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Published: October 4th 2009
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Friday we got up and took the train to Salerno from Rome. There was a really nice couple from Northern California in our compartment and they were nice. They had just flown into Rome and weren't too impressed yet, though. We got off the train and had lunch in Salerno, a nice little town on the water. The weather was ok, a little cloudy, but it is a really nice town on the coast. We caught the bus to Amalfi, where we had to get off for an hour or so to wait for the bus to Sorrento. The ride there was great, We got seats on the left side of the bus which had the best views. The road is so narrow and winding that there are actually police officers at some turns because only one vehicle can go at a time. The bus honked the horn at each blind turn to tell any cars coming the other way to stop. It was really great, the houses are built right into the sides of mountains.
When we got to Amalfi we had some time to poke around a little and get some gelato. Pretty much every single store in
the town sells lemoncello, this liquor that they are famous for in this region becuase they grow so many lemons. The town is really crowded with tourists, though. When our bus finally got there (late) for the 2 hour ride to Sorrento. I think the whole town was trying to get on it. We got on (some people didn't) but had to stand up for the first 45 minutes or so, which wasn't much fun since we were wheeling around the hairpin turns and stuff. On top of that it started raining and we couldn't see much of anything, which was a huge bummer because we could see enough to tell that the views were amazing. Luckily we did get some good views on the first part of the ride, but the second part was not so good.
We got to Sorrento and found the hotel pretty easily. It was probably the nicest one we have stayed on anywhere and one of the cheapest too, which was awesome. We found a great place to have dinner and watch the tourists walk around.
In the morning we went to Pompeii, which was awesome. It's pretty incredible how much of
Amalfi Coast
There are lemon groves all over the mountains it is still there, and just walking down the streets is intersting. You can still see the ruts from the wagon's wheels cut into the cobblestones. We found a bakery with a huge brick oven and flour mills. The brothel was pretty interesting, too.
In the afternoon we went to Naples. Pretty much our only purpose for going was to get a pizza in the birthplace of the pizza, and to check out the Archeaological Museum, which has lots of the art taken from Pompeii when it was discovered in the 1800s. My only advice to anyone traveling to Italy is SKIP NAPLES!!!! It is by far the dirtiest, smelliest, scariest city I have ever been to. There are piles of trash everywhere (I read somewhere that their dumps are filling up and they have nowhere to take it) the whole city seems impovershed, it is AWFUL. We did manage to find a pizza margharita and see the museum, though. As soon as we were finished we got the hell out of there, though. I would never want to be in that place after dark.
We got back to Rome in the evening and had a great dinner
Amalfi Coast
I'm not sure what they were burning but there were fires everywhere close to our hotel. The food was pretty typical, actually, but it was in a busy intersection and just watching the crazy drivers was entertainment the whole time. This morning we went to the appian way and rented bikes. We had planned on going for a couple of hours but we only made it 40 minutes, hahaha. The old cobblestones are so big and bumpy that it is miserable. There are people biking everywhere but they all have mountain bikes with suspension and we were on these single speed things. It was pretty bad. At least we get to say that we did it though.
Tonight we are going to get one last Italian dinner and tomorrow we are both flying home. It has been a great trip and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I can't wait to get home and sort through my 2,000 or so pictures.
I think my favorite places we have gone are:
Venice
Munich (because of Oktoberfest)
Rothenburg
Rome
Sorrento
Luzern
Milan
Naples
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