Adventure Is Out There!: Rewind: Naples

We're moving right along! Now we're in Naples!

Day 1

Naples (at least the little I saw of it) was kind of grungy looking. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but I just felt like it was a little more seedy. Maybe some would call that character. It definitely had a different flavor than the other cities we'd visited in Italy. Naples is known for pizza, coffee and it seemed like shopping (there were shops everywhere I looked).

We got to the hostel and it was the first time we had a private room and AIR CONDITIONING! It was like a hotel room! After sleeping in hostels and backpacking, staying in a nice, private room (with a private bathroom) is like heaven. Little things like TV, free soaps and AC are such a luxury! Yes, I know I'm talking like I've been in a tent in the Middle East, but seriously backpacking is a no frills, no fuss lifestyle that is super fun, but can get old after awhile. Check out our luxury suite:

Balcony with a view:

They even had a restaurant downstairs, where we got a 20% discount. I might never leave!

Of course, I got a pizza! Buffalina DOC is the classic Napoli pizza with tomatoes, basil and their special buffalo mozzarella:

It came out piping hot and was the best pizza ever!

We explored a bit:

This square was right next to our hostel:

I went to a produce market and got these:

Not sure what they are, but they tasted kinda like plums.

Aaron had hurt his foot in Rome (he had a bug bite and he scratched it too hard and by the time we got to Naples, it was pretty swollen), so we knew he needed to keep off it as much as possible. We decided to rest for a day in our perfect room.

Day 2

We barely moved all day. I went out for provisions (more pizza, and pasta for Aaron), but that was it.

Day 3

Today we went to Pompeii, Vesuvius and Sorrento. Pompeii is about an hour away by train.

Again, we didn't get a guide and just wandered. It was really cool to see the ancient town that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, when it erupted in 79 A.D. Let's take a look:

You don't think of ancient ruins and think of such greenery, but Pompeii had sections of green and it was really pretty:

Here are the sandy ruins we're all used to:

What was cool about Pompeii is that it really looked like a town. It was in pretty good shape and you could tell what was what. I could tell the residential area from the town square, so who needs a guide!

After Pompeii, we bought tickets to take a bus to Mt. Vesuvius. We had some time to kill before the bus left, so we got a snack of grilled veggies and bruschetta:

Time to get on the bus!

Can you see Vesuvius in the distance?

Once we got there, we bought tickets (what a rip off!) and made our way up the volcano. This is what the path looked like:

It wound around the mountain pretty far. I honestly wasn't expecting a hike, so I had my sandals on and it was rough. Not to mention, Aaron's foot wasn't healed and we did a lot of walking. View of the valley from the mountain:

We're finally at the top! Let's peak inside:

Yup, believe it or not, this is an active volcano. I'm as surprised as you are. I wanted to see some smoke or something. There are weeds growing in there! Kinda anti-climactic.

I kept a chunk of rock I got from here:

We got back on the bus, which took us back to Pompeii. From there we got on a train and continued onto Sorrento (the start of the Amalfi Coast) for about 30 minutes.

We walked down all these stairs to get to the beach:

We went to a tiny patch of beach and relaxed and watched the sun set:

We made our way back up (we took an elevator this time) and took some pictures of down below:

I loved this old man floating in the water:

Back in the middle of town for dinner:

Food wasn't great, but the city of Sorrento was! Then we took the train all the way back to Naples.

Day 4

Aaron needed to stay and rest his foot some more, so I went to Amalfi by myself. Amalfi is about 3 hours away. I took the train back to Sorrento (1.5 hours) and then a bus (1.5 hours). It was long, but the bus ride was fantastic.

I passed through Positano, a beautiful little cliff-side town on the way to Amalfi. You might remember it from the movie, Under The Tuscan Sun.

About 20 minutes later, I was in Amalfi:

They have their own Duomo:

I ate a warm seafood salad at a restaurant facing the Duomo:

Seriously delicious. One of the best seafood dishes I've ever had and it was simply just grilled seafood.

Beach time:

I went in the water and laid in the sun for awhile, which was so refreshing. Then I walked around and shopped a bit. They're known for limoncello (a lemon-flavored liquor) and basically all things lemon: