maggie Lives @ Home: Amalfi Coast: I've Got a Nautical themed Pashmina Afghan.

I must have caught the travel bug somewhere because my roommate and I booked a trip to the Amalfi Coast on a whim right before we left for Munich, making it the third consecutive weekend I have traveled. Now that I am back I must say that I am so glad we did book the trip since it was absolutely gorgeous and well worth another Florence For Fun bus ride.

Once again we left in the evening from the Santa Maria Novella Station, this time in the early evening. After another long and painful bus ride along winding costal roads we checked into our hotel in Sorrento around 2:00am. I caught as many Z’s as possible before waking up at 6:45 to shower and be ready to leave the hotel by 8:00am. A 20-minute walk got us down to the ferry docks where we boarded a rather dingy looking ferry and headed to the Island of Capri. Once we got to Capri we got on a smaller, nicer boat and took a little tour around the island.

Capri

Sorrento

Once we were back on the shore my roommate and I decided that we wanted to rent our own boat and have some fun in the sun without the crowds. We asked around a little bit and found Capri Boat, a rental operation right next to where you buy the ferry and treno tickets. For two hours it was going to cost us 40 euro a person, which in my opinion was totally worth it. After surrendering my driver’s license as collateral we went and got some boat snacks and beers and then headed out on the Mediterranean Sea. The boat itself was good, it was very clean and stocked with a cooler and life jackets but the weight was poorly distributed and I would have enjoyed a little more horsepower.

I drove us back to the Green Grottos we had seen on our other tour since they had way more clearance than the blue grottos and the tide wouldn’t keep us out. After dropping the pick (that's the anchor for you non-boat people) we donned our life jackets in the classic diaper position so we could sit upright and float comfortably. We swam over to the grotto and then through them to the other side. I am really bummed that we couldn’t get pictures of this since the water was absolutely amazing. It was the cleanest brightest blue and the way it reflected along the rocks overhead was beautiful.

Green Grotto

There wasn’t much of a current or tide so thankfully we didn’t have to worry about getting sucked out to sea. After enough bobbing along in the water we returned to our boat from some cheese, apples and crackers. Unfortunately the beers had gotten warm in the sun but otherwise it was a very pleasant two hours of swimming and sun bathing on the boat. Once our time was up I headed back to where we got the boat, dropped it off and paid for our adventure. Worth every penny.

After returning the boat we bought our treno passes to ride up to the center of Capri where we were meeting the rest of our tour group for a Limoncello tasting. We passed the time by walking around and I was very surprised by the excellent designer representation at Capri… Ferragamo, Gucci, Pucci, Prada, Valentino, Mossimo and many more fabulous out-of-my-budget stores.

The limoncello tasting was not anything to get excited about. I don’t really have a taste for the stuff the way it is served over here (ice cold in a shot glass) but I am sure it would be a yummy addition to a number of cocktails. Once that was over the whole group headed back to Sorrento on the ferry. We had dinner at the hotel, since it was included in the cost, and then I hit the hay to catch up on lost sleep.

The next morning we were out the door at 10:00am on a private bus to Postiano. For those of you who haven’t wasted 90 minutes of your life of the film Under the Tuscan Sun, this is stunning little costal town where Diane Lane’s character meets up with Marcello. Our bus parked up on the highway and left us to descend just a couple hundred stairs down to the beach….My thighs were actually shaking when we reached the bottom. Pathetic, I know.

After getting some overpriced suntan oil we headed to the waterfront to get ourselves setup with some lawn chairs and beach towels for the day, which ended up costing 12.50 euro. Not horrible, but I still find it annoying that you have to pay someone to sit on a lawn chair, just like you pay to use certain public restrooms. After a few hours of bronzing we got a little lunch, which turned out to be the best meal of the trip and went for a dip in the cool bright blue water.

Postiano. Beautiful!

The beach itself was very rocky but what I found super cool was all of the little bits of sea glass scattered over the entire beach. I spent a few moments gathering a little pile to take back to the states with me as a memento of the trip. At 5:00 it was time to board the bus and head back to the hotel.

The next morning our group headed to Pompeii for a guided walking tour. I really enjoyed seeing all of the history of Pompeii and learning about Mt. Vesuvius but I must say that I am not a huge fan of walking tours. After checking out the amphitheater we headed over to one of the gardens where the casts of dead Pompeii people were on display. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted it rained ash and pumice but what killed people was the asphyxiating cloud that blanketed the land. It is believed that this cloud was roughly 400 degrees and was instantly fatal.

Sad day for the people of Pompeii...

It's kinda funny....

Striking my best Aphrodite pose

The bodies on display are actually plaster casts that were taken during the excavation. While digging archeologists would find random pockets and they discovered this was where human remains had decomposed over time, but they had left their mold in the surrounding layers of ash and sediment. I’m not sure why but I found these plaster people very amusing. Especially these two, wonder what they were up to during their last moments?

????

Another amusing aspect of Pompeii was the presence of penises. There is no point being shy so I am just going to come out and say it….the people of Pompeii were obsessed with penises! Of course it is symbolic for fertility and all that good stuff but some of the souvenirs were a little much…like this guy:

After Pompeii we headed to Mt. Vesuvius for a little hiking. After a 20-minute walk uphill we reached the crater and took in the stunning views of the Amalfi coast. Upon peering into the crater I noticed that there were areas where steam was rising right out of the rock. Mt. Vesuvius is still an active volcano but fortunately she didn’t blow during my visit. It is also worth nothing that Mt. Vesuvius, like Mt. Saint Helens in Washington State, also blew off her top and is now half her size.