The Almafi Coast

Hi from scorching Roma! Sorry I haven't written in a while, but this website was acting really funny. In the two weeks (ah!) that I haven't updated, I have seen a lot! I've seen breathtaking views, a lot of beaches, and I have also had an awful bout with food poisoning: No matter HOW GOOD you think it will taste, no matter HOW HUNGRY you are and no matter HOW BADLY you think you want it...DO NOT EAT MCDONALDS IN PARIS AT MIDNIGHT!


The Almafi Coast

The Almafi Coast is an amazing little place that I never thought I'd have the pleasure of witnessing in my lifetime. It is the coast just south of Naples, where my grandpa is from. We stayed at Seven Hostel, in Sorrento...a brand new hostel which was nicer than 90% of the hotels I've stayed in.

Friday, we went to the ancient town of Pompeii. Pompeii was a rather upper-class neighborhood that was completely buried in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted over a span of 2 days. Volcanic ash rained down and buried everyone and everything in the town. In the 1700's, as workers were digging irrigation canals through what they thought were hills, they found it. The place is kept in such good condition, all things considered. IT'S OVER 2000 YEARS OLD!!!!! The knowledge they have about each building and place is truly astonishing. We saw a bakery, winery, brothel, shops, spa, small houses, summer homes, winter homes...and that was only one tiny part of the town.

old town courthouse and town center

Here's our tour guide, Antonio. He knew EVERYTHING about this place, and about a lot of things..



cast of a person from 79 AD. archeologists pumped cement for the cast into the ground before removing the bodies to make sure they didn't break. didn't he have nice teeth?


a picture inside the brothel. let's just say this is the most tame of all of the pictures..


down the road from the brothel, pointing in its direction. this is not made up.

courtyard of a home..


it was hard to get a picture because of the sun..but this is a mosaic at the entrance of a home that reads "Attenti al cane"-"Beware of Dog"


Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius in the back ground

Later that day, we traveled down the road to Mount Vesuvius. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted in the last hundred years (1944). Basically, it can erupt at any moment. Thankfully, we asked and found out that they would know at least a week ahead of time. We climbed to the top...

us at the bottom...

view of Naples

and after lots of pain....we made it!!! me and my roommate Jess
inside of the volcano



(photo courtesy of Jake Tompkins)



Saturday we went to the isle of Capri! This was my absolute favorite place I have been so far. My dad said, "Erica, you have GOT to get to Capri." And he was not joking.

We took a boat from Sorrento to Capri. In the middle of the Mediterranean, the water is a royal blue. Closer to the coast, its a turquoise like nothing you've ever seen (unless you have been to Bermuda, apparently.) Before we pulled up to the coast, however, we went to the Blue Grotto. It is exactly what it sounds like, except 100 times better. It is a cave where the sunlight from the outside illuminates the water and the cave walls a surreal blue color. In order to get inside, one must take a tiny row boat. Everyone in the boat must lie down, or your head will get taken off by the cave entrance. The man driving the boat uses the chain attached to the entrance to hoist the boat inside, doing an acrobatic, matrix-like move so he himself doesn't kill himself on the cave entrance, either. Not only would it hurt, but you simply would not be able to get into the cave considering the entrance is probably..3 feet tall.


you can see a boat going under the entrance towards the right near the stairs, behind the man standing on a boat (photo courtesy of Jake Tompkins)





(photos courtesy of Melissa Marsili)

I almost didn't even do these pictures, because pictures ruin it and don't even do justice..

My friends and I wanted nothing more than to lie on the beach...so instead of hiking up to the top of Capri (which I'm sure was amazing), we decided to rest our feet for the day, and relax on the first tiny, perfect beach we set our eyes on. I guess all that means is that I will have to come back to Capri one day. As they say... "You will want to come back to Capri"


my view from the beach





Sunday, we went to Positano, which is another beach town on the coast. It was also beautiful here! Yet again, we stayed on the beach for most of the day...






Stay tuned for Paris!

<3, Erica