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Published: November 27th 2005
Amalfi Coast
God must have dumped out all of his blue paint on this coast.Started the day way early in the morning, we caught our morning train at 6:49 am. As we were heading even more south, the weather was promising: blue sky, hot humid air, and beautiful panorama. We didn’t have a proper breakfast, so as soon as we arrived at Napoli Centrale at 9:30 am, we stormed in into the first breakfast place in the sight: McDonalds. I was surprised to see many Asian tourists here in McDonalds and Naples in general.
We rode the 10:41 pm Circuvesuvia Train to Pompeii from Naples for €2.20, which considers to be expensive here. Pompeii is a tourist haven; there are many tourist booths selling souvenirs, Pompeii books in all languages you could think of, and colorful t-shirts. Beyond the hassle at the entrance, inside, the city ruin has a high quality planning craftsmanship; stone streets still had the cut imprint from chariot’s metal wheel, stepping stones for pedestrian crossing, remains of walls of structures, and above all, Mt. Vesuvius in the background which destroyed them all. Pompeii (and Herculaneum) was buried under the volcanic ashes when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., and it was forgotten
Ruins of Pompeii
The chariot imprints on Pompeii road and the stepping stones. for more than 1,600 years.
As it was described by Pliny the Younger,
We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand. On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size. . . . We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room. You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying.
(pp. 443, 445)
Every aspect of the city was frozen in time for almost 2,000 years, and this is where to go to see how a typical Italian city operated back in Jesus’ time. The streets and stepping stones were particularly interesting, Pompeii (and any Roman towns) had a street cleaning system where they flushed abundant amount of water on the street to clean them up from trash and debris, making it a river-like street. The stepping stones across the street help pedestrian to get from one side of the street to the other without getting it wet. The idea of traffic separation has been existed for thousand of years.
Walking around in Pompeii for about three hours, we managed to check out some of Pompeii highlights: Villa dei Misteri with its famous red frescoes, Casa di Faun with a fake little bronze statue in its courtyard, and Casa di Vetti, a wealthy merchant’s house. Including some random things we saw, a bakery with several breads still sitting on top of a table, a Roman amphitheater, and several preserved human remains that looked like
Pompeii frescoes
The famous red frescoes on Villa dei Misteri's ruins wall. cast figures framing the horror of knowing that death of the city had arrived. Most of the items found in the city was removed and stored at the Anthropology Museum in Naples, especially the good stuff: jewelry and pottery.
the Amalfi Coast: a paradise on earth Back in the Circuvesuvia Train, but this time we were heading up to the coast to the town of Sorrento, to start our journey along the Amalfi Coast. From Sorrento, we caught a bus to town of Amalfi, literally along the coastline. It was a spectacular trip, along the winding roads built by the Italian engineers above the Mediterranean Sea. The Italian engineers got my respect; they designed and built a coastline street that was almost impossible to think about, not even to execute. I’ve never seen anything bluer than the water. We were driving by the town of Positano, and it is a gorgeous town: white Italian Mediterranean structures were built in steps of a steep slope, contrasting the blue water of the open sea below. My instinct was to stay here instead of Amalfi, but we continued our journey.
Town of Amalfi is a quiet town, lazily sits
Citta di Positano
A perfection of Italian engineering. and enjoys its life looking over the sea. It had been a tiring day, so we decided to take it easy and go with the flow of the town. After checking into our hostel across the town, we had a fancy dinner at a dock, watching the sunset disappeared into the horizon. Down below was a beach boy washing off a private beach with a hose and a rack.
Finally after dinner, we had an opportunity to play by the water. We took off our shoes, and although it started to get dark, we still were able to see the open water and a trace of sunset in front of us, but turning back from it, we were looking at a cliff with many white structures built with perfection, some were still glowing, reflecting the last ray of the sun for the day.
Night fell, but this is when the locals come out and socialize to everybody all across town. Walking around the city center where the Duomo is, many youngsters were hanging out eating their gelato, sitting at the Duomo steps and by a fountain. In a distance, the “Italian Love Song” by Lucianno Pavarotti was playing;
Citta di Positano
A better angle to enjoy Positano. the town was in a full romance. Being one of the crowd was an honor; we grabbed our gelato and joined them at the Duomo steps, watching how locals doing it for hundreds of years. No stress in our sight, everything was relaxing and enjoyable, and it was considered to be one of the many perfect days of town of Amalfi.
After a couple of hours wondering the town, we decided to call the night off. Remembering that today was the Independence Day, we hiked back to our hostel along the Amalfi road, singing “Star Spangled Banner” in opera tone, to mimic Mr. Pavarotti. Happy birthday, United States of America!
Under the Capri Sun Waking up early from our room at the hostel’s attic, we had a breakfast at a nearby restaurant to start our day. We were heading off to the Isola di Capri from the Amalfi marina with a ferry, which made one stop at Positano marina. If yesterday I thought I saw Positano from the best angle at the street level, I was wrong; Positano from the ferry angle was a perfect heaven on earth. The white buildings seemed to be built
Commune di Positano
A collage I put together to express the Positano experience. in stack on top of the other, making a grand stage across the blue sea.
Capri Island has two major beaches, and we arrived at the Grande Marina around noon, so we stepped in a restaurant to have a bite. Almost a similar view like Amalfi’s restaurant, we were sitting in a dock by the marina, looking at the open blue water in front of us. The waitress was a typical southern Italian girl, with tall slender body, dark skin and blue eyes. She reminded me of girls at the Ciciobello show we always seen back in Rome. She spoke a little English, and she suggested us to go to the Piccola Marina across the island to experience the beach life. We were so eager to jump into the water, but instead of riding a bus all the way across the island, we rode a cable car to the town of Capri, which is located on top of the hill, then walking down on the other side to the beach. It was an unbelievable experience seeing Mediterranean structures with its famous colorful tiles all around us. I had thought these images just fit perfectly only in Greek archipelago, but
il Duomo di Amalfi
Amalfi's Duomo, where the night life is happening. I was wrong.
There are two types of beaches in Capri: private beach and public beach. As stingy as we were, we chose not to pay €9 per person for a beach, so we headed down to a more crowded public beach farther down, which turned out to be fantastic. The beach was not a typical beach, it consisted of small gravels instead of soft sand. After all day in sweat and under the Capri sun, Mediterranean sea water was extremely tempting; after changing into our swimming shorts and put all our belongings in a safe place, we jumped into the water. It was cold and refreshing, but unfortunately the sea floor was unpleasant with sharp rocks and shells. Ryan, as usual, had a water accident by kicking one of the sharp jutted rock and started bleeding. We had to end our water journey to put some bandage on his foot, and finally I could use the bandage I have taken from the Agriturismo back in Vicenza. We met two girls from New Jersey on the beach, with one of them had a contact lens problems. I offered her my contact solution, which was a tremendeous help for her,
Isola di Capri
Capri Island from a distance. as she needed her last set of contacts she was wearing for a wedding in the next day in Sorrento. I saved two people's lives within five minutes.
After riding back to town of Capri by a bus, we had our dinner (hot dogs!) at Grande Marina, and caught the 6.30 pm ferry ride to Naples. The ferri ride was very comfortable, with cushy sofas as our seating, and plenty room with no crowd. I couldn't help by dozing off for a couple of minutes, but our night was still young. We still needed to find our Hostel International in Naples and tried to book our spots for the night.
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