South Trip!

Our trip this week was our long South Trip. We were all very excited to see the Sea and get some sun in the warmer weather down south.  

I started my week out, unfortunately, with a fever which sent me back to my bed Tuesday morning. We were scheduled to leave Wednesday morning, so I was not to happy about that. Luckily for me, it was only a day fever, and after many hours of sleep I was feeling much better and was ready for the bus at 8:30 the next morning.  The trip down was so beautiful.  The countryside is filled with so many little towns and beautiful mountains.  Most of my fellow students slept all the way down to our destination, so I took some time to observe the landscape and scenery. 

We arrived in Paestum, to our first glimpses of the Greek temples. These temples and ruins are just as old as the ones which stand upon the Acropolis.  The one closest to the entrance is the Temple of Ceres (500 BC). The two standing side by side, opposite of Ceres, are the Temple of Neptune (450 BC) and the Temple of Hera (550 BC).  The ruins in between the temples were once a Forum and residential quarter, along with an amphitheater.  When we first arrived in Italy we had all expressed that learning in a classroom, while educational, does not give you the experiences to truly understand what you are studying. The ability to see with your own eyes and feel the roughness or smoothness of the stone or marble with your own fingers is an unparalleled experience. 

Once we had explored every nook and cranny of Paestum we climbed back on the bus and drove to our hotel in Pompeii.  Dinner was provided for us in the hotel restaurant, which opened up just for us (given that it is not tourist season most places are closed). 

In the dark of the night, we could not see where our hotel was located in regards to the ruins of Pompeii.  The next morning when we were supposed to meet our tour guide, we walked for maybe 10 minutes down the hill and we were at the main entrance.  Pompeii was a large port city, back when the sea came up that high, and was mainly a commercial city.  The small residential quarter was filled with the wealthy shop owners of the city.  The city was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted as buried the town in piles of ash.  The slaves who were left behind to guard the city died of asphixiation.  There were 3 cities destroyed when the volcano erupted, Two destroyed by ash and one by mud.  The ruins of Pompeii are mostly stone because the ash burned the wood that was there.  Some of the roofs have been rebuilt based on what was found at the city buried in mud, where the wood was preserved.  Our guide, whose name I believe started with a “P”, was a very nice man.  He spoke very loudly so we could all hear him (we were in a group of 33).  We walked around the perimeter as he explained about the burial sites lining the outskirts of the city.  We entered first into a courtyard, which then led to a very large amphitheater.  From there we walked throught the residential part of the city and explored one of the many houses.  From there we saw many of the shops and even a brothel.  He led us to the main forum, where the ruins of the temples are and we saw the remains of 2 slaves, which have been put in casts to show their final positions.  We also viewed the ruins of the temple of Apollo, the sun god. 

Our plan after we finished our tour was to climb the mighty volcano itself and look inside of it. There is a trail that leads to the top which we had looked up online.  Unfortunately, given that it had snowed a great deal on the mountain the week before, the trail was closed and we could not go on it.  So our group decided to make another choice.  Our plan had originally been to visit the Archeological Museum in Naples the next day, but given there was so much time left in the day we decided to condense it all into one day.

My first impression of Naples: Dirty.  When you visit Italy or live here (as I do), it is important to know that most of the money in Italy is in the Northern regions.  The southern parts are filled with more poverty and crime.  Therefore the cities are much more condensed and filled with trash and grafitti.  Let’s just say I did not want to stay in Naples any longer than I had to. The place scared me. We arrived at the Archeological Museum with two hours to explore before they began closing.  Most of the rooms in the museum are filled with pieces of statues from various places that have then had plaster added to them to show what the piece looked like when it was first carved.  Most you can tell had noses missing or an arm, or even a head.  I think it was good that we went to the museum on the same day as Pompeii, because much of the upper floor in filled with pieces from Pompeii.  Many of the mosaic floors have been moved and preserved as well as some bronze statues and even an entire “secret room” is filled with all the artifacts from the brothels. 

We returned from Naples that night and journeyed to find dinner.  The journey took us through some not so awesome parts of Pompeii, but we finally found sustenance. 

The next morning we all boarded the bus for Sorrento.  When we arrived we were dismissed to find our way for the weekend and we were supposed to return the Saturday night at 7:30 to catch the return trip. 

Our group of ten hopped on the bus to Amalfi and headed on our way.  When we reached the other side of the mountain we were met with an amazing view of the Sea.  The bus from Sorrento to Amalfi is about a two hour ride, even though it is only 26 km away.  The road winds along the coast passing through all of the coastal town on roads that are very small and were not made for a bus.  It is a beautiful drive though. 

Amalfi is an amazing little coastal town!  Berta booked a hostel that was right on the water! So the view from our balconies was all water! It was gorgeous!

We dropped our stuff off and headed for the beach.  The water was freezing but we all took our shoes off and rolled our pants up anyway.  After that we all walked to the Cathedral in the middle of town.  This church is absolutely gorgeous! When we arrived we told the priest that we were “gli studenti di architecturo” and he suddenly became very excited. He took us up to the altar and showed us where the oldest parts of the building had been covered when they changed the church from a Baroque style to a Romanesque style.  He also took us into the cloister and museum in the back to show us where they had actually built over the frescos and sculptures.

We spent the rest of the day in our hotel admiring the view, and we cooked dinner in the room which was supplied with a kitchen.  (We made carbonara!)

The next morning we took the 6:20 bus back to Sorrento and then took the ferry to the Isle of Capri.  The island is divided into two sides: Capri and AnaCapri.  This little island is very much a tourist destination and I wish we had seen it during the late spring when the island apparently comes to life. But when we were there all the shops were closed and there were not very many people.  We followed one of the trails leading out of town and hiked all the way around the Capri side of the island.  The views were gorgeous and the water was so clear and blue.  Once we made it back to town we took the bus to AnaCapri and visited Villa San Michele which Marco had told us to visit.  After that we made our way back down to the ferry (running the dock to catch the boat) and then we meandered our way around Sorrento, grabbing some Gelato while we waited for the bus back.

The weekend was amazing, and we were all exhausted at the end. So needless to say, I do not remember the 5 hours drive back home. J