To the Coast!

A trip to the coast was something that wasn’t high on my priority list before coming, but I knew it would be a shame to come to Italy and not see any water. It may have squeezed my Rome trip to the last few days after class ends, but with (nearly) everyone set on going to Sorrento for the weekend, I decided to join in as well. In all 13 students, Dr. Baker, and the Meyers made the trip down. Sorrento is a tourist destination south of Napoli – altogether about a 6 hour trip with a train change in Rome, a high speed train to Napoli (like 300 km/h high speed) and a local train ride from Napoli down to the coast with the Circumvesuviana line. The train was packed, leaving most of us content to stand between cars and catch a precious breeze that was amplified by all the tunnels we went through, some lasting a ridiculous amount of time. Every once in a while we would catch a glimpse of the sights we would become accustomed to over the weekend – bright blue water, houses climbing up the cliffs, and Mt. Vesuvius lurking in the background. There really wasn’t that much to do in Sorrento, but it was a beautiful place. The biggest draw – at least for us, I can’t speak for most of the tourists that visit – was that it was close to Pompeii and a lot cheaper than staying in Amalfi. Thursday consisted of mostly train rides, scoping out the area a bit for dinner, drinking on the rooftop and finding the beach. And I literally mean finding, the town is located in the cliffs, so we had to track down a public beach and find a way to climb down – we eventually found some stairs and circa 1 or 2 in the morning decided to jump in for a bit. Even for being so late, the Mediterranean was still pretty warm. Luckily, the weather on the coast was a lot cooler than it had been in Perugia earlier in the week – around 85 or 90, as opposed to pushing 100 in the city. Definitely a much needed get away.

View down the cliff from the first night

Friday we hopped on the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii, an easy trip compared to the ride in from Naples. We decided to skip out on the tour guide and tackle things on our own. I’m happy with this decision, it would be cool to get the full tour and little tidbits of quirky information some day, but this kind of trip really did not lend itself to that. Rather than learn all about the specifics, I was content to just walk around and take in all the ruins and views. Pompeii was a lot bigger than I was expecting – granted it was once a thriving Roman settlement, but I guess I just did not picture it as a such a sprawling city. I’m sure there is a lot more exciting stuff from an archaeological perspective that we could have spent more time on, but with most people getting hungry and tired we decided to pack it up and go back. One thing I wish I would have done is made the climb to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. After hearing that is was 17 Euro to take a bus up partway and then hike the rest, with a bad review from Mr. Meyer, I was reluctant to push for it. After hearing stories and seeing pictures from Dr. Baker, though, I think a lot of us changed our minds. We kicked around the idea of heading back Sunday morning to do it, but it didn’t work out.

Ruins!

After stopping in at an American-esque burger place for lunch and catching The Simpsons and How I Met Your Mother – even if it was in Italian – we went to hit the beach, in the daylight this time. We got advice from the guy at the front desk and went to a different beach, which frankly wasn’t as nice. It was more crowded, the water wasn’t as nice, and it was a farther walk. Regardless, it was still a relaxing afternoon at the beach, without any major sunburn which is a gigantic plus.

That night we decided to go out for a super nice dinner. We had scoped out this restaurant on our way to the beach that sat at the edge of the cliffs and overlooked the restaurant. With all 13 of us, we managed to drop nearly 325 Euro. Being so close to the beach, I was hoping for some seafood and tried to order Scallops. I falsely assumed Scalloppine would translate to Scallops, but it turned out to be a way of thinly slicing chicken – regardless, it was still excellent and lesson learned, you can’t always count on logic for translation. I got legit Italian Tiramisu just cause I could, which was excellent as well. Others went with steak, seafood sampler appetizers, house wine, and fruit desserts, so it is easy to see how the bill shot up so much. I believe everybody was content with the choice though, and we walked out with no regrets and a free shot of (surprise!) Limoncello to boot.

Our second of two day trips was to the town of Amalfi, where the coast derives its name. The bus was 7 Euro for an all day pass, and the entertainment that came with the ride was well worth that and then some. In addition to the stunning views along the coast, we had the added element of danger. Around every turn, horns blaring to warn the possible oncoming cars in the sometimes one-lane traffic that, hey a gigantic bus is about to come whipping around this bend and send you either into the rocks or the water! It was especially fun when two buses tried to squeeze past each other, the look in drivers’ eyes as they scrambled to pull their car off the road as much as possible, or see all the Vespas squeeze through narrow gaps in traffic. The amount of yachts and smaller boats just sitting in the coves were unreal. There were some scattered villages that clung to the mountainside and at some points in the road some traffic cops were frantically waving through and stopping vehicles trying to get everyone through the passes. Once we got to Amalfi, after stopping in for a quick Panini, we went down to the beach. It was fairly packed being the height of tourist season, and the sand was ungodly hot. There were a bunch of little black rocks mixed in with the sand, though that isn’t too unexpected given that there was a giant rock face not far from the beach. I quickly decided to move into the water, where after a bit of exploring, decided to join up with Kevin, Jon, and Ryan to scope out a place to go cliff jumping. A short walk away, we may or may not have trespassed onto private property in order to sneak onto a hotel beach and swim out past a cave to an overhang. There was an incredibly sketchy bridge – or rather, the remains of one – but the rocks leading up to it where easy to climb and offered an area deep enough to plunge into. The unofficially official measurement before we tried it out was “deep enough” which was cool with all of us. After easing into it with a smaller dive or two from lower rocks, I followed the guys up to around 20 or 25 feet and jumped straight in. What an awesome experience that was, such a rush and unlike anything I’ve ever done before. We returned to tell everyone else about our find, as others had expressed interest in doing something along those lines, but let me tell you, it is a lot easier to sneak 4 people carrying just themselves onto a private beach than 13 with all their stuff. Kevin managed to work out a sweet deal, and we continued on our way down a few girls who backed out. After much convincing, Allie soldiered up and jumped off from a smaller cliff and Brett joined us as J-Byrd took some pictures – the main reason I wanted to return again in all honesty. Video, assuming YouTube has allowed it to upload...here's hoping:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQMvyj4KoJE

Bo-Ats

After another spectacular bus ride to return to Sorrento, we hit up a restaurant suggested by the Meyers off a tiny side street that was lined with a million little shops. A tough match up against the previous night, this place still held its own and met the expectations that the Meyers had given us. After dinner, we all got a good deal on some Jaegerbombs (or Jaegerbulls as they are referred to in Italy), so we all had one as a group. It was different though, rather than a shot glass inside a cup of Red Bull it was just all mixed together and in ice – a rarity in Europe. That forced us to drink slower and not what I was expecting from my first Jaegerbomb…still good though. We found a Karaoke Bar, literally with a sign that said “American Bar” on the side which was mostly, go figure, American kids but also a small group from New Zealand as well. We went on a Beer Run to avoid paying ridiculous beer prices, but after getting called out by the owner to either buy something or get lost, I sucked it up and had a Fourth of July shot – because, I mean come on, I almost had to represent with one. It was almost too good, Grenadine, Vodka, and Blue Curacao layered to make a half red, half white shot. After the bar was closed up, we talked to the New Zealanders a bit, cut a deal with a pizzeria at 2 in the morning, and headed down to the beach again for some, ahem, adventures in the Mediterranean. That is all I have to say about that :P

The train ride back the next morning was not too exciting. We were on our way to Naples by 10, got tickets at the station without any problems – despite the unnecessary panic of a select few and the concern of Dr. Meyer that there wouldn’t be any left – and had plenty of time to catch our high-speed Euro Star back to Rome. Naples is definitely a sketchy place, though I still would say Detroit has it beat. Nevertheless, I stepped out into the square by the station for about 20 seconds to take a picture before ducking back into McDonald’s where some had a craving and I just needed some food. Very brave, I know. On the menu was, in addition to the Big N Tasty which I thought was phased out years ago, a sandwich literally called the Crispy McBacon, which I had to get just to see. It was indeed crispy and did have bacon on it, so props to the Euro McDonald’s Marketing/Naming team. Also on the value menu: the McToast. I probably have to try that out sometime soon as well. The train was relaxing, we had thirty minutes to change in Rome and ended up just a few platforms away, and as a result the travelling was not nearly as stressful as others had worked it up to be. Not naming names, just saying – there was no reason to worry.