Off to see the world...

Amalfi Coast!

The main reason we took this trip was to explore as much of the Amalfi Coast as possible, so in one day we managed to visit three different cities: Positano, Ravello & Amalfi. We traveled to each city by bus which was actually quite scary considering we were taking winding cliff roads the whole time. 

Our first stop was Positano - a beautiful, small coastal town built into the cliffside (well this is basically the description for all of the Amalfi Coast haha). This was probably my favorite city of the 3 we visited…I loved the beach and the cozy, small-town feel & the view of the mountains and the cliffs was unreal. 

 
Not only that, but we got to play with the cutest puppies!!! 
 

From Positano we traveled next in an open top bus to Ravello, also known as the City of Music. We didn’t spend much time there, we had a really good lunch at a small family owned restaurant where the owners and staff were so entertaining, kind & accomodating. Ravello was significantly more mountainous than Positano, so we spent a lot more time on the bus just getting deep enough into the mountain side to get to the actual city.

From Ravello we traveled to Amalfi. Probably the most famous city along this coast but surprisingly not my favorite of the three. We visited the famous cathedral before doing some serious souvenir shopping which concluded our trip to the coast (for that day)! 

Posted 2 years ago — 3 notes

Sorrento <3

Sorrento - my future home! Such a beautiful, small coastal town and I loved everything about it. We used Sorrento as a sort of jumping point to be able to visit all of the Amalfi Coast that weekend and it played out really well. Sorrento is a good hub for connecting all the major cities of the coast so it worked out in our favor this weekend - traveling between all the different cities ended up being a lot cheaper than we expected! 

The view from our adorable B&B was breathtaking…we were right alongside this insane cliff and we looked out right into the water. 

The city itself was very small & quaint feeling but I fell in love with it right away, I love that small town feel and I just loved roaming around the town…and it was right next to the water which is always a huge plus! 

There were a few really amazing lookout points throughout the city & we were lucky to find one really quickly…I couldn’t get over just how clear & blue the ocean was. 

And at night the whole city would just twinkle in the dark, it was unbelievable. 

I am definitely returning to Sorrento one day, I’ve never felt more at home than I did when I was there. 

Posted 2 years ago — 10 notes

Napoli & Pompeii

We went on a 5 day vacation to the Amalfi Coast (right before spring break nontheless haha). On our way to Sorrento (where we stayed the whole trip), we took a stop at Naples just to get pizza. Naples is, to be nice, a little run downthese days so we didn’t spend much time there at all. Once we got out of the train station we were very well, scared to be out exploring late at night so we quickly ran to the nearest pizzeria before heading straight back to the train station. The public train system of Naples was well,  probably the most ghetto looking trains I’ve ever seen. I really couldn’t have been more thankful to be getting away from Naples. 

The next morning we went out to visit Pompeii and lucky for us, it was Culture Week in Italy so we got free admission! It was actually kind of sad to see the ruins and know that this entire civilization was eradicated in a matter of hours. It was still very interesting to explore and it was also a beautiful day outside so it was nice to just walk outside and enjoy the view of Mt. Vesuvius. 

We were also treated with two different people singing lovely Italian arias in the Grand Theatre of Pompeii - it was completely spur of the moment but still very entertaining! 

The hardest part of the visit was looking at the replicas of the dead bodies found beneath the volcanic ash…we didn’t go see the actual bodies/remains/artifacts because they were held in a separate location. 

It was a gorgeous day when we went to visit and we couldn’t stop marveling at the remains of the once great civilization & the beauty of the mountains. Overall a great visit, even if we did get really dusty/dirty from trekking around all day! 

Posted 2 years ago — 4 notes

SPRING BREAK 2011 IN GREECE!!!

Just a few more hours before we head to the airport!! 

Posted 2 years ago — 1 note

Papa Benny!

We were very fortunate that our school got us tickets to attend a Papal Audience a couple weeks ago…we got there extremely early in the morning in order to get good seats and it was crazy how many people were in attendance that morning. 

They called out all the different groups in attendance and there were pilgrims from all around the world visiting Rome and so many different kinds of groups of people…of course we were all there in order to see the amazing Pope Benedict XVI! We got so close to him it was unbelievable - they had a designated track for the infamous Popemobile to follow that took him through the crowds so got extremely close! 

I know my family is insanely jealous that we got to see the Pope this close! It was amazing to see just how many people came out just to see him and receive his blessing. We stayed late after the audience ended just in order to get a few more pictures of him and we got to see him bless a little girl in a wheelchair - it definitely just broke my heart how unbelievably sweet that was. So many people traveled from thousands of miles away just to catch a glimpse of him…being around so many dedicated Catholics definitely reaffirmed my faith a little bit. 

Seeing the Pope was a once in a lifetime experience that I will definitely cherish forever. C’mon B16! 

Posted 2 years ago — 2 notes

Venezia!

Wow, sorry for the lack of updates but it’s been a really busy 2 weeks since I went to Florence…school has been keeping me unbelievably busy but no more of that…onto the weekend trip to Venice!

We took an overnight train and got Venice Mestre (the mainland) around 5AM and we soon found out we couldn’t check into our hotel until 7AM so we did the most reasonable thing and took a bus into Venice (the actual island) at the crack of dawn just in time to see the sun start to rise over the canals - absolutely indescribably beautiful. 

We spent our entire morning exploring the entire island and it was awesome to just be able to walk around without having to deal with swarms and crowds of people everywhere. It was interesting to see the city so vacant…Venice actually has more tourists visiting than actual residents so seeing the city as it was without tourists was extremely lucky for us. We got to see the ever so famous dock where all the gondolas are near St. Mark’s…

and we got to see St. Mark’s Plaza completely deserted (even without all the crazy pidgeons!) which was pretty astounding as well. We finally headed back to our hotel on the mainland, checked in and snuck in a quick nap before heading back out to Venice for lunch by the Grand Canal and of course…

a gondola ride! The gondola was so amazing and it really gave me an appreciation for the canals of the city…the best, most efficient form of transportation is using the canals! You won’t see a single car in the entire island of Venice and even the police & ambulances are gondolas! We took the Grand Canal for most of our gondola ride and we got to see the famous Rialto Bridge (and a picture of from water level of the canal). 

At the end of the day we got gelato from the famous Da Nico Gelateria and sat at the end of the dock to watch the sunset over the city - absolutely gorgeous and a perfect way to end our night. 

The next morning we headed out to the gorgeous Lido Beach to have some fun in the sand and get our tan on ;) 
 

Our last night in Venice we had lovely dinner right along the canal and watched the sunset (again!) and proceeded to get incredibly lost on our way back to the bus station to get back to the mainland to catch our train haha. Overall, Venice was a beautiful city…totally unbelievable how the entire city is cut through with canals. I would love to come back one day…hopefully the city won’t be underwater by then! 

Posted 2 years ago — 1 note