Amalfi Coast - A weekend in Capri, Positano, and Pompeii

This weekend I had my SAI "all inclusive" trip to the Amalfi Coast. Weekend sum up: Friday traveling and eating Saturday BOAT TOUR of blue grotto!!!! Consisting of two hours on a boat, jumping off and swimming in Tyrrhenian Sea in clear blue water, and going into the Blue Grotto of Capri. Then, relaxing at the beach on the island of Positano. Sunday hitting up both Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii before heading back to Rome.
Now for the detailed version, for those of you who want to continue reading :)


Friday
     Like always, I woke up super early for our bus to leave for the Amalfi Coast. Got to the port at Naples just before lunchtime and took a ferry to Capri. Once we arrived, we headed straight to the hotel, individual villas just outside of Capri in the town Anacapri. Our hotel was a bit of a hike away from the town, but the uphill walk helped burn off all the calories from pasta and pizza ;) After getting our rooms and putting our things away, we headed to lunch at a pizzeria. I was classy and had beer (in a wine glass) with my lunch. Pizza was actually invented in Naples, so of course we got pizza. The lunch was awesome, and it ended with some yummy gelato. 
     When we finished, we went to take a bus to Capri. Something I learned this weekend about Italians in Capri/Naples area. They do what they want (maybe that's where I get it from? haha). But, apparently there are only three families that own the public transit lines and just decide when to have them run and when not to. So, we waited for about half an hour for the bus before one actually came. We did a walking tour of Capri and ended at a beautiful outlook of the water. There was a beach called Marina Piccola about a ten minute walk away. Apparently it is one of the most "beautiful beaches in the world." I wasn't that impressed. It was nice, but nothing special. But, maybe it's just me. Around 5 we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Since dinner was included, it was amazing. We had a legit five course meal with appetizers of calamari and bruschetta, a pasta dish and a rice dish, steak with fries, and this really tasty spongecake. Overall, a very good day.

View from overlook at Capri

Saturday
     By far my favorite day. Definitely in the running for best day of my semester SO FAR. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Right after getting all ready, we went straight to the port for our boat tour. Of course our bus didn't show up, so we had to take a bus to a cable car, but it wasn't that bad just a little annoying. We got to the port, and I was ready to go. I was super excited and got on the second boat that came to pick us up (I tried to get on the first but wasn't quick enough). 

Port of Capri

     The boat tour was incredible. For those of you who don't already know, I'm obsessed with boats. I never had been on one until Junior year of high school, but since then I've been hooked. Still trying to convince my dad to buy one, hint hint. I absolutely loved the boat ride though. We stopped at a grotto along the way to the Blue Grotto and got to jump in the water. It was crystal clear and, even though it was a bit cold, I could not have been happier. After a quick dip, we went back to our tour. Oh, and our boat almost capsized. We got caught in wakes from another bigger boat. I was being tossed from side to side, and was so afraid we were going to tip. Our Captain even said "Mayday" which is not something I ever want to hear again on a boat. Luckily he got us out of it unharmed. We then went to the Blue Grotto, which is a big attraction of Capri. It is a grotto that you have to take a small row boat to get into, and somehow the light comes into the grotto perfectly so that the water reflected is this amazing blue topaz color. Absolutely spectacular. The man rowing the boat even started signing in Italian; it was quite the experience. That ended our boat tour, and we were taken back to the port at Capri. All of this happened before 11:45! 

     We then took a ferry to another island off the coast called Positano. I loved it! We had the option of renting a boat and taking it out, which I really really wanted to do. But, it ended up getting super hectic and didn't work out. Instead, I spent the day relaxing on the beach. Oh yeah, don't forget it was OCTOBER 2nd. I love my life :) Spent the rest of the day there and headed back to Anacapri (again, the bus wasn't running so we had to take the cable car and another bus). I actually did not once see a bus for Anacapri while I was there. I was drained from the day so I passed out pretty soon after dinner!

Beach at Positano

Sunday
     It was a packed day. We got up early to head to Mt. Vesuvius. There was supposed to be an option between either Mt. Vesuvius or Pompeii, but plans changed so we were able to see both. The hike up Mt. Vesuvius was pretty quick, but I was super impressed at the size of it. I don't really know what I expected of Mt. Vesuvius, but it is HUGE. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any lava spewing from below, but I guess it is a good thing. After Mt. Vesuvius we stopped for lunch before heading to Pompeii. Again, Naples = invention of pizza so we had pizza again, and this pizza was great! I still maintain that focaccia pizza is the best, but this may be a close second. We, unfortunately, didn't have much time at Pompeii due to the traffic and difficulty of getting to and from Vesuvius, but it was still awesome to experience. Our trip didn't include a tour guide, but luckily one of my friends has a handy Rick Steve's Guide to Italy which had a self-guided tour. Rick told us lots of handy information about Pompeii, and I learned a lot. Some fun facts: every day, the streets of Pompeii were flooded to clean it and had raised parts of the road which people could cross during the street flooding. The bakery of the Pompeii neighborhoods had an oven that looked a lot like the brick ovens that restaurants make pizza in. Again, it is super cool to see how much history Italy has!

Form of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in the background!

I am very glad to be home after a very long but definitely exciting weekend. I won't be traveling next weekend, so I'm glad to have a bit of a break from continuous GOING so that I can get some more experience of life in Rome.