It has been a while, and I apologize for that. I am actually currently on a flight home from Europe... Sadly my time in Europe is over. Don't worry there are still a few more blog posts to write (three more after this one)
I had always heard horror stories of missing trains and strikes, but hoped it would never happen to me. Well, this trip was full of travel disasters.
My friend Janni and I boarded a flight in Barcelona to Rome. Our final destination was Sorrento. Our plan was to take a train from Rome to Naples then another train from Naples to Sorrento. Our plane landed two hours before our train was supposed to leave... But the bus to the city center was over 30 minutes late and we didn't anticipate Rome traffic... Needless to say we missed our train.
After a scramble to find the cheapest option to Naples we ended up buying a ticket for a regional train that would take an hour and a half longer to get there than our original train. Then the regional train was over an hour late!
By the time we got to Naples we caved and bought some McDonalds. After another train we finally made it to Sorrento! We had some well deserved down time then we went out to dinner. Dinner definitely lifted our spirits. I had a fantastic pizza (what the region is famous for), a delicious sparkling red wine, tiramisu, and limoncello!
After a good nights sleep we woke up to discover that there was a train and bus strike for the area! This ruined our original plans to visit Positano, one of the towns on the Amalfi coast, at this point we just accepted our travel bad luck. Instead of Positano we took a boat to the island of Capri.
Capri was beautiful. We ate fruit slushies, I had lemon which is famous from the region. After some exploring and a quick lunch and gelato break we decided to hike to Villa Jovis. Villa Jovis was a palace for the emperor of Capri. The remnants of the palace are beautiful and the views of Capri and the Amalfi Coast were to die for.
We then did some shopping and took the ferry back to Sorrento. After dinner in Sorrento we headed to bed. The next day we went to Pompeii!
I had always wanted to visit Pompeii after watching a documentary on the ancient city as a child. We splurged for the audioguide then spent the entire day exploring the ruins. It was crazy to imagine the people who lived there and everyone who died from the eruption. The view of Vesuvius from the city center was breathtaking.
We then headed back to Rome and checked into our hostel. As you may recall from my Rome blogpost, but my friend Maggie is currently studying in Rome. I had the awesome opportunity to surprise my friend in Rome! I never told Maggie I would be there and called her asking to hang out. I really enjoyed the time we spent together that night.
My evening with one of my best friends was a perfect was to end this leg of the journey. To wrap it up, this trip started off a little rocky, but ended up with a lot of wonderful quality time with friends, delicious food, and gorgeous views.
Here are some pictures from my time in Southern Italy!
Stay tuned for more!
Ciao,
Carolyn
