Amalfi Coast Bus Trip Review

Angela Nickerson (@aknickerson on Twitter) was kind enough to let me write a review about my Amalfi Coast bus tour experience for her travel blog The Gypsy's Guide.

Click here to check out my post.

Amalfi Coast Part 3- Positano

On our last day on the Amalfi Coast, we went to the beautiful island of Positano. We took our bus to a certain point but had to walk about a mile to the top of the island and then down about a thousand (not even exaggerating!) steps to reach the beach.

The walk down the steps was a bit difficult because the steps were pretty jagged and did not have railings. Many people got dehydrated and started feeling dizzy. My legs were shaking by the time I made it to the bottom.

The beach from the highest point of town

Me in Positano

The beach was beautiful, and the sun was super strong. I laid out all day, and got pretty tan. Some people opted to rent a speed boat to take them to a point where they could cliff jump.

After spending the day at the beach, we hopped back on our bus that took us back to Rome. We hit a lot of traffic and got to Rome around 9:00 p.m.

Overall, I had a great weekend and am in love with the Amalfi Coast. I would definitely like to come back here someday!

Amalfi Coast Part 2- Capri

On Saturday morning, we woke up early and took a bus to a ferry to take us to Capri. Capri is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen (Bermuda still takes number 1 on my list!).

Capri

The ferry ride was really bumpy and a lot of people got sea sick. We got to Blue Grotto which is a cave that lights up the most beautiful blue color because of the sun and the way it positions itself. We had to go in tiny rowboats and duck our heads when we entered the cave. We were only in there for about 5 minutes, but it was well worth it.

In the blue grotto

We got back on the ferry and headed to the beach. Some people on the program opted to take a walking tour of Capri, but my friends and I were tired so we decided to stay and lay on the beach. Capri has rocky beaches, which was weird to me since I'm so used to sand beaches. I went in the water for a bit, but it was freezing! It was nice to lay out and relax for a few hours though.

Relaxing on the beach

On the ferry ride back, we were able to see some more of the island including what the locals call "the tunnel of love" and a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Tunnel of Love

A rock statue in a cave that people think looks like the Virgin Mary. This is completely natural! Amazing.

Capri was definitely amazing and is a place I would love to return to and see more of the island!

Does anyone else love Capri? What's your favorite part of the island?

Amalfi Coast Part 1- Pompeii

I'm back from my amazing Amalfi Coast weekend! Instead of writing one long post, I'm going to break up the trip by day. I'm going to leave out the logistics as I'm going to be writing an actual review of the trip's itinerary for Angela Nickerson's travel blog Just Go later this week.

We left on Thursday night by bus and headed to our hostel in Sorrento. Our hostel was called Seven Hostel and it was amazing for a first hostel experience. We had a great time hanging out on the hostel's rooftop bar and terrace.

We woke up early on Friday and headed to Pompeii.

We had a choice of taking a guided tour of Pompeii, or just wandering around ourselves. I decided to take the guided tour, which was really beneficial. I learned so much.

Pompeii is the town that was utterly destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Surprisingly, there was no lava or magma when the volcano erupted; our guide informed us that it just rained ash over the entire city and covered the city 100 feet deep. The city was left alone for hundreds of years until someone decided to uncover it. When it was uncovered, the city was surprisngly intact. Many artifacts and even dead bodies were found. Houses were left untouched with paintings still inside. We even saw a brothel with stone beds and erotic paintings that stayed intact for hundreds of years. It's quite eerie to walk around, but very cool.

Remains of a fresco inside a house

Dead body filled with plaster to preserve it

Building preserved

Later, we drove to Mount Vesuvius. Our bus was able to take us up to a landing point, but we had to walk up the steepest parts of the volcano from there. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did!

It took about thirty minutes to get to the top of the volcano. Interestingly enough, it was easier to walk up the volcano, than down. I slipped several times going down as it was very dusty and dirty and I was stupidly wearing flip flops (no one told me I'd be hiking up a volcano this weekend!) Overall, it was an awesome experience to have made it to the top of a volcano. It's something I never would have pictured myself doing (especially since I thought I'd be relaxing on a beach all weekend!) but I'm so glad to have done it.

On the way up the volcano

Erica and I made it to the top!

Has anyone else ever been to Pompeii? Did you have a good experience there?

On Holiday!

I'm currently in Sorrento, Positano, Capri, and Pompeii for the weekend!

I will be taking a ton of pictures, so expect a wonderful photo-filled post sometime next week!

Have a great weekend!

Beautiful Beaches

Last night, my roommates and I booked our weekend trip to the beautiful Amalfi Coast for next weekend.

We booked through Bus2Alps, a travel tour Web site. Basically, we will get on a bus in Roma and travel to Positano, Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii for the weekend. It's such a great deal as it includes the tour, transportation and hostels all for 199 euro.

This is the part of studying abroad that I am most excited about. Ever since I heard about the Amalfi Coast, I have wanted to visit. It just looks incredibly beautiful.

Positano


Capri


Sorrento


Pompeii

Has anyone ever been to any of these beautiful places? If so, any suggestions on what we should do there?