Almalfi Overview

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Hey everyone!

Sorry for the delay since my last post but it has been a hectic week with finishing Introductory Finance.

But to catch all of you up, I spent last weekend in the Almalfi Coast. The Almalfi Coast makes up the southern coast of Italy along the Mediterranean Sea. On Friday night we stopped in Naples for dinner. One of the people I was traveling with suggested a pizza place that was featured in the movie "Eat Pray Love." The pizzeria was not to pleasing to the eye but the pizza was one of, if not the best, I've ever had. The sauce was so hearty and the crust was perfectly cooked over the wood stove. Also, the heaping mounds of melted mozzarella helped! We then left Naples and headed off to Sorrento to spend the next two nights.

The next morning we woke up at 7 to catch the first ferry to Capri. Capri is an island approx. 45 minutes from Sorrento. When we arrived we took a short walk around the town but we were eager to get on our boat. Five of us rented a motorboat from a local stand for 3 hours and had the freedom to travel the island from the sea. The views were so beautiful and we were exposed to different perspectives of the island. There are certain parts of Capri that you will never see by staying on the mainland. We visited the famous sights such as the Grazzo Azula( Blue Cave), the natural Arch way, and the rock tunnel. We even occasionally dropped the anchor and swam in the ocean for some time. It was great!

After the 3 hours on the boat we were all ready for lunch. We grabbed a quick bite to eat from a restaurant in the main plaza. I had tortellini al' pesto. Once again the food was great. I have learned that in Europe meals are never meant to be rushed and it is reflected in the service. Europeans are accustomed to taking their time and enjoying their meals while us Americans like to "dine and dash." Unfortunetly, we short of time to make sure we had enough time in the day to see the ruins of Pompeii. None the less we finished our lunch, (which was worth the wait), and left Capri. After an hour and a half ferry and train ride we finally arrived in Pompeii. Pompeii was a Roman city that was wiped out by a volcano in 79 A.D.. When the volcano erupted the city was buried with about 4-6 meters of ash and completely wiped out the city and its people. Luckily over the last 30 years, the ruins have been excavated and opened to the public so they can have access a sense of early Roman civilization. The most interesting part to me was the carbonized bodies that were found. The ash that had fallen instantly killed the individuals and after several hundred years carbonized their bodies. The bodies looked like a plaster mold of a human.

Later that night we left Pompeii to enjoy a dinner as a group in Sorrento. We ran into a group of students from Georgetown University who studying in Florence and spend the night with them. It was a relief to see some Americans!

Tomorrow we leave early and will be on the train for approx. 7 hours on our way back to Riva.

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