This year we travel. Heather and I decided quite some time ago that we would use our 3rd year to see the sites here in Europe. It was the best time for us financially since, now, we're finally able to build up some savings and can finally anticipate what kind of budget we can utilize. Also, we feel we have somewhat figured out the protocol for traveling in Europe.
We kicked off our travel tour with a trip to the south of Italy. The trip was arranged by a travel office on the base that specializes in organizing tourist trips. Our itinerary put us on the bus from the Air Force base at 10 PM with an all night bus ride to Naples, Italy. The all night bus ride was particularly daunting considering we took Rylan with us. Heather and I were seriously apprehensive about this portion of the trip. Since Rylan has little emotional control right now, we were concerned that he would; A. Not sleep at all on the bus. B. Get cranky, throw a fit all night, and keep us and the rest of the bus awake all night. C. Be a complete nightmare to deal with the next day as aftermath from not sleeping. Once on the bus, Rylan curiously and quietly looked out the window and drifted off to sleep about an hour after embarking on the trip. We were so relieved. I was surprised that my lack of sleep on the bus ride had little to do with my 4 year old son and more to do with the reclined seat in front of me that was jammed against my knees.
9 AM and we were pulling into downtown Naples, Italy. The streets were full of piled up garbage bags. My first impression of Naples was not a good one. It seemed like a place with little regard for aesthetics or simple basic sanitation. There was extensive never ending construction that cluttered up the Naples skyline. Once we were close to our first stop, our tour guide started giving us instructions on where to be and at what time. Then she said something interesting. In her not so good english,she told us to keep track of our purses because Naples was not a nice place. After we all had worried chuckles, she clarified that Naples was beautiful but some of the people weren't nice. I took this as Naples was full of criminal activity, which I had already known from news reports and state department reports.
The bus dropped us off at the marine port, which put us within walking distance to the downtown area. There wasn't anything significant about Naples that I noticed except for one thing. For every 10 people walking the streets, there was at least 1 police officer. It was an indication that crime was so rampant that the community of Naples were making a concerted effort to clean it up and make it safer for locals and tourists alike. We wondered around for about 2 hours, had some coffee (the first "to go" coffee I'd seen in Italy thus far"), took some pictures, and enjoyed the simple, easy goingness we've come to know in Italy.
After our time was up in Naples we proceeded to the ship port. I had no idea what we were doing and what mode of travel we were taking to our next destination. However, this was part of the joy of having the trip planned for us. We just had to show up at the right place at the right time and everything else was taken care of for us. At the port, we boarded what looked to be a large yacht that had been converted to a ferry. The boat was pretty fast and held about 150 passengers. The boat was small enough that we felt most of the waves it pounded through. Thankfully Rylan didn't get sick but a few others in our group did. After about 45 minutes on the boat we landed at the Island of Capri.
Capri looked like a large rock that had been thrust up from the middle of the sea. Most of the Island was full jagged cliffs and any strip of land that didn't have foliage on it, had a house on it. Sometimes the houses were built right into the rock face itself. When we got off the boat, we went immediately to what our tour guide called a Fanacular. In simple terms, it was basically a trolley. However, the one extraordinary thing about this trolley is that it ferried people to the top of the mountain island in a straight line. It made no zig zags to lessen grade. Straight up, and straight down at what was probably more than a 45 degree angle based on how the seats were placed so that you'd sit horizontal during the ride. It appeared to be pulled up, and let down by a large cable but was stabilized by the tracks it operated on. Once we reached the top, we were met with a breath taking view. The thrusted rock was surrounded by deep blue sea as far as you could see. Our group was quickly herded off to a restaurant for a quick lunch.
After lunch, we proceeded down the mountain on foot. Our descent took us past many shops, most of which were for tourists. Translation; nothing authentic and most of it way overpriced. Once we reached the bottom, our goal was to visit the popular blue grotto. We hopped on a small boat which took us about a quarter of the way around the island to a small hole in the rock partially obscured by the sea level. Close to the opening was a floating barge and several really small dingy type row boats. We agreed to pay the fee go to into the cave and we piled into the small dingy. The dingy boat guy rowed us into the hole in the rock face and we were in the blue grotto. Simply put, it was a dark cave with blue water illuminated by sunlight showing through a wider opening below the entrance hole. Our boat guy rowed us around in there for a few minutes and even sang us a romantic Italian tune. Of course it felt a little weird with our 4 year old present. After the blue grotto we landed back at the main boat dock and lounged around until it was time for our group to leave.
From Capri, we caught another passenger yacht ferry to Sorrento where our hotel was. Once we landed in Sorrento, the walk to our hotel took us up about a half mile worth of stairs. The boat landing sat at the bottom of a rock face and the only way up to the town itself was either to pay money for a taxi/bus or walk. We all chose to walk. Once we hit the hotel, we were pretty much exhausted. The hotel was adequate and you could tell by the severely outdated elevator and 6 inch tube television that the place was really only meant for sleeping. However, we were treated to a pretty nice dinner the first night which consisted of a first course of fresh pasta and a main course of pork. The pasta was the best I've ever had to date. The pork; meh, it was ok. Shortly after dinner we scampered off to bed for some much needed sleep.
The next morning we hopped on the bus and headed out to Positano, which is another coastal community apparently known for shopping. We didn't spend a lot of time here. One notable thing about Positano is how they managed to build houses right into the mountain. It literally looked like a mountain of houses if you can imagine that. Still the scenery was stunning. After a few hours in Positano, we took yet another ferry to the town of Amalfi. This ferry felt more like what you'd imagine a ferry to be except with one difference. The upper deck was completely uncovered so you could enjoy the scenery as you traveled to your next destination.
Holy lemons! That's mostly what I can say about Amalfi. The lemons they grow here are the size of grapefruits and they're everywhere. It's a staple of the diet there apparently and the volcanic soil makes them grow freakishly large. Because of this, they've mastered the use of lemons. We bought some lemon Italian ice made from these lemons from a street vendor. It was expensive but well worth it. It was such a departure from what I've been used to. It seems like most everything in the States is artificially lemon flavored. But this, this was real lemons! Man it was good! We walked around Amalfi, bought some lemoncello (lemon liquor, 30% alcohol), and then headed back to the boat dock for another ferry ride.
We boarded the boat to Salerno and within a few minutes, Rylan was zonked out on my lap. He'd been such a trooper and had tolerated our touring well. So well, in fact, that I don't remember any complaints from him. I'm sure there were some but I just don't remember them so it was a good day. Once in Salerno we were met by our buses which took us back to Sorrento for the night.
The final leg of our trip commenced the next morning. We checked out of the hotel and piled back into the buses for a short trip to Pompeii, which was on my "Italy must see" list. Pompeii, as you're probably already aware, was a bustling roman city struck down and buried deep by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. As our bus inched closer to Pompeii, I noticed that there were droves and droves of population. More than there once was in Pompeii before the fatal eruption. So when we arrived at Pompeii, I couldn't help but ask myself why people still live in the area that was once decimated by a still very active volcano.
We entered through the Pompeii city wall. Once inside, we could see the remnants of ancient roman city pillars and streets. For the most part, you could see the gutted rooms of houses and businesses, which didn't really tell me anything. As I was looking at the streets, I noticed something that made the city come to life. Something that connected me more to what happened there. The streets were constructed by several large stones placed together, kind of like extra large cobblestone. Looking down the streets you could see paralleled ruts in the stone that were spaced about 4 to 5 feet apart. The ruts were made by hundreds of years worth of chariots moving up and down the streets, day in and day out. It wasn't like just looking at broken out stone walls or crumbling pillars. It was a signature. Those ruts said "I was here". Truly amazing.
As we made our way past the umbrella like pine trees and through the exit, our trip was finally over. Heather, Ry and I got a quick lunch then piled back on to the buses for a grueling 10 hour bus ride back to Aviano. The trip back took us right through Bologna which had been struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake a week prior. About 8 hours after we passed through, Bologna was struck again with a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Did we dodge a bullet? Who knows but I'm glad we weren't around to find out.
9 AM and we were pulling into downtown Naples, Italy. The streets were full of piled up garbage bags. My first impression of Naples was not a good one. It seemed like a place with little regard for aesthetics or simple basic sanitation. There was extensive never ending construction that cluttered up the Naples skyline. Once we were close to our first stop, our tour guide started giving us instructions on where to be and at what time. Then she said something interesting. In her not so good english,she told us to keep track of our purses because Naples was not a nice place. After we all had worried chuckles, she clarified that Naples was beautiful but some of the people weren't nice. I took this as Naples was full of criminal activity, which I had already known from news reports and state department reports.
The bus dropped us off at the marine port, which put us within walking distance to the downtown area. There wasn't anything significant about Naples that I noticed except for one thing. For every 10 people walking the streets, there was at least 1 police officer. It was an indication that crime was so rampant that the community of Naples were making a concerted effort to clean it up and make it safer for locals and tourists alike. We wondered around for about 2 hours, had some coffee (the first "to go" coffee I'd seen in Italy thus far"), took some pictures, and enjoyed the simple, easy goingness we've come to know in Italy.
After our time was up in Naples we proceeded to the ship port. I had no idea what we were doing and what mode of travel we were taking to our next destination. However, this was part of the joy of having the trip planned for us. We just had to show up at the right place at the right time and everything else was taken care of for us. At the port, we boarded what looked to be a large yacht that had been converted to a ferry. The boat was pretty fast and held about 150 passengers. The boat was small enough that we felt most of the waves it pounded through. Thankfully Rylan didn't get sick but a few others in our group did. After about 45 minutes on the boat we landed at the Island of Capri.
Capri looked like a large rock that had been thrust up from the middle of the sea. Most of the Island was full jagged cliffs and any strip of land that didn't have foliage on it, had a house on it. Sometimes the houses were built right into the rock face itself. When we got off the boat, we went immediately to what our tour guide called a Fanacular. In simple terms, it was basically a trolley. However, the one extraordinary thing about this trolley is that it ferried people to the top of the mountain island in a straight line. It made no zig zags to lessen grade. Straight up, and straight down at what was probably more than a 45 degree angle based on how the seats were placed so that you'd sit horizontal during the ride. It appeared to be pulled up, and let down by a large cable but was stabilized by the tracks it operated on. Once we reached the top, we were met with a breath taking view. The thrusted rock was surrounded by deep blue sea as far as you could see. Our group was quickly herded off to a restaurant for a quick lunch.
After lunch, we proceeded down the mountain on foot. Our descent took us past many shops, most of which were for tourists. Translation; nothing authentic and most of it way overpriced. Once we reached the bottom, our goal was to visit the popular blue grotto. We hopped on a small boat which took us about a quarter of the way around the island to a small hole in the rock partially obscured by the sea level. Close to the opening was a floating barge and several really small dingy type row boats. We agreed to pay the fee go to into the cave and we piled into the small dingy. The dingy boat guy rowed us into the hole in the rock face and we were in the blue grotto. Simply put, it was a dark cave with blue water illuminated by sunlight showing through a wider opening below the entrance hole. Our boat guy rowed us around in there for a few minutes and even sang us a romantic Italian tune. Of course it felt a little weird with our 4 year old present. After the blue grotto we landed back at the main boat dock and lounged around until it was time for our group to leave.
From Capri, we caught another passenger yacht ferry to Sorrento where our hotel was. Once we landed in Sorrento, the walk to our hotel took us up about a half mile worth of stairs. The boat landing sat at the bottom of a rock face and the only way up to the town itself was either to pay money for a taxi/bus or walk. We all chose to walk. Once we hit the hotel, we were pretty much exhausted. The hotel was adequate and you could tell by the severely outdated elevator and 6 inch tube television that the place was really only meant for sleeping. However, we were treated to a pretty nice dinner the first night which consisted of a first course of fresh pasta and a main course of pork. The pasta was the best I've ever had to date. The pork; meh, it was ok. Shortly after dinner we scampered off to bed for some much needed sleep.
The next morning we hopped on the bus and headed out to Positano, which is another coastal community apparently known for shopping. We didn't spend a lot of time here. One notable thing about Positano is how they managed to build houses right into the mountain. It literally looked like a mountain of houses if you can imagine that. Still the scenery was stunning. After a few hours in Positano, we took yet another ferry to the town of Amalfi. This ferry felt more like what you'd imagine a ferry to be except with one difference. The upper deck was completely uncovered so you could enjoy the scenery as you traveled to your next destination.
Holy lemons! That's mostly what I can say about Amalfi. The lemons they grow here are the size of grapefruits and they're everywhere. It's a staple of the diet there apparently and the volcanic soil makes them grow freakishly large. Because of this, they've mastered the use of lemons. We bought some lemon Italian ice made from these lemons from a street vendor. It was expensive but well worth it. It was such a departure from what I've been used to. It seems like most everything in the States is artificially lemon flavored. But this, this was real lemons! Man it was good! We walked around Amalfi, bought some lemoncello (lemon liquor, 30% alcohol), and then headed back to the boat dock for another ferry ride.
We boarded the boat to Salerno and within a few minutes, Rylan was zonked out on my lap. He'd been such a trooper and had tolerated our touring well. So well, in fact, that I don't remember any complaints from him. I'm sure there were some but I just don't remember them so it was a good day. Once in Salerno we were met by our buses which took us back to Sorrento for the night.
The final leg of our trip commenced the next morning. We checked out of the hotel and piled back into the buses for a short trip to Pompeii, which was on my "Italy must see" list. Pompeii, as you're probably already aware, was a bustling roman city struck down and buried deep by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. As our bus inched closer to Pompeii, I noticed that there were droves and droves of population. More than there once was in Pompeii before the fatal eruption. So when we arrived at Pompeii, I couldn't help but ask myself why people still live in the area that was once decimated by a still very active volcano.
We entered through the Pompeii city wall. Once inside, we could see the remnants of ancient roman city pillars and streets. For the most part, you could see the gutted rooms of houses and businesses, which didn't really tell me anything. As I was looking at the streets, I noticed something that made the city come to life. Something that connected me more to what happened there. The streets were constructed by several large stones placed together, kind of like extra large cobblestone. Looking down the streets you could see paralleled ruts in the stone that were spaced about 4 to 5 feet apart. The ruts were made by hundreds of years worth of chariots moving up and down the streets, day in and day out. It wasn't like just looking at broken out stone walls or crumbling pillars. It was a signature. Those ruts said "I was here". Truly amazing.
As we made our way past the umbrella like pine trees and through the exit, our trip was finally over. Heather, Ry and I got a quick lunch then piled back on to the buses for a grueling 10 hour bus ride back to Aviano. The trip back took us right through Bologna which had been struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake a week prior. About 8 hours after we passed through, Bologna was struck again with a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Did we dodge a bullet? Who knows but I'm glad we weren't around to find out.
