Blogs from Amalfi, Campania, Italy, Europe - page 10

We rented a car and defied death as we made our way along hairpin turns which cantilevered over the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the overcast weather, it was stunning scenery. Some pictures compliments of Cari.... read more

Pompeii and Capri Two Days of Excavation, Preservation and Exploration December 21, 2005: Pompeii. Major take-away: In Italy, the past looks an awful lot like the present! 500-600 years BC to 79AD Pompeii was ruled by three different cultures. Founded by the Phoenicians then ruled by the Grecians and finally by the Romans the city of Pompeii was a prosperous trading and resort community. Its beauty and its demise both were derived from its stunning location at the foothills of Mt. Vesuvius. In 79AD, just 16 years after an earthquake rocked the city and destabilized its economy, the great mountain erupted, spewing rocks and molten ash high into the air, showering down upon the city of Pompeii. Most of the 20,000 inhabitants escaped, but 2000 did not, including a group of gladiators that were chained beneath ... read more

OK yesterday the first half was a frustraiting and the second half was great as I took a vacation from roughing it. The first half of the day was at the airport arguing with the ticket counter and making arrangements for flying out early which is tough because Naples doesnt have a counter for Luftunsa or United which is who I am flying on. I would call the airline support number and they would tell me it should be no problem, but the Italians at the counter said they couldn't change my date and refused to call the airline to speak to them about it. After a long time in the hot phone- internet shop making plans. I was able to cash in my Hilton points and had just enough for a one night stay at ... read more

Today was our last full day on the Almalfi coast. We took the boat over to Almalfi, which is the town next to Positano. The weather was perfect today, no clouds or anything. We found a beach right away, it was really nice because there weren't very many people there. The water was great, just the right temperature. We had lunch by the beach, the people who worked there were really nice. We saw the train attacks in London on the news there, but since it was in Italian, we didn't know what was going on. The woman who ran the restaurant told us, its really sad, especially since there are a lot of people over here from Britain. After we were done at the beach, we went and got gelato, then walked around the town ... read more

Today was our second full day on the Amalfi coast. Yesterday we stayed here in Positano and went down to the beach. We rented some lounge chairs, you have to here, since the beaches are all rocks. The weather was really nice, the sun was hot but the water was nice and refreshing. We had lunch down at the beach restaurant, I think the waiter wanted to go home with us. Unfortunately, he was not the hot waiter from Monterossa, but rather a 70 year-old man, not quite the Italian guy we had in mind. There was also a rather old man in a very tiny speedo on the chair next to us, not pleasant, but very common here. After the beach, we walked back up to our room, which, despite the hills is not actually ... read more

This won't be a very long update, as we didn't really do much of any excitement today, but I felt I had to write since I was finally able to get onto my own computer from our hotel room. It's very nice to actually know where all of the keys are. Today we took the train from Florence to Naples and then into Salerno. We decided to drag our bags from our apartment to the train station again, although this time we knew where we were going, so it didn't take nearly as long. We had heard how aggressive the people in Naples were, trying to get you to take their taxis and such, so we were ready to fight back. I think we were all relieved (and maybe a little disappointed) to find that it ... read more