Italy, Quite Possibly the Best Weekend of My Trip

There are so many places to visit in Italy that I almost wish I would have studied there. Italy is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Although I only visited a few cities, I covered more than most people in just 4 short days.

Starting out our journey, my four friends and I woke up before the rest of Barcelona to hop on a plane to Sorrento. (Will I ever take a trip that doesn’t require me to be awake before the sun is up?!) We land in Sorrento in a small airport and navigate our way to find a shuttle to Pompeii. It takes about 30 minutes to get from Sorrento to Pompeii, just enough time for a short nap.

Upon arrival Pompeii isn’t quite what I expect. I was expecting a rural area, not a densely populated neighborhood surrounding what was once Pompeii. Nevertheless, we buy a bus ticket and get ready for a big hike. The scary part was not hiking a mile up an active volcano that took out an entire civilization…. it was the bus ride to the mid point of Mt. Vesuvius! We were on a charter bus and some of the sections of the road are only one lane and the only way the bus drivers warn each other is by honking. Talk about trusting your driver!

Day one: Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii

We start our journey up the volcano towards the crater and half way through the trek we literally go through clouds. The temperature drops and the city at the base of the volcano disappears. It feels as though we have entered another world, it was so eerie.

Next stop, the city of Pompeii. I’m not one for guided tours, mainly because I like to discover things at my own pace. However, my friends wanted to use the cellphone guided tour. I was so excited to visit Pompeii because of how often it is featured in textbooks and the history channel that I didn’t care how we toured it. I have visited landmarks and museums where the visitors are disrespectful of their surroundings and of others experiences, but that is not the case here. Seeing what remains of the humans that were preserved in ash makes everyone completely silent. The only issue is that there are just too many tourists. I couldn’t seem to get a picture that didn’t have a human standing on an important pillar or leaning on a statue.

Next we hopped on a train to Sorrento to find our Airbnb. Our host, Francesca, is meeting us at the train station because it is tricky to find a little cottage in a small neighborhood like Sant’Agnello. When we got to the train station there was no Francesca and no way to find this Airbnb. We started roaming the streets on Sant’Agnello and thought we found the place but we had to get inside the courtyard, which didn’t seem possible. We are still struggling to get ahold of Francesca (poor cell service) and we are losing daylight! When we finally meet up with her and chat for a bit, we ask her what her favorite Italian food is so that we could chose an authentic Italian place for dinner nearby, but she replied with “nuts”. Must just be lost in translation!

Day 2: Path of the Gods

I woke up around 8 am to eat and pack a bag for the hike of my life. We were hiking the Path of the Gods that day which is 8 miles and over 200 flights of stairs at a duration of 4 hours, Positano to Praiano. We wait at the bus stop for our 15 minute ride to Positano. On the way there, we befriend a few Aussies and learn and compare our cultures. Boy oh boy we learned a lot, we even tried switching accents! Hint: they are much better at attempting American English than we are at attempting Australian English! They decide to tag along with us to hike the Path of the Gods! I have never experienced more sweat, muscle spasms, asthma attacks and blisters in my life, but I would not change that exact moment in a million years. The name “Path of the Gods” is not an exaggeration. Italy literally has it all. Sea, mountains, plains, hills, everything. Everyone always thinks that going up the stairs is the hard part of a hike. False. IT IS GOING DOWN. I have videos of me standing still after walking down about 50 flights of stairs and my legs physically shake and buckle!

Following the hike, we mosey (basically slug since our muscles have turned to jello) down the stairs to Praiano. Italians are some of the kindest people I’ve met since being in Europe. They help us find a restaurant to eat at, a beach to relax at, delicious gelato and cannolis and how to get back to Sant’Agnello from Praiano.

Day 3: Capri

We wake up early, insanely sore, but so ready for the day ahead of us. We walk 20 minutes into Sorrento to grab breakfast and a ferry ride ticket. Who do we run into while walking up to a restaurant? Our Australian friends! What a small world… literally.

Later in the day, we get on a small, non tourist affiliated sailboat to see the Blue Grattos in Capri. Angelo, our captain, bargained with us to ride on his boat instead of the outrageously priced commercial sailboats around the beaches. We all panicked thinking “welp, this might be the last of us. Angelo is going to kidnap us and we are never going to see American soil again. But hey, he is only charging €150, rather than almost €400.” We document our entire boat ride on video just to have for our families if we go missing.(kidding… but not.=)

Now anyone that knows me knows that my BIGGEST fear in life is water. I couldn’t swim until I was 8, I’ve always been too scared to water ski and I hate jumping in the deep end of pools. So when Angelo takes us around the Island of Capri and finds a beautiful spot to stop and tells us to swim through a cave and back, I instantly feel my heart beat faster and faster, my throat closes and my eyes well up with tears. While I’m basically having a full on heart attack, my four friends leap off into the clear turquoise water, leaving me behind. Angelo notices me struggling and nudges me towards a life vest and all I could think to myself was, “no, come on, you can do this, you have to do this. You know how to swim, you don’t need the life vest, get into the water!” (I might have been channeling my mom’s voice a little bit here…) Once everyone notices that I’m frozen with fear, they all swim back to catch me after I jump. I leap into the water, salt water instantly goes up my nose and into eyes and mouth, but I did it. I’m in this! We swim into and through the most amazing cave and spit out onto to the other side which is near land. Once my feet feel solid ground, I have a full blown panic attack. I can’t breath and I start to cry, but only for about 3 seconds before my tears turn into joy and determination. I just tackled my biggest fear in life.

Here comes the most ridiculous part. After finding solid ground, and watching my friends cliff dive (which I did NOT take part of – one fear at a time here) I want to get back on the boat ASAP. However, Angelo is no where to be found. When I look towards the little cove where we anchored, there had to be more than 100 boats crowded around and looking identical. Once I yell for Angelo, the boat seems to float farther and farther away…. It was like out of a cartoon. The rock I am standing on is slimy from moss and sharp from erosion. When I jump off to begin the long swim back, I slice my foot. I feel it instantly because of the saltwater but all I could think about were fricken sharks. So not only am I a weak swimmer, but I’m tired, sore from hiking the day before and now worried about Jaws attacking me. But I power on and I finally reach the boat! I am so thankful to see Angelo, until he informs me that I have to swim all the way around the boat to get on his half broken ladder… this is why you pay the €400 people. Once I’m back on the boat it felt like I had been pulled in from months of treading water at sea. I flop onto the boat like a fish, gasping for air, coughing up water and Angelo just laughs. I said “yeah, I don’t like water”. Angelo says in the most sarcastic way “you don’t say, Tristano!?”. (That was my ~Italian~ name from Angelo.) The rest of the boat ride is spent IN the boat while I play my usual mom role taking pictures of my friends swimming, and I’m totally okay with it. I’d gladly take pictures of these girls for days. Girls I had known for 4-5 weeks and yet who just had my back in the most emotional experience I’ve had in a long time. They didn’t judge, laugh or ridicule. They’re all basically Olympic trained lifeguards who just supported me as I conquered this fear. That is friendship.

Day 4: Rome

Last day, best day. Though our last day in Italy will be shorter than the rest, it just might be the coolest stop yet. We hop on a train to Rome, which is where our flight leaves to get back to Barcelona (foreshadowing). We begin by walking towards the Trevi Fountain. It is about 98° in Rome and I suddenly have a bloody nose. By the time we make it to the fountain, I have toilet paper shoved up my nose and if I didn’t stick out before as an American tourist, I sure do now! We all take pictures like the ones in the Lizzie Mcguire movie, throwing a penny backwards, hoping we look cute enough to post on the gram.

We continue walking to the Pantheon. Only Emmy and I go in and we read the rules prior to entering. No exposed shoulders, and no short skirts. I packed cardigan and Emmy wore a “trashin’” sweatshirt which loosely translates to “wasted” in American culture. Emmy and I get yelled at in Italian because our skirts are too short (they weren’t), but we know God still loves us so we aren’t phased.

Last stop, the Coliseum. At this point I think I’ve used the phrase “Holy Cannoli” about 47 times, but the 48th was well worth it. Though the Coliseum is smaller in person, it is unbelievable to experience the history inside. I pulled out my phone and made a quick decision to FaceTime my great grandma and what do you know, she answered. I flip the camera around and tell her to guess where I was. She guessed right! 91 years old and she knew exactly where I was, via FaceTime. I also shared this moment with my mom via FaceTime, and even though I’m getting death stares at this point I say “eh I’m American, I’ll be annoying for 5 seconds.”

We hailed a taxi back to the train station to take us to the airport. It is only a few blocks away but after our weekend…. we just couldn’t keep walking! We got to the train station thankful to be able to sit. We were so tired and just ready to be home (Barcelona home). Welp, the train station was more than confusing than we anticipated, and none of us knew Italian. We thought we had it figured out and then realized our train was leaving in one minute and 36 seconds and we were easily a 5 minute walk away. We were dog tired and running through the giant train station just to get to the train only to have it be THE WRONG TRAIN! We were headed the wrong way and no one seemed to know how to help us. We quickly notified a conductor and he advised us to jump off the train at the next stop and run over 3 more terminals to barely catch the train we passed on the way there! Lilly almost lost her headphone, Emma almost leaves her train ticket, Kahrin lost my pringles and Emmy lost her phone charger while we raced towards the correct terminal. We make it with seconds to spare. Have I mentioned that I am missing mom and dad helping me figure these sorts of things out and not letting this happen?

Overall, Italy is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Though I only visited the Amalfi Coast, I would love to go back to Florence, Venice and Naples. Italy is definitely on the top of my list of places to return to.

Ci vediamo dopo Italy,

Tristen