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Published: April 14th 2009
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blue grotto
squished into our canoe It’s Spring Break at the University of Valencia from April 3-20 so I had the opportunity to travel to Naples with Jacob. It was the most beautiful weekend I have ever spent; I saw colors I didn’t know existed. We arrived on Thursday night in Naples just in time to go get some pizza from its original home. If I didn’t already love Italian food enough, I love it even more now. I ate a lot of delicious pizza, pasta, and gelato. I’ll explain what we did by place; we just stayed in Naples and took day trips everyday.
CAPRI:
On Friday we took a hydrofoil to the Island of Capri - my first time ever on an island! The first thing we wanted to do that we read about in the travel books was visit the blue grotto (a grotto is basically a cave). Right when we got off of the ferry we bought our tickets to get on a boat that would take us to the blue grotto. We didn’t know what the weather would be like and if the tide rises you cannot go into the grotto because the entryway is very low. When we arrived at
blue grotto
gorgeous blue waters from inside the cave the blue grotto there were guides in boats waiting for us. Jacob and I had to sit on the floor of the boat in the back in a very small opening; it was so cozy we couldn’t move. To enter the grotto you have to lay down on the floor of the boat to avoid scraping your head on the entryway. It was a little frightening but so worth it once you got inside. The water is a shade of blue I had never seen before. It gets this blue color due to the sun reflecting off of the white sand beneath. The cave used to be a private swimming pool for a king, emperor? I don’t remember but it was breathtaking. I’ll try to let the pictures do the explaining.
After we visited the blue grotto we had some lunch and took another boat tour that sailed around the entire island while a guide pointed out some high points. I’ll post some pictures and explain what we saw in the captions.
When we returned to the shore we got some gelato and sat and watched the waves for a couple of hours before taking the ferry back. It was
just the most perfect, relaxing day; I could have stayed on that island forever.
POMPEII/VESUVIUS:
We signed up for a tour of Pompeii and a hike on Vesuvius for Saturday. The tour guide picked us up at our hostel and first drove us to Pompeii. Vesuvius is due for another eruption and we wanted to see the ruins before they are covered again. Pompeii is larger than I was expecting it to be; it was huge. Our tour guide was awesome and explained the city very well.
After our visit at Pompeii we had pizza and then drove the Vesuvius for our hike! Jacob and I couldn’t believe we were climbing a volcano the whole time we were there. It was really steep but I had my walking stick to help and Jacob and I had a fun time taking pictures the whole up. Once at the top there was an amazing view of the bay of Naples. We reached the summit and were able to look into the crater of the volcano; we saw a smoking vent! Vesuvius looked like what I had pictured a volcano to look like on the outside (rocky and the brown/red colors) but
I had no idea what the inside would look like; it was steep and rocky. Vesuvius doesn’t actually produce a lot of lava; the gases were what killed the people in Pompeii and the rubble covered the city. My pictures won’t do Vesuvius justice.
ISCHIA:
I spent Easter on another island! We took a ferry (not a hydrofoil this time) to the Island of Ischia. We sat outside on top of the ferry waiting for Ischia to appear on the horizon and just talked and listened to music. Perfect again. Since we never really figured out the bus system and didn’t have a lot of time at Ischia we just visited a castle and it was gorgeous. Ischia was created because of a now inactive volcano and has a lot of natural hot springs and beauty.
The weather was ideal all weekend, warm and sunny. The water was beautiful. This weekend was such an adventure; I did so many things I normally wouldn’t do or wouldn’t even have the chance to do. I canoed into a cave, climbed a volcano, walked around a castle, and took a ferry to an island! It was simply amazing and I
blue grotto
view of the entrance from inside the cave... everyone lays down in the canoe while the guide pulls us in by using a chain attached to the top of the entrance never want to become numb to these new places and experiences. I loved spending time on the water and being near the coast.
I’m so thankful I could share this weekend with my best friend. My next adventure will be London with Mom and Dad! I have 4 more weeks in Valencia and then I’m excited to get home to Kansas to my family and friends.
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