Flashbacks: Ray of Light – Castellana di Grotte, Italy
// July 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Photography, Travel
Grotte di Castellana & Polignano, Italy!
// June 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
This morning I woke up early and headed down to Bari Central Station so that I could catch the train to Grotte di Castellana, I had planned on trying to make the 11:00 Long Tour (in English) of the Caves of Castellana but when I arrived at the train station I realized that the next train wasn’t departing until 10:53AM. Unfortunately I missed the 11:00 Long tour but I had a back up plan! The back up plan was to take the 1:00PM Short tour of the caves if I ended up missing the long tour.
To make a long story short I arrived at Grotte di Castellana around noon time and as I walked off of the train I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. There were no signs, just a field with some dead grass, some trees and a few cars placed here and there.
I decided to try to walk through what I thought looked like a desolate car park and after asking a random man who passed me where the Grotte di Castellana was, he pointed me in the right direction.
Once I arrived at the Grotte I purchased my 1:00PM ticket for the Short tour of the caves and pretty much laid out on a bench in the sun for a little less than an hour. Once 1PM hit, I got in a line which included maybe 6 or 7 people and myself. I was surprised that it was empty, but then again it was a Monday afternoon at 1PM.
We met our guide Christina who walked us down into the first cave and informed us that we were allowed to take photos and videos in this part of the cave only.
There were no photos or video allowed during the rest of the tour of the caves due to “copyright infringement”. I was pretty disappointed because I love to show my website viewers the in’s and out’s of everywhere that I visit on this trip. Unfortunately this time I couldn’t even sneak any photos or videos because they had a guide at the front speaking about the caves, and then another guide joined us at the back of the group.
I do have quite a few amazing photos of the first cave though here’s some more…
After the 45 minute walk through the caves we arrived back at the end and took an elevator back up to the exit. Overall I would say the trip to the caves was worth it’s 10 Euro admission price. It’s definitely a really cool thing to see if you’re in the Puglia region, or anywhere near Bari, Italy. It’s only an hour train ride from Bari, and I’d recommend you take the Long Tour instead of the Short tour I took if possible. Supposedly the long tour takes you to a cave called the White Cave which is supposed to be amazing. Unfortunately for me the train times screwed me up. Maybe next time!
Once I arrived back at Marina’s house I jumped in the shower and relaxed for a while before dinner. Marina’s mother cooked us pasta with REAL Ragu sauce and I’ll explain to you why I say “REAL” in this side note below.
Side note: Last night I was telling Marina about our version of “Italian” food back home. More like American-Italian food I guess. I was explaining to her that when we make pasta back home we buy pre made sauce from the store (ex. Prego, Ragu, etc). She couldn’t believe that we bought pre made sauce. Here in Italy, most if not all people make their tomato sauce from scratch if they are going to cook pasta. Marina also couldn’t believe that there was a brand called “Ragu” but yet it came in a traditional version that was just plain sauce with nothing else in it. Here, the word Ragu means “Tomato and meat sauce” and she found it so funny that there was a sauce called Ragu and it didn’t even have meat in it! I think it’s almost offensive to the Italians to hear these sort of things. She also couldn’t believe that there was a sauce called “Prego” either. She said why is the sauce called Prego? The meaning of Prego has absolutely nothing to do with tomato sauce at all! We had quite a few laughs about it.
Back to dinner, it was unbelievable as most Italian food has been so far here in Italy. Marina has showed me all sorts of new ways to cook pasta and I cannot wait to get home and try some of the recipe’s that she’s given me. Her mother served us up a traditional type of pasta that is used here in Bari which is called “Orecchiette”, and it was covered with Ragu sauce, the REAL Ragu sauce! The sauce was made with tomatoes, meat, mushrooms, and onions. Along with dinner we had some really strong red wine, and a glass of Limoncello (a traditional after dinner alcohol made with real lemons).
After dinner Marina took me to a city which is south of Bari called Polignano. She had been wanting to take me there for a few days now, but each night we were either busy doing something else, or too tired to make the trek. Tonight we made it down to Polignano and I was so happy that we did.
Once we arrived in Polignano it was sort of an issue to try to find parking but after a few minutes we ended up getting a really nice spot right near the entrance of the feast that was going on! I had never been to an Italian feast before, but I had heard of them in the past. They are basically just big celebrations in the streets full of people, lights, food, street vendors, alcohol and entertainment. Sweet! Here’s a photo as we walked through the entrance of the feast!
As we walked down the main street into Polignano, the edges of the road were crammed with street vendors that were selling the same old stuff, (fake purses, sunglasses, toys, wallets, wrist watches, and more). It’s pretty interesting to see, but at the same time after you walk a mile and see the same stuff being sold over and over it gets sort of boring. We split off down another road that led us to the Old Town of Polignano and I was amazed to see how clean the old town actually was. It was built with all white stone and it was just absolutely beautiful!
After walking through the Old Town of Polignano we arrived at the cliff side views of the sea. They were amazing. There were a few different view points that we visited. Here’s a few photos of the views from the cliffs.
Tonight is the last night that I’ll spend at Marina’s comfortable home in Bari. I’m excited to go to Croatia, yet sad that I have to leave already. It’s been a great 4 nights here in Bari and I hope to be back to visit again soon. I have to say that the Puglia region of Italy is one of my favorite parts of Italy so far. It’s so beautiful here, and the views of the sea on the coasts of some of many cities that lie along the Adriatic are simply unbelievable. Bari, and the Puglia region is somewhere that I would love to come back to. Thank you Marina!
A day in Capitolo, Italy!
// June 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
This morning I awoke around 8:15AM after getting quite a bit of sleep. I felt good yet at the same time somewhat tired. I think that when I sleep for too many hours that I’m even more tired when I awake sometimes. I jumped online to check my emails, had another nice breakfast with Marina and we headed off to Capitolo.
When we arrived in Capitolo we were met by Marina’s two friends Luciana, and Lidia. They were really friendly girls that were quick to tell me that they had studied English in the past but have forgotten most of it due to the lack of speaking the language over the last few years. I laughed and Marina explained to them that I don’t know much if any Italian either, so I guess that meant that Marina would be our personal translator for the day!
We all walked down to the beach that is right across the street from Luciana’s house in Capitolo. The beach was absolutely beautiful! The water was clear at the edge, and it then faded out to green and then blue in the distance. I couldn’t wait to jump in! I laid out on my towel for a few minutes before finding the water absolutely irresistible! I swam around in the water for about 25 minutes or so before heading back to my towel.
It was so refreshing, and so great to think that here I am on the east coast of Italy swimming in the Adriatic Sea, soaking up the sun and relaxing while “reality” awaits at home. Why am I so lucky? I don’t want this to end!
After spending a couple of hours at the beach, we headed back to Luciana’s house for lunch. In Italy most people tend to have a nice sized breakfast, a big lunch, and a smaller sized dinner. Today I realized what it was like to eat an Italian lunch! Luciana was a great host and she served up two courses of food for us on the outdoor patio of her house.
The first course was pasta of course! Not your typical pasta and tomato sauce though, it was bow-tie pasta with a creamy alfredo sauce and it had small chunks of ham mixed through it. It was great! Next up was a somewhat typical meal from back home which was roasted chicken breast with roasted potatoes that tasted like they were soaked in the juices from the chicken. Once again, the food was so GOOD!
During lunch we were entertained by Luciana’s brother Giuseppe who spent most of the lunch making jokes about how much he loved food, women, and his muscles. It was too funny. His warped perception of the ideal “hot american woman” was Pamela Anderson. He did not speak English but the one thing he could say in English was “Bay Watch”. I laughed hysterically and informed him that his girl Pam Anderson is actually viewed as trashy these days. He seemed to be disappointed in my statement about his girl but we all had a great laugh!
After our meal we went for a walk down to the beach again to attempt to walk off all of the food that we had just devoured and of course I had to grab a gelato before we headed back to the house. Marina and I headed back to Bari around 4:45PM and arrived back at her home around 5:30 just in time to meet all of her relatives that were visiting today. It was a great time even though I was surrounded by 10 or 12 of Marina’s relatives as they stared and spoke in Italian. Quite intimidating, but they ended up chatting up a storm with me and used poor Marina as the translator once again.
All in all, today was a great day. Another great day in Bari, and another great day on this amazing trip of mine. I’m one more day closer to reuniting with Liz in Croatia, and I couldn’t be more excited to see someone from home again! It’s been about 2 months now and I’m feigning to hang out with someone that I’ve spent months laughing with, joking with, dining out with, and just enjoying life with back home.
Tomorrow I will try to make it out to a town called Castellana Grotte in which there are these amazing caves that you can take a tours of. Until next time…
Bari & Torre a Mare, Italy!
// June 14th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
This morning I awoke to a really nice breakfast that Marina went out of her way to set up for me. She has been following my website over the past couple of months and feared that I would write a negative post about her breakfast because of some of the posts that I’ve written about the horrendous breakfasts that I’ve had here so far in Europe. Please understand that I don’t believe that all breakfasts are trash in Europe, I’ve had many great breakfasts actually! And breakfast with Marina was one of the best! She pretty much grabbed everything possible from her kitchen cabinets and placed it on the table for us to eat. It was great. There was cereal, fruit, biscuits, yogurt, and more! It was even better that we got to eat breakfast outside on her front porch with a view of the Adriatic Sea. The breeze was like no other and the sun was shining so bright. It was only 9:30AM. Paradise!
After breakfast I set out to get a closer look at the city of Bari. I took the #12 bus from just outside Marina’s house right down to the city center of Bari. From there I just explored the main shopping streets and even walked down to Old Town where I walked along the old castle walls of Bari. The views of the sea were really nice.
Unfortunately due to the time of day that I visited the city center of Bari most of the shops were closed. Most shops, restaurants, and other services close here from 1:30 to 5:30PM each day. It’s quite similar to a siesta in Spain really. After I explored the city a little bit I walked along the beach on my way back to the bus station.
Once I got back to Marina’s I took a siesta of my own. It was the first time that I’ve actually taken a nap during the day through out my whole trip so far! Put it this way, I’ve been very productive in Europe! I ended up napping for about two hours before waking up to my left over panzerotti from last night. Mmm! A panzerotti is flat bread folded in half stuffed with tomato sauce and mozzarella and can be baked or fried. I had Marina’s favorite type of Panzerotti which is the baked type. It was so GOOD! It’s like a pizza really, but Marina claims that “it’s not, it’s different”!
After dinner Marina was nice enough to take me to another coastal town south of her city called Torre a Mare which means Tower on the Sea. It’s a place where many people go on a nice warm night to hang out in it’s small square filled with restaurants, gelaterias, and more. It was a beautiful night, the town was illuminated and the lights were reflecting off of the water where many boats, and yachts were parked up for the night.
After visiting Torre a Mare, we headed back to Marina’s house and fell asleep quite early. We are planning on meeting two of Marina’s friends this morning one of which owns a beach house in Capitolo another coastal town south of Bari.
Naples to Bari, italy
// June 13th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Italy, Travel
Well, my stop over to Naples wasn’t too exciting to say the least. As soon as I walked off the ferry I wanted to turn around and walk back on. As I stepped on to the dock I could already smell the city. You know when you walk in to a real grimy city and you can almost smell the trash in the air? Well, in this case the trash was literally in the air, and all over the ground.
I had heard stories from fellow travelers that I’ve met along the way about Naples. Each and every one of them described it somewhat the same way. It was dirty, sketchy, and how else can you explain it, TRASHY! I had been warned, but I tend not to believe anything until I see it and that’s exactly what I did once I stepped off the boat at the port of Naples.
I ran across the street with my luggage trying to dodge the scooters and maniac drivers. I walked about 2 blocks took a left and as I turned the corner, there was my hostel! (Bella Capri Hotel/Hostel)! I had to pay 5 cents to use the elevator to get up to the sixth floor. Yes, you really do pay for everything in Europe. Toilets, and even elevators in some cities! Unbelievable right? I arrived at the sixth floor where the reception for Bella Capri Hostel/Hotel is located and checked in. I dropped my bags and headed upstairs to the lounge where they had free WIFI (another surprise) and I was really impressed with the conditions of this place. The lounge was really nice, it also served as the breakfast area. It had 3 PC’s, with internet, a flat panel tv on the wall with full cable TV, a common refridgerator, tables, chairs and more.
I jumped on the internet for a few to check some emails and then headed around the corner to grab some pizza. Naples is the birthplace of pizza and if you know me well you’d know that pizza is one of my favorite things to eat! They say some of the best pizza in the world is made in Naples. I wouldn’t totally agree with that, but it was pretty good!
After dinner I headed off for a walk down a few main streets near the port which had all sorts of shopping, and seedy watch shops, “looky, looky men” and trash EVERYWHERE. If you haven’t heard, Naples is undergoing a major and I mean MAJOR trash crisis. Check out an article about the crisis here. After walking around for a few and not being able to stomach the 5 to 6 foot piles of trash in the streets and the smell of wet garbage that is weeks old I decided to head back to my hostel and hibernate for the night.
I got back and hung out in my room with a few people and my three roommates. One guy was from Sweden, and the other 2 girls were originally from New Jersey but both went to school in Massachusetts. One of the girls actually lives in Medford currently so we ended up hanging out and chatting for a while before bed. She is traveling with her younger sister who is a student at UMass Amherst and is currently studying abroad in Spain. They were both really cool, and it was definitely refreshing to meet some people from back home.
This morning we headed to breakfast which included a croissant. Mmmm! I haven’t had a croissant since my Contiki Trip. That was a change! After breakfast we just hung out in our room until check out time. I headed on the tram down to the train/bus station and bought my bus ticket to Bari while my roommates headed off to the Ring Hostel in Ischia, where I had been 3 days previous to coming to Naples. After buying my bus ticket I grabbed a quick slice of pizza and walked around a bit. It was really sketchy around the train station. There was trash piled everywhere, and many people were approaching me from all sorts of directions trying to sell me laptops, iPhones, belts, hats, you name it! All fake of course… And what happens if you say no? They offer you all sorts of other junk products that you have no interest in. Sometimes they even offer you Hash, Cocaine, Ecstasy, and more. Well, that’s what happened to me at least. I was so over Naples, and couldn’t wait to get out of there.
The bus finally arrived and it was a three hour journey to Bari. When I arrived in Bari, I met up with my host Marina who I have been speaking with through CouchSurfing and Hospitality Club for a while now. I’ve been excited to meet her and she’s everything I had originally expected. We took the bus back to her house which is located on the Adriatic Sea here in Bari. It’s simply amazing!
I was shown to my room, or shall I say my own FLOOR of the house (the downstairs) which is finished and includes, a couch, a kitchen table, oven, microwave, refridgerator, bathroom with a shower, and more. Marina was also nice enough to feed me her mothers own home cooked Lasagna, but the difference was that this was not your typical Lasagna! It was mozzarella, broccoli, bacon, and some special sauce that was mixed together and made into Lasagna. At first I cringed at the idea of the four ingredients above, but after I tasted it I ended up chowing down two huge slices of it! It was the best! Now if I can only get the recipe!
After eating we headed up to the roof deck on top of her house. It was unreal! You could see for miles over the coast line of the Adriatic Sea as the sun was setting over Bari. I was in heaven! The roof deck of Marina’s house is now my favorite thing! We don’t have anything like this back at home. It seems to be quite the norm here in most houses in Italy. I like the idea of coming up to the roof deck on a sunny day to lay out, or even when the sun is setting and the cool breeze is blowing off of the sea. It’s so relaxing here. I’m really looking forward to chilling out here for the next few days.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading into the city of Bari to have a look around. I’ll hopefully get to explore the old city, and maybe even do a little shopping. We’ll see!
Ciao!
Ischia, Italy – Day 3
// June 11th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Italy, Travel
Another late morning! I woke up around 9:30 which is late compared to what I’ve been used to on this trip so far. Most mornings I’ve been up at 7:30, 8:00AM. Coming to Ischia was one of the best decisions I’ve made so far on this trip. It’s been such a refreshing get away for me. I’ve done nothing but lie in the sun, swim in the ocean, hang out in the hammocks on the roof deck, and take in every inch of the beautiful scenery around me. It’s the most relaxed I’ve been on the whole trip. It feels GREAT!
This morning I hung out with my Cali friends before they headed off to Naples. A little later on I decided to rent a bicycle from the hostel for 5 Euro. I headed off and cruised around Forio. I took a spin down to the beach, the cliffs, and stopped to grab some dinner before heading back to the hostel. It was fun, and it was cool to get back on a bike again. I haven’t ridden a bike since I cruised through the valleys of Hopfgarten, Austria a few weeks ago.
When I arrived back at the hostel I ate while I did some research on where I’ll be heading next. My original plan was to stay here in Forio (Ischia) at the Ring Hostel until Friday morning and then take off to Bari, Italy. Instead I’ve decided to jump on the ferry tomorrow morning to Naples and stay on the coast of Naples for a night before taking the train to Bari, Italy.
I found a brochure of a hostel in Naples here at the front desk of the Ring Hostel called Bella/Capri Hostel & Hotel. It looks like a really nice place. I asked the receptionist what she thought about it and she said she stayed there for 3 nights recently and really liked it. She said it was in a good location and also fairly cheap. I checked out the website a bit more and made a reservation for tomorrow night so I’m all set and ready to go!
Tonight I’m just going to hang out here and relax on the roof deck with a couple of beers. Theres really nobody else here, two canadian girls just showed up but that’s about it! This hostel is a ghost town at the moment, and I like it that way!
Ciao!
Ischia, Italy – Day 2
// June 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
Today I decided to sleep in a bit. I woke up around 10:00AM with no real set plans for the day for once. I figured that I’d spend some time doing a little research on where I’m off to next, and how I’m getting there (ferry, bus, train). I asked around whether I’d be better off taking a bus from Naples to Bari or a train. I was advised the train would be a better decision. So I think that’s what I’ll do.
After researching and updating my website I decided to take off to the beach for a swim. I had heard that there was some cliffs that you could jump off of about 15 minutes walk from the port of Forio so I took off on a mission to find them. I invited my two new friends from California, Rebecca and Kristen. We all headed off down to the port and then walked along the sidewalk for a bit before walking down to the waters edge until we saw the “cliffs” in the distance. The cliffs weren’t really cliffs, they were just giant sandstone type of rocks sticking out of the water. They were really cool though!
We finally arrived at the rocks and headed down the stairs to get to the beach level. We walked across quite a few huge boulders to get out to where we wanted to be. I found a big flat rock for us to lay our towels out on and it was right at the waters edge so it was a perfect spot. I threw my stuff down and jumped in to the water so that I could go get a better view of where I would land if I jumped off the big boulders or “cliffs”. There were no locals there jumping so I obviously had to have a look for myself of the landing area. I swam out to where I thought you would land and went under water to check out if there were any rocks in the way. It was clear, there were a few rocks on the right side but other than that it was really deep in this one spot and wide open so it was definitely safe enough to jump.
I swam over to the edge and climbed up on top of the big boulder and I’m really glad that Kristen and Rebecca were there because I would have no photos to prove it! That’s the one benefit of traveling with someone, the photos you can get of yourself without holding the camera in your own hand and taking photos of yourself. At first I jumped from a lower spot on the rock just to make sure it was safe enough. The next time I went up I ran and jumped from the top. It was sick! It wasn’t as high as other cliffs/bridges that I’ve jumped off in the past but it was a really good time. Who would have thought that I’d be on an island right now off of the coast of Italy jumping off cliffs into the ocean? This is crazy!
After jumping for the second time I instructed Rebecca on where to jump and land so that she could do it also. With no hesitation, she made the jump! I was pretty impressed. We hung out in the water for a bit and then swam through this crack in this huge boulder in the water, you could swim all the way through the center of the rock. It was amazing. The rock was so big, and if I knew where a good landing spot was, I would’ve jumped from it. But, unfortunately it was a little too far to swim out to find out where to land.
We swam back to the rock and laid out in the sun for a couple of hours, it was so relaxing. The sun was slowly setting and the temperature was absolutely perfect.
Today was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. Out of all of the places that I’ve visited in Italy so far, Ischia is surely one of the best places I’ve been to. Although there isn’t a whole lot to do on the island, the weather, the fairly reasonable prices, the scenery, and the somewhat courteous people make this island a great place. Also, it’s great for a real relaxing vacation in the sun. What makes Ischia even more appealing is the fact that you mostly see locals from the island. There are hardly any tourists here! The island of Capri is a totally different story!
Tonight I plan on having a beer or two on the roof deck of the hostel and heading to bed. No set plans for tomorrow, probably a little more research and then maybe I’ll take off to check out another part of this island.
Sorrento to Ischia, Italy!
// June 9th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Italy, Travel
This morning I had to wake up at 7AM so that I could jump in the shower, and get ready to check out of my hotel. The ferry that I needed to catch was leaving from the Port of Sorrento at 9:30, and there’s only one ferry daily from Sorrento to Ischia so I couldn’t be late!
I threw my backpack on my back and headed down to the train station. It took about 15 minutes to get to the station. I bought my ticket and headed 1 stop down to Sorrento. From there I made the walk down to the port to buy my ticket for the ferry. A one way ticket from Sorrento to Ischia on the only available ferry (Jet Boat) was 18.50 Euro. Sort of pricey if you ask me.
The ferry took about 45-50 minutes to get over to Ischia, I slept most of the way due to being so tired from the night before. When I arrived I immediately hopped off of the boat and headed straight to the bus ticket window. All I wanted to do is drop my backpack and see the island while the weather was nice. I bought a bus ticket for 1.20 Euro, and headed off on the #1 Bus to the port of Forio (Forio is an area on the west coast of Ischia) where my hostel is located.
I found directions to the Ring Hostel on their website the night before arriving and the directions were pretty spot on. I didn’t have any trouble finding it so that was comforting. After about a 15 minute walk from the Port of Forio, I finally arrived. When I walked in I felt like I was in a ghost town, there was one woman at reception that checked me in and the rest of the hostel was empty. When I was shown my room (the Blue Room) I walked through the dorm room and I was glad to see that there were a few backpacks and clothes under a few beds as I walked to the back to find my bed. It was nice to see that there actually were people staying here!
After picking my bed I changed into my bathing suit and planned on heading out to the Baia di Sorgeto (Natural Hot Springs) here in Ischia. I walked down to the Port of Forio and took the CS Bus to Panza where the Baia di Sorgeto is located. Unfortunately I missed the stop originally and had to take another short bus ride back to the Sorgeto stop but it wasn’t a big deal. Once I got off I had to walk about 15 minutes downhill until I reached the top edge of the cove (as you’ll see below).
From there I walked down 228 stairs to get to the bottom. At this point I was already envisioning the walk back up. Once I reached the bottom I dropped my bags underneath this little cave type of thing that is along the shore (as you’ll see below).
I couldn’t wait to get into the water! As you walk into the water it feels like an actual jacuzzi. You have to be very careful though because if you step or jump in the wrong spot of the water or you will literally burn yourself. That is how hot some of the spots are! I was told before I went there that I should only go into the spots of the water that people were already lying in because at least you know it’s not boiling in those areas.
I laid down in the shallow water up rested my head on a rock as the cool tide came in and swept the hot water from the shore edge back out towards me. It was an amazing feeling! I spent about 45 minutes lying in the water taking in the sun and relaxing. It was such a good time.
After spending some time at the Baia di Sorgeto I decided to head back to the hostel to shower and relax for a few hours before dinner. I took the bus back to the hostel, took a cold shower (no hot water here). Figures!
At 8PM a few of us met in the lobby of the hostel and headed on a crazy roller coaster type of car ride from the hostel to the owners restaurant which was located about 5-10 minutes away. Dinner was good, I sat with two girls from California (Rebecca & Kristen) that are staying with me at the Ring Hostel. I had Gnocchi and I also ordered a cheese pizza to go.
I was dead tired from the previous night so I headed to bed around 1AM. Tomorrow I’ll sleep in for a while and then head off to explore the island a little bit.
Sorrento to Pompei – Day 4!
// June 7th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
The sky was looking pretty overcast when I awoke this morning. I was hoping that by the time I got back from breakfast that it would clear up so that I could start my day. I had been planning on doing a day trip to Pompei and that’s exactly what I did.
After breakfast I headed back up to my room because it was still raining a bit. Twenty minutes later, my aunt and uncle knocked on the door and were heading down to the pool bar which serves food from 12-2PM. Odd hours, I know. Most pool bars tend to be open all day, not in Italy. They take random breaks during the day like the people of Spain!
I headed down to the pool to grab something to eat and to chat about what our plans for the day were. My aunt and uncle wanted to head to Capri, and I had already given Capri a shot the previous day and it sucked due to the torrential down pours. I wanted to head to Pompei for the day but I was waiting for the skies to clear up first before I even attempted to make the trip.
At around noon time I decided that I would head down to the train station which was a 15 minute walk from my hotel (S. Agnello Station) to head for Pompei. The Circumvesuviana train runs from Sorrento, to Naples with many stops in between, one being Pompei. I found it to be fairly fast, efficient, and very cheap (3.10 Euro – Day Pass). The only downfall to the Circumvesuviana train system is that they are not the cleanest trains. The outside of each train car is full of graffiti and the inside of the cars are no where near modern. I guess you get what you pay for here in Italy! It’s cheap, and it got me to Pompei, so that’s all I expected of it!
Sorrento to Capri – Day 3!
// June 6th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Italy, Travel
This morning I woke up and ran down to get breakfast before heading off to Capri for the day. I took the complimentary shuttle down to the center and walked down to the port as I did yesterday. This time I bought a ticket to Capri! There were two options, a ferry for 9.50 Euro, or a different type of ferry called a “Jetboat” which was 14.50 Euro and it gets you there much faster. Normally I’m in no rush, and I wasn’t in a rush today at all. I could have cared less what time I got there. The weather was nice, just heating up to around 65, 70 degrees but it was still early! The problem was that the next “slow” ferry wasn’t for a few hours so I was pretty much forced to take the jet boat to Capri. I bought a round trip ticket for 29 Euro, which I felt was pretty expensive, but whatever I was going to make the best of the day.
As we were cruising across the ocean to the Island of Capri the weather started to go sour. Real sour! I’m talking a giant black cloud sitting over the island of Capri. I couldn’t believe it. It took about 15-20 minutes and we arrived at the port of Capri. What do you know, it was pouring! Absolutely pouring. I told myself that I’d make the best of it so I bought a ticket for the cable car to get up to Ana Capri, a nice lookout that looks over the whole coast of Capri. The ticket for the cable car cost 1.40 Euro which I thought was pretty good. At the top you then need to take a small rickety bus to another point where you then need to take a chair lift, yep like the ones you use at a ski mountain. Finally you arrive at Ana Capri, you lose your breath due to the view, and the rest is happily ever after.
Unfortunately I didn’t get that far! As I got off the cable car I realized that it was pouring buckets. I decided to take the bus up a little further to see if the time would pass and the rain would stop but that didn’t happen either. When I finally arrived at the top where you would normally get the chair lift to the absolute top, I gave up. It was pouring rain, and it wasn’t stopping anytime soon. I ended up taking a taxi down with a few random people because it was raining so hard and the line for the bus was miles long. Everyone wanted to get down and get the hell out of there.
At the bottom I waited for a couple hours for my ferry, and spent more than I should have on junk food due to boredom. I was really disappointed with the day. Capri was a place that I was really looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately I picked the worst day, and I’ll just have to scrap my plans of seeing the top of Ana Capri. Well, tomorrow is another day, and I’m probably going to lounge by the pool for a few hours before deciding what I’ll visit next…
Unfortunately I didn’t get too many good photos today due to the weather… Grrrr!
In the end… Life Is Good!
Sorrento, Italy – Day 2!
// June 5th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
This morning I awoke just in time to run down to breakfast here at the hotel. It was included so, I made a real effort to get down there in time. The breakfast was actually pretty good. There was all sorts of cereals, pastries, eggs, bacon and more. The best part was that there was a chef that cooked omelets any way you liked them. You tell him what to put in and he cooks it up right in front of you. I was quite impressed! Plus it was the first really good breakfast that I’ve had in a while.
After breakfast I chilled out at the pool for a couple of hours. it’s beautiful out at the pool area. It’s located on the 2nd floor, and the pool overlooks the ocean in the distance. It’s pretty amazing. I didn’t get in the water, I pretty much just laid out for a bit.
Around noon time I decided to head back to my room so that I could get dressed to go explore Sorrento a little more. I took the complimentary shuttle down to the center and walked to the port of Sorrento to get some more information on the ferries that run from Sorrento to Ischia, Capri, Positano, Amalfi and more. After finding out some prices I made a last minute decision to take off on a ferry to Amalfi a coastal city that my parents stayed in last year for their 25th wedding anniversary. They raved about how beautiful it was, so I knew I had to make a trip down there.
I paid 9.50 Euro for a one way ticket to Amalfi, figuring that I’ll figure out what type of transportation I’d like to take back to Sorrento later on (bus, ferry, train, etc). I jumped on the ferry and we took off to Amalfi. Our first stop was Positano where a few people got off. The views I had from the boat of Positano were amazing. The houses were stacked one on top of another on the edge of the cliffs. It was beautiful. I actually wish that I got off to check out the city a little more but I was heading to Amalfi and I already paid a euro or two more to head to Amalfi instead of Positano. I stayed on the boat and just took some photos in the meantime as we were arriving and departing Positano. Check out the photos below.
Finally we arrived in Amalfi, it took just a little over an hour to get there. It was beautiful here as well! I jumped off the boat and headed to the store so that I could pick up a few postcards. I bought a few, wrote them all out while sitting on the ocean front of Amalfi and posted them off! It was great.
I headed off to explore Amalfi a bit more, I didn’t wander too far. Just to the Cathedral di Amalfi which was pretty amazing. I walked up and down the stairs, there were 57 stairs to the top. (Yes, I counted!) I spent a couple hours just wandering around and I grabbed some pizza while I walked.
I was thinking about going to Ravello, but I wasn’t sure what time the buses ran to and I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of Amalfi with no bus, or ferry back so I decided to take a different mode of transportation back to Sorrento. A bus! Now, I have to say it was one of the most insane rides I’ve ever taken in my life. The roads back to Sorrento are on the edge of a cliff the whole entire way. At every twist and bend the driver beeps the horn to let drivers on the other side know that he’s coming around the corner. It was unreal! An hour and 45 minutes of pure terror later, I arrived back in Sorrento safe and sound. I headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours before heading out again with my aunt and uncle.
We planned on heading to dinner down in Sorrento center at this place called the Foreigner’s Club, a restaurant located on the edge of the ocean situated way high up on the cliff edge with beautiful views of the port. We ordered our food and drinks and didn’t receive our drinks until our last bite of our meal. The waiter was really rude and the service was the worst. One of the worst I’ve experienced yet, but I think my waiter in Prague still takes the gold medal for worst service.
After dinner we met up with a couple that are friends with my aunt for a couple drinks and then we headed back home to the hotel. My aunt and uncle are attending the wedding tomorrow afternoon so I’m probably going to take off to Capri for the day! I’m really looking forward to seeing Capri!
Dublin to Sorrento, Italy!
// June 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Italy, Travel
This morning we had to wake up at 4:00AM after heading to bed around 12:30AM. I was a complete zombie this morning. The taxi arrived at 4:30AM to pick us up and bring us to the Dublin airport. Our destination: Naples, Italy!
We arrived at the airport where we grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed down to the departure gate to wait for our flight. The flight ended up being just over 3 hours to Naples. It wasn’t too bad. I ended up getting three seats to myself so it worked out quite well. As we walked off the plane we could feel the heat. I was in paradise!
We jumped on a pre arranged coach and took a wild ride to our hotel. I thought the driving was bad in Ireland, it’s nothing compared to Italy! They drive like absolute maniacs here. Even the scooter drivers are nuts. Everyone seems to be in such a rush. More than home, believe it or not. Much more! We arrived at our hotel (Grand Hotel La Pace) just outside the center of Sorrento. The hotel was beautiful, and the rooms are pretty nice too. Much better than anything that I’ve stayed in on my trip through Europe so far. Granted, I’ve been staying in 2 or 3 star hotels for most of my trip. The Grand Hotel La Pace here in Sorrento, is a 5 Star. I can’t say I’ve ever stayed in a 5 Star hotel in my life, nevermind this trip.
After checking in my uncle, aunt and I headed down to Sorrento city center on the complimentary coach that runs from the hotel every couple of hours or so. We grabbed a beer at the Fauno Bar, a great place to chill out if you’re ever in Sorrento. It’s smack dab in the middle of the center so it’s a great place to sit back, relax and people watch if that’s what you’re into. Plus, they must have over 100 drinks on the menu. Everything you could want and more!
After the Fauno Bar we went to a pre wedding dinner at Photo, a higher end Bar/Restaurant which is located a block off of the main square. (My aunt and uncle are here in Sorrento attending a wedding). I went along and we had a few drinks and some food with another couple. We had some laughs, and headed home for the night. Just to warn you, never, EVER take a taxi home from Sorrento to your hotel. They are the most outrageous fares I have ever seen. When you step into the car, the meter reads 7.00 Euro. That’s what the rate starts at! We drove just a bit over a mile and the taxi far was 22 Euro! Unreal! You’re better off walking… seriously.
Tomorrow we’re going to lounge at the pool for the morning then figure out something to do for the afternoon… should be fun!
Three days of relaxation back in Dublin
// June 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Travel
This past Sunday I flew into Dublin from Amsterdam fresh off of a three week, ten country trip across Europe. The last three days here in Dublin have been full of nothing but rest and relaxation before I head off for another three weeks of traveling the south of Italy, and Croatia. These past few days have given me plenty of time to unpack, get all of my laundry done, and repack all of my gear for another few weeks.
Tomorrow I have an early morning flight to Naples, Italy from Dublin. I’ll be staying at a beautiful hotel in Sorrento for five nights called the Grand Hotel La Pace. After Sorrento, I head off on my own to a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea called Ischia for four nights. I’ll be staying in a hostel there called the Ring Hostel. By the looks of the website, and the reviews it seems like it should be a lot of fun!
After spending four nights in Ischia, I board the ferry back to Naples to catch a bus to Bari, a port city on the east coast of Italy. I’ll be staying in Bari with Marina a fellow CouchSurfer/Hospitality Club Member who has been planning to host me for a couple of months now. I’m excited to see yet another part of Italy that I haven’t been to yet. Bari will also most likely be the last city that I visit in Italy on my trip to Europe. At this point I will have covered the following cities in Italy: (Verona, Pisa, Florence, Venice, Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompei, Capri, Ischia, Bari and maybe even few more!)
From Bari I will be cruising across the Adriatic Sea on a ferry on the 17th of June. I’ll arrive in Dubrovnik, Croatia on the 18th of June where I will meet up with Liz who will be flying in from the States to hang out and vacation with me! I can’t wait! She will be the first person that has come to visit me from the States since I’ve been here and it’s going to be such a good time! We’ll be spending a week overlooking the Adriatic Sea, and the Old Town of Dubrovnik from the balcony of our apartment that lies up on the foothills of the city.
On June 25th, Liz and I will be flying back to Dublin and I’ll spend a day or two showing her around the city before we head over to Galway, Ireland to hang out with my cousin for the weekend. We’ll probably spend two nights down in Galway before heading back to Dublin and we’re thinking about flying to Spain for a few days before she heads back to the States on July 6th. What a vacation this will be for her, and me of course!
This whole trip has been absolutely amazing so far and I cannot wait to see what is in store for me next. I feel like I’m addicted to traveling now. I’ve been asked many times if I’m sick of traveling yet, and the answer is definitely not! I constantly want to be gone. It’s nice to have these couple of days off to do laundry and relax, but I feel like I can’t sit still for too long. After I get back from these next three weeks of traveling, I will have had three days off in 6 weeks of straight traveling. It’s unbelievable! I’m having the time of my life over here and I have so much more traveling ahead of me…
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Just a few shout outs real quick…
What’s up to… Liz, Eddie, Mark, Veracka, Will, Gonatas, Kyle G, O’brien, Bruno, Juliana, Ryan D, V, Jenna, Aislyn, Anna K, Aiste, Shawna, Mel, Mom, Dad, Grams, Robyn, Kev, Mary and everyone else out there that still keeps in touch with me. You know who you are! Miss you all, and I’ll see you all soon.
If there’s anyone else that I missed just know that it’s not intentional!
Contiki: Day 13 – Venice to Hopfgarten
// May 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Austria, Contiki, Italy, Travel
This morning we left Venice to head to Hopfgarten, Austria. Austria is a country that I’ve been really looking forward to seeing. Like Switzerland, it is supposed to be very relaxing, peaceful, and scenic.
We boarded the coach early and headed off on what we thought would be a somewhat short travel day. When I say short, I mean shorter than our normal full day traveling days. The bus rides are LONG! There are days that you are on the bus from 8:30AM til 5:00PM, just like our ride from Venice to Austria! Yes, you do make a few service stops along the way, but you still spend most of your day on the bus.
Once we got into Austria we stopped to drop off everyone that was going on the Contiki “White Water Rafting” optional. As I said in the last blog, I decided to opt out of this excursion due to finding out that it wasn’t full out white water rafting, it was supposed to be more relaxed, cruising down the river and paddling here and there. I would personally rather do white water rafting later this summer on my own and spend the extra few euro for the experience of some real hardcore rafting in Switzerland or something.
Everyone hopped off of the bus and were instructed about all of the rules and all that. They all jumped into their wetsuits, and safety equipment and headed down to the rivers edge. We all followed them down to take photos, some pointed fingers and made fun of each other due to how funny some of them looked in their suits.
Everyone that wasn’t rafting headed back to the bus for a 20 minute ride to the destination of the rafters. We arrived and there was a cafe, volleyball, and restrooms, and internet available that costs 1 Euro for 10 minutes, which I thought was pretty outrageous. Unfortunately for the people who chose not to raft, we had to sit there at this cafe and burn 2 hours of our day waiting for the rafters to get back and for everyone to eat afterwards. Another downfall of Contiki. If you choose not to do some of the optionals, you really have nothing else to do. Doesn’t sound like too much of an “optional” to me. Instead you have to sit there and do nothing when you could be out exploring the city.
After everyone was back and ready to go we headed off to the hotel in Hopfgarten, Haus Lukas. Haus Lukas is a contiki run hotel located in the heart of Hopfgarten, if there is a “heart” of Hopfgarten. You can walk across the town in 10 minutes. It’s a very small ski village with absolutely nothing to do in the summer. If you don’t want to participate in the Contiki Optionals, the only thing that I would really recommend is to rent a mountain bike on your own, like I did. Other than that, there is one bar, one small beer hall, one pizza shop, one salon, one church, one post office, 3 small supermarkets, 3 Tabac’s (convenience stores), one train station and a trout farm.
Our room was okay, very basic as usual. Not that I expect much more than what we received. We had to ask for an extra towel due to there only being one left in the room. The shower and toilet were separate like our hotel in London. Quite odd if you ask me. The room with the toilet had a door on it. The room with a shower in it did NOT! Literally, it was an open arch way with clear shower doors inside (see below). It’s not like I have a girlfriend along on the trip with me, if that was the case it would be somewhat acceptable. The fact that I have a male room mate and we both need to shower makes the situation a little weird. Anyways, we worked around it and got our showers in. Awkwardly enough…
We had an included dinner tonight that was pretty good actually. There was a free shot of Apple Schnapps before dinner. I’m not a big fan of green apple tasting things so my tour manager went behind the bar and cooked me up something different I guess you could say. He came back with this dark brown looking shot but wouldn’t tell me what it was. I took it down and yelled what in the hell was that? He replied, Devil’s Brew. It’s the type of liquor that you light on fire. 100 Proof…
We also celebrated Lucyanne’s birthday during dinner and it got pretty loud at a few different points through out the night. After dinner we headed off to one of the only bars in town called the Silver Bullet. The beers were fairly cheap at around 3.40 for a tall local beer called Fohrenburger. It was really good, surprisingly. Bruno, Vanessa, Ryan, and I shot some pool and had a great time. We went home a little after midnight and got some good sleep for tomorrows adventures, or lack of.
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Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
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