Heaven in a Cave

---

Turns out there are 50 people on my Contiki trip. Sounds overwhelming, but it isn’t at all! More than half of the group is in their 30’s. There are tons of single travelers, friends, and couples - just an amazing bunch. The tour manager is an Italian woman in her early 30’s who has a trashy sense of humor which is straight up my alley. Jen and I have met some incredible people! Two small worlds in the bunch (that I know of so far) is one of the guys here went to my high school! He is 5 years younger, so I didn’t know him, but very funny. Second is that one of my new BFF is good friends with my friend JR (love Jewish geography and Facebook).

Our first stop was Pompeii. It was an interesting excavated town. We had a local tour guide who smoked so many cigarettes we were simply hoping he didn’t fall over as it was pretty hot out! We saw a lot of things… but the most entertaining where the in tact penis’s. These were the signs that were believed to lead locals to the whore houses in the old village. Love that sex and pornography was hot and happening in 7th-6th century BC.

More pizza followed by a short bus ride brought us to Sorrento! Here we wondered around this great town. We met the group for some bubbly and watched the sun set before heading to our optional pizza dinner. This was the BEST pizza I have ever had in my entire life. We started with the freshest buffalo mozzarella and tomato one can ever eat. This was followed by 4 different types of pizza. The rumor is that pizza was started right here in Sorrento (so they would say). YUM! My stomach is holding its own (so I keep telling myself). I drank a few glasses of wine so I was toasted by midnight. Our alarms are set for 6am as we head to the island of Capri.

The ferry ride was about 30 minutes to the island of Capri from Sorrento. Upon arrival, we immediately boarded a small, no frills boat. We got views of the orange grotto and the white grotto. When we got to the green grotto - we literally jumped off the boat into the water and swam around! It was incredible! Unfortunately, there was a huge group of jellyfish and a few of my tour mates got stung. We all had to get back on board as we headed to the blue grotto. This is pretty interesting. Many boats are lined up while little boats (that seat 4 people) come up to your boat. We only had to wait 20 minutes which is apparently pretty good. Once we jump on the little boat, the captain (ours looked like Benicio Del Toro - gorgeous), lied us down… We realize the entrance can take someone’s head off! We all lie down and Benicio literally lies on top of us for a split second until we get into the grotto. It was awesome. Inside all the Italians were singing opera on their top of their lungs. They were all telling one another to shut the f up (kidding of course) - it was hilarious!!! It was dark, freaky, but incredibly beautiful. I tried taking pictures, but unfortunately they didn’t come out very well. The one boy who was in our little boat had an underwater camera - I may get some of his pics. Did I mention I have another 24 year old following me around like a puppy? OYE. He is one of the only 3 single boys on the trip. He thinks I am 28. I didn’t correct him, but I will certainly let him flirt away!

After getting back to the mainland, we headed for a much needed lunch. We walked to the top of the island (not recommended) as it was exhausting! Take the funicular up! Lunch followed by a ride back down and to the afternoon was spent lounging at the beach… Ferry ride back to Sorrento followed by wine by the pool at sunset. Perfect, perfect day!

We also got a good view of Mount Vesuvius on the windy, windy road we took to Sorrento.

---