Three days later....

I’m back! I am so sorry for the delay, but here I am – with full details of the past couple of days! So let’s get right into it….

Wednesday was our last day in the city of Rome. We woke up a bit later, showered in the small, kind of dirty, wet nastiness of our hostel, but found refreshment as we headed out into the beautiful warm day. Jen left early on her own to see the Pope speak (Katie, Laura and I were too tired from our night and did not want to walk ALL the way back to the Vatican only to stand in a pile of people - and probably some pick-pocketers - to hear the Pope speak in another language for two hours, which was not very good of us, we know, but it did not sound very appealingat the time). It turned out the reason it lasts two hours is because he speaks the same ceremony in seven different languages back to back – Jen said it was really interesting, and she ran into some of our Elon friends who happened to be there too, so overall it was a good time for her J Meanwhile – we had our own cultural morning by visiting the beautiful fountain of the Naiads in Piazza della Republica, just a five minute walk from our hostel. We sat in the beaming sun, took pictures and made videos while waiting to hear from Jen.

 

Shocked we had still not heard from her, even though it was beyond 12:30 pm, we decided to get some cheap paninis from Que Se Magna- a little café right across the street from our hostel. They made us delicious salami, ham and mozzarella paninis, warm with oil and seasoning, and we ate them on a bench on a side street.

 

We decided to walk back toward the Trevi Fountain, since the first time we saw it, they were doing work on it and so the water was not running. As we pushed through the crowds of people and the crazy men trying to sell you everything under the sun (including a questionably shaped rubber monster and light-up green googles – what child would want any of this, let alone three 20 year olds?!) We found a good spot and watched the water spout from Bernini’s Triton, gazing at all the surrounding people aimlessly throwing their coins into the clear pool. To our disappointment, we also watched a crane glide back and forth across the front of the fountain yet again – they must be doing some kind of reconstruction or something seeing as this crane was there both days. Regardless, it was still a nice and relaxing view as we ate some gelato and took it all in. Jen later met us there, we heard about her morning and then we mapped out the rest of our day.

 

We then began quite a journey. First we walked to Isola Tiberina, which is a small area over the Fiume Tevere. You walk onto the bridge, which opens up into this little mini town of cafes, a church and a hotel. Then the bridge narrows again, and you can walk off onto the other side of the river. We walked around what we called the little bridge island and decided to head down to where the water was streaming under the bridge. We walked down these stairs and settled ourselves on the cement along the water. We sat for a half hour, talking and watching the seagulls soar and the ducks swim along the stream. It was really beautiful and a nice little hideaway from busy Rome. After, we embarked on a long walk to get to San Giovanni in Laterano and Scala Santa.

 

By this time it was about 3:00pm, and we began our trek. With Katie leading (she was our brilliant map girl the entire trip, thank goodness to her) we walked through the streets of Rome and came to a clearing. We walked back behind Palentine Hill and overlooked Augustus (the first Roman emperor’s) original palace (which now just looks like a stone façade) and walked along a narrow yet long field that stretched for about an acre. This rectangular land sunken below the main walkway is supposedly where Caesar would have his chariot races, or would overlook them from a room in the palace – so that was very cool to see and imagine as we walked by. We continued joking and laughing, trying to brush up on our Spanish since the 40 year old Spanish ladies moved into to our hostel, all the while looking at the map to try to get to our main destination. But, this once, Katie led us a bit astray, and we ended up missing our turn and circling right back to the center of Rome by the coliseum. It was quite warm out, and we all had to pee, so we stopped to rest and have some water at a café that overlooked the coliseum, which was a needed break.

 

We then regrouped and headed straight for San Giovanni in Laterano – this is a papal complex which hosts the world’s first ever baptistery which set the octagonal style for all baptisteries to come. But the main attraction is inside an old building that houses the Scala Santa – a staircase that has been transported overtime to eventually end up in Rome. However, this is not just any ordinary staircase – according to historians, it was taken from Pontius Pilate’s house and is therefore the same steps that Jesus ascended to face his trail. To commemorate this, devout believers walk up each step on their knees slowly and pray. The legend has it that if you look closely you can see traces of Jesus’ blood on the stairs. It is an incredible religious and historical symbol. To walk into the building and be enveloped by the silence and passion of the people sprinkled along each of the 28 steps, at all different levels, from all different walks of life to pay homage to their God was phenomenal and powerful. It was our favorite part of the day and a must see for anyone visiting Rome – regardless of your religious background. You see, the real reason it touched me was because an individual’s emotional depth of faith – no matter who or what that faith is directed to – is powerful and moving. There was such a sense of togetherness, humility and respect that filled the air and will fill our memories.

 

After our day of walking, we went back to the flat where we got everything packed and ready for our early morning departure before going out to eat our last dinner in Rome. We had picked out a restaurant we saw on our way to the Trevi in the morning, so we went straight back with certain dishes in mind and a 13 euro bottle of wine with our name on it. We had a delicious meal, which lasted hours. The staff loved us, perhaps for our accents, kind demeanor, or perhaps (and most likely) for our love of white wine J and we left with big smiles on our faces. We then headed to the Trevi to see it lit up at night, which was stunning – finally no cranes to impede our view, but still, even at 10:30pm, there were people everywhere. I guess Rome really doesn’t sleep.

 

It was a perfect final day in Rome, certainly the most relaxing and unstructured, but still filled with great sights, laughs, and touching moments. I truly loved this ancient city, but as we headed back to our hostel, and got in bed, I was very excited to be leaving in the morning for Sorrento and the warm and stunning Italian coast. 

 

Thursday morning we woke up ready to be out of the Gulliver’s hostel and settled into the Seven Hostel in Sorrento. The only problem is that getting from point A to point B is not nearly as easy as that – in fact it was a bit of a journey, which started at the train station. After an early breakfast with our polish friends (they all love the show Friends, and we were all quoting it together – that show is truly universal and breaks all boundaries… enough said J ) we said goodbye and walked to the train station.

 

We cut it close, but got on the regional train to Naples just in time. We trailed our luggage through the second-class cabins to try to find four seats together, but we could only find three seats on the right, and one on the left. Lucky for Katie, Laura and I, we had three seats surrounding a 23-year-old Italian military man named Marco. He was stunning in uniform, so sweet, and even through his very broken English, he kept us laughing the entire trip. He looked a lot like Kostas from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – as you can imagine he was very cute. He had this duffle bag that we called the Mary Poppins bag because he kept pulling things out of it for us – chocolate from Perugia (he was coming from the chocolate fest they have there every year, and it was so fun because I remember Lynn brining me home chocolate from that two years ago), books and maps on the Italian Coast – he was full of tips, and compliments. He was so sweet. The girls think that he liked me…I mean, at the end he asked if I would get INTO his Mary Poppins bag and leave with him – so I guess it was kind of obvious. At one point I was telling a story about our hostel and my bed and he stopped me and was like “you, me, in bed?” And I was like no, no, no….MY bed….which made for really good entertainment for a three hour train ride. Sadly though, he got off a couple of stops before us and we waved goodbye and wished him good luck with the military. A bit relieved to be able to stop translating everything to simple common words, we continued on, but before we could even settle into our Ipods, we were pulling into the Naples train station.

 

After some confusion as to how to catch the local train to Sorrento, we finally found the downstairs area and boarded the over ground, which after about an hour, brought us right to our stop – S. Agnella. This did not however come easy – I had to stand amongst many 14-year-old Italian girls, which was annoying – among other things. For instance, at one point – I fell over – no seriously… FLAT ON MY FACE. The girls were sitting, but my bag was too heavy to lug, so I decided to stand by the door (it is like the tube, but an over ground). I was trying to reach for my bag to get out the directions to our hostel from our stop and hold my very heavy suitcase on the ground at the same time. Well, a faulty twist and turn later, of course encouraged by the momentum of the train, I was literally on the floor on top of my bags, in front of EVERYONE. The girls could not stop laughing. I of course, upon getting back up not so gracefully, laughed too, but it was very embarrassing. Then, we got off the wrong stop, and had to pile back on the train. So, needless to say, it was an eventful ride, but we finally reached our stop along the outskirts of Sorrento.

 

On solid ground, balanced and ready to go, we then had to find the hostel, which we had very little trouble doing in Florence and Rome. So we thought – no problem. Think again – in the unexpected heat we walked around for about twenty minutes before getting on the right track to our hostel. But when we FINALLY arrived, it was like walking into paradise.

 

This hostel might as well be a RESORT! It has a full bar and restaurant, an outdoor courtyard with fluffy white couches, then three floors of spacious, clean, modern rooms, with comfortable beds, a rooftop terrace, gourmet Italian meals for only 5 euro a plate – it is literally out of this world. It is a little pricier then your average hostel, but really not by much. Not to mention, the people staying here are amazing. We have had the best time getting to know everyone – mostly all people our age – staying up late on the terrace, drinking wine and sharing travel stories. It has been such a blast. But I jump ahead…. let me go back to arrival time on Thursday afternoon.

 

We checked and settled in with jaws dropped to the absolute beauty of the hostel. The view out of our room is something out of a dream – blue waters, with small houses lining a huge mountain. We were starving so we met up with Ron, a 33 year old guy from Chicago who sold his houseS, rented out his carS, retired and has been traveling the world for months (notice the plural… he is clearly rolling in the money), and we went to a small snack bar just up the road. I had a delicious ham and cheese pizza, and we all took in the surprisingly warm weather. The area around the hostel is actually quite barren, with just a small pizzeria and café up the road. However, all you need is at the hostel, including great food and people, plus it is only a twenty-minute walk into the heart of Sorrento. So location has not been an issue at all. After our snack, we went to the grocery to pick up some small things, and then hung out at the hostel the whole night on the roof top terrace. It is such an incredible view overlooking the entire city lit up at night, with stars overhead – truly unreal. We met tons of Aussies, some of whom live in London so we might meet up with them again. In fact, we are telling everyone to come to my big birthday bash in December – apparently (according to Laura, the social chair for the event ;) the list is building rapidly – I guess everyone likes a good party – it’s a universal thing J. We also met this great couple in their late twenties, Lisa and Greg, from California. They are engaged and are traveling for a year and ½ before settling down and getting married. They saved up, quit their jobs, and here they are. What an amazing experience to do before having kids – I definitely want to do that someday for a shorter amount of time.

 

It is so funny because meeting all these great people and seeing how much we all have in common regardless of living in completely different parts of the world is refreshing. It simply reminds you that people are just people and while we may have different backgrounds, or even speak different languages, we all like to laugh, joke, and have a good time. It has also introduced me to this almost “underground” traveling culture. All these travelers stay in touch, meet up in other countries, suggest places and hostels and share stories of their trips. It is so incredible to talk to these people and see how they live their life on such a whim – it’s like, “tomorrow, I think I will go to Barcelona…. And then when that gets boring I will go to Italy,” – I mean that is incredible and freeing and as a planner and family girl, hard to wrap my head around. They say there is no place like home, but no one actually thinks that your home can become any country in the world at any time you like. I know that life is not really for me, but I would love to do it for like six months before having children. Traveling just opens your eyes up to so much and allows you to not only discover new places and people, but also a lot about yourself. A lot of these people are traveling alone – I would get so lonely but they love being solitary and independent – it is so admirable and interesting to me.

 

In between talking to all of these great people, I also had a mission of the night. Laura, Katie, Jen and I had heard about the day trip to Capri that the hostel organizes through a boat company. We were desperate to go – it included transportation from the hostel to the dock, you then get on a private boat that takes you to the island of Capri, you have 2 hours to shop and explore, and then you get back on the boat where it takes you to the white, green and blue grottos all around the coast. It is so warm here, that the girls in our room that did it the day before we arrived said we could swim into the caves our selves and snorkel. The catch was we had to find two other people to go with us on the trip, because they had a minimum of 6 people and a maximum of 11. After quite the search, we found two very sweet 20 year old girls from Australia, Isabelle and Emily, who decided to sign up. So we were all set to go on our excursion to the island of Capri!

 

There are simply no words to describe the absolute beauty of this island. I think it is hands down my FAVORITE place I have ever been to (with the exception of Disney World of course). Perhaps this is because the island of Capri is surrounded by my favorite color – a crystal clear pure turquoise - water unlike I have ever seen. It looked so much of what I have seen of Greece, which made me immediately think of Ike, Brezny, Jill and Monica, and how much they would have loved Capri.

 

We woke up in our comfortable beds to the 7 am city bells chiming through the open window, left open to let in the warm breeze. After snoozing for a bit, we went down to breakfast and packed our backpacks up for the day trip. We did not have bathing suits because we had NO IDEA we would ever need swimsuits (or swimmers as the Aussies call them) in October in Italy! So we had to borrow board shorts from Alexis, the Scottish girl who was staying in our room, and pair it with tanks tops, which we packed to change into on the boat. At 10am the van arrived to pick us up and bring us down the steep cliff to the dock (mom you are right, the driving is CRAZY), passing flying vespas (which, I am still dying to ride one like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in every movie they have ever made). There, we met Augustus, our boat driver and tour guide. We got on the boat, rolled up our jeans, took off our sperrys (we didn’t even have flip flops for Pete’s sake) and embarked out onto the beautiful blue waters.

 

The sights all around us were incredible. The colors were so vibrant as we sailed toward the coast of Capri, with Naples. Mount Vesuvius and Sorrento becoming smaller in the distance. The white, pink and yellow houses were tucked into the mountainside like out of a dream. It was the most beautiful boat ride EVER! And I simply love being on the water. With the wind in my face, the turquoise waters all around me, the sunlight beaming down. Sailing is hands down when I feel the most alive and at peace. Maybe this is because my family and I used to go on cruises all the time when I was a kid, so the water for me reminds me of them and makes me feel safe. It was seriously magical – which sounds totally corny, but those who have been there (Lynnie and fam - I thought of you all the whole time!) I am sure would understand. As we pulled up into the dock of Capri 45 minutes after setting sail, I became even more excited to see the island.

 

Capri is like out of a movie – all the cafes, flowers, colors – it is like everything you picture when you think of a tropical paradise. The streets were lined with designer stores, gelaterias, shops and the most amazing hotels tucked into the rocks along the mountain. What an amazing honeymoon spot – so remote! We walked around, got some gelato, sat on a bench and soaked in the sun, raved about how our friends at Elon were in class while we got to explore paradise, and somehow get credit for it J, and did some shopping in the gift shops! After two hours it was back onto the boat to sail around the island and see the grottos (which totally reminded me of the Little Mermaid and how Brezny and I took a picture with her in her “grotto” at Disney in May!).

 

Augustus was a great tour guide, and such a handsome Italian man. He showed the six of us all around as we sunbathed on the boat, told us stories about the island and about his life. He is 36 and has lived in practically every country, but always finds his way back to Sorrento where he grew up. I can see why.

 

The first stop was the white grotto. We got out of the boat and climbed up the rocks into a cave to take a closer look at a rock that is shaped exactly like the virgin Mary praying – it is incredible. On our way back down, Augustus told us we could jump off the 20 ft cliff if we wanted. All my friends who went to Greece did it, and I have always wanted to go cliff jumping. So Katie and I, the only brave ones, decided to do it! I went first, climbed over the handle bar, looked down, looked back up, counted to three out loud, jumped and screamed the WHOLE WAY DOWN! Because I went first, I broke the water first, and since I have never jumped before, I did not enter the water as straight as I should have. So it ended up REALLY hurting – like my butt is so bruised right now, I cannot even tell you. But I took one for the team, because I was able to tell Katie just how to do it while treading in the cold water below, trying not to cry – but it was so worth it, such a rush! And I was really proud of myself for going first and just taking the leap…literally. (I have it on video, so it will be fun to watch!)

 

After getting back on the boat, soaked, shaking a bit, and still stunned, we continued to sail around the island while eating our mozzarella and tomato baguettes. The next grotto – the green grotto was by far my favorite. Once we arrived, we jumped out of the boat, took the snorkeling googles and swam through a big stone arch. The water was amazing, we could see all the way down the bottom even without goggles. And the water wasn’t too salty – I could even open my eyes. And the sights underneath the surface were incredible. It was seriously like looking at a scene of Finding Nemo down there! The colors were so vibrant and clear, and there were fish swimming everywhere. Augustus picked us up on the other side of the arch tunnel and as we emerged on the other side, we noticed this small opening, only three feet wide, in the façade of the rocky cliffs. It was a blowhole – the forces of the air kept spraying the water out of the cave like the uncorking of a champagne bottle. Augustus told us to swim in, but no one wanted to. It looked scary, but he said there was a small cave on the inside, that it was safe and that I should go check it out. So I grabbed the goggles, took a deep breath and swam through the small hole into the dark cave. Inside it was amazing. To be on the inside of a blow hole – who would have ever thought I would do something like that. It was so small and dark, with just a stream of sunlight peering through the hole when the water wasn’t escaping. All the girls finally got up the courage to meet me inside, and even Augustus dove in and met us. We huddled inside for a little while taking it all in, and then we swam out and climbed onto a big rock that was on the bottom of the ocean floor just by the boat. The water was shallow enough that we could stand on it and rest. We then swam back to the boat, and journeyed to our last and most famous stop – the blue grotto.

 

As we sailed in the empty blue ocean (because the end of October is so off-season the water was completely ours), we passed a beautiful lighthouse, and some of the most expensive homes in all of Italy. We are talking MANSIONS resting on the hill overlooking the water. They were so incredible. After a little while we approached another slightly larger hole in the side of the island. We waited for a tour boat to pull away (they barely got to see a thing without swimming in) and then we jumped back into the water and swam through. We popped up on the inside of a massive 30 meters by 30 meters cave. The trick is, if you swim all the way inside and turn back toward the opening, the water appears to be a fluorescent and rich royal blue, as if being lit from underneath the ocean. In my attempt to get as far in as possible where Augustus said the color would be most vibrant, I swam ahead of the group, but was soon stopped by a stinging sensation in my arm. I jumped, thinking I was bit by a fish, but I let it go, wanting to enjoy the sights. The girls and I waded in the water, laughed and splashed around. I even broke out a couple of bars of Little Mermaid, and we all laughed. But through it all, my arm kept burning a bit. On our way out, another little family swam in and the woman, with snorkeling gear, spotted a jelly fish – looks like he got the best of me. I was stung three times on my arm – so I had a bruised bum and a stung arm – but it was all SO WORTH IT! Augustus took care of me and it is totally fine – I think the bugger just grazed me. But I would have done it all over again just so see the brilliant blue light. It was stunning.

 

Our way back to the island was spent watching the sun begin to set over the water, taking pictures, drying off, and thanking Augustus for being so great to us. Katie was allowed to drive the boat, he taught Jen and Laura how to fish, and all the while I stayed in the very front (my favorite place to be) taking in the beautiful sights all around me.

 

It was an amazing day – I still cannot believe it was real. After showering, doing some wash and eating dinner, we spent the rest of the night mingling with our friends and planning our day along the Amalfi Coast tomorrow – which I hear is also stunning. So we are very excited for that.

 

Maybe now you understand why I have not been writing as much! It has been so busy, but so incredible. I LOVE ITALY! I cannot wait to come back with family, or maybe even someday honeymoon on the island of Capri! That would be so amazing. Until then, I am going to enjoy this time now, because what an amazing time it has been.

 

Love and hugs – miss you all so much!

Jenny