Pompei, Sorrento and Capri

The Friday before last, we had a class trip to Pompei. We left at 7 am for a 2-3 hour bus ride south of Rome. We had an art history professor as a tour guide. He was from Belgium and was kind of crazy. He would shut his eyes and sway as he was describing ancient Rome. He also told us that there would be no bathroom breaks. We had 15 minutes for lunch standing up as he continued to lecture. He memorized all our names (at least 70 people) by the end of the 6 hour tour.

Pompei was blazing hot and dusty. There was no shade within the city because most of the houses’ roofs were destroyed. All the artifacts were taken out and brought to Naples to put in a museum, so only the buildings remained. The whole city is on a hill, forming a primitive sewer system by letting water and waste run down the roads (there were elevated sidewalks for pedestrians). Wooden wagon wheels had made ruts in the stone roads. There were about 6 or 7 casts of bodies that had formed pockets in the lava behind a plastic case. They were chilling- mothers curled up with children who were instantly killed. By the end, everyone was totally exhausted.

At the end of the field trip, we had the option of staying in the area instead of heading back to Rome. 3 friends and I took the train to St. Agnello, which is right outside Sorrento. We stayed at a cute hotel. Sorrento had gorgeous turquoise water that you could see clear through to the white rocks at the bottom. There were amazingly lush flowers everywhere- bougainvillea and orange blossoms just dripping from walls, cliffs and rooftops. There were little geckos on the walls and the lemons hanging from the trees were as big or bigger than large grapefruits (seriously). The oranges were smaller than a fist but absolutely delicious. The cliffs dropping into the sea were absolutely breathtaking.

We took a ferry for a day trip to the island of Capri. It took about 1/2 an hour. Capri was busy, touristy, and beautiful. Unfortunately, it was too rough to get to any of the famous grottoes by boat, but we had a wonderful time anyway. The beaches were made of white rocks about the size of golfballs. There was tons of sea glass in the rocks. I have never seen such pretty water. The Mediterranean Sea is very salty- it left white residue on my skin.

We took the tram up to the city of Capri from Marina Grande, where the ferry had dropped us off. In the town of Capri, there was amazing shopping. Apparently Capri is a playground for the rich and famous. Prada, Armani, gigantic pearls and coral jewelry. We saw 11,000 euro necklaces and bracelets.

After (window) shopping, we took a hair-raising bus ride down to Marina Piccolo on the other side of the island. The roads were only 1 bus-width at some points but they were two-way. So buses would race towards each other, slam on the brakes, and then one would back up hair-pin turns until it reached a place where the other could pass. Our bus driver was cursing everything- the other buses, the roads, us, life. It was so scary.

We headed back to Sorrento for dinner, then picked up some limoncello for souvenirs.

I’m still working on pictures, but they should be up on Flickr or Facebook soon. I’ll post links as soon as I can.