Exhausted from the Southern Italian Sun! I know, Poor Me.
Almafi Coast, Southern Italy
So, I visited the Amalfi Coast a weekend ago, and it was fabulous! Our hostel room could have been better, but breakfast and dinner were both included, and they were delicious! Those southern Italians know how to cook! We stayed in Sorrento on the coast, which was beautiful. It’s in the Naples region on the same small peninsula. We arrived at like 1 AM and were exhausted.On the first day, we went to the island of Capri. It took about 30 minutes to get there from the mainland by ferry. Capri was terrific. Our travel group (which was a bunch of college students from Florence) got a private boat tour around the entire island. There were incredible views, and music was playing throughout the whole ride. We got to see a ton of caves and coves along the coast. We stopped near the shore and got to jump into the crisp blue water to swim around for a bit. We also went into the Blue Grotto, a famous cave in Capri. The cave itself is tiny and dark, but when you look into the water, the entire cave glows. It is the most insane experience to see glowing water. This tiny boat ride into the cave lasted a total of two minutes, but it was worth the 13 euros they made us pay.
As most of you know, I have never been a fan of boats. I don’t know why—I’ve just always kind of avoided them. I’m getting a lot better since living in Italy because everything is by ferry, and boats are a big deal here. On that day alone, I went on four different boats, all different sizes. I’m slowly getting used to them, and they aren’t too bad anymore. Plus, I knew my mom would have wanted me to see the cave and water, so I did it mainly for her. She wouldn’t want me to waste such an amazing opportunity.
The second day, we went to Positano—a small beach town on the coast of Italy, about 45 minutes from Naples. It was a beautiful day, and the beach was so relaxing. I have never been the type who can handle just laying in the sun to tan—I get too hot and uncomfortable. However, I have fallen asleep on the beach multiple times, and that’s usually how I accomplish a tan. We also looked for sea glass along the shore, and there were tons of pieces. It’s almost comical how people are obsessed with smoothed pieces of old broken glass bottles. One littering alcoholic’s trash is another little white girl’s(me🙋🏻♀️) treasure, am.i.right?
During the scorching part of the day, I just couldn’t stay still, so Rach and I went to explore the town. We found this little grocery store and popped in for a quick sandwich. Oh. My. Goodness. This sandwich was the god of all sandwiches. We didn’t even really order anything specific—we just named off a bunch of stuff we liked, and this woman made it into one ginormous, glorious sandwich. One of the best sandwiches ever! Since living in Italy, I have become particularly fond of pesto. I could eat pesto every day and never get tired of it. It has become a must-have on all my sandwiches, and it made this sandwich even better.
Later that day, after my stomach was full of glorious sandwich and my back was already turning bright red from sunburn, we returned to the beach. I ended up renting a kayak along with some of my other friends. It was such a great time. We kayaked along the coast and found a small, isolated beach with these giant pieces of sea glass. I ended up collecting a few big pieces and putting them in my kayak to bring back to the main beach. The water was beautiful and felt great on my sunburnt limbs. It was only 10 euros for an hour, which was a great deal—I was expecting it to be a lot more. My mom would have loved it—she enjoys kayaking and loves the beach. The whole time, I was thinking of her, wishing she was there with me to see and experience everything I was doing. It felt like this entire weekend was planned with everything she would enjoy.
Once the sun began to fall in the sky, we went back to our hostel. I was soooo burnt—it hurt to move. I was also pretty nauseous and a bit delusional. So, I did the obvious thing and diagnosed myself with sun poisoning. I have always known that I am extremely sensitive to the sun, and unfortunately, this was not my first time dealing with sun poisoning. So, I slathered on some vitamin E lotion, drank five gallons of water, and stumbled around like a delusional mess.
On the third day, we went to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. Let me start by talking about food again. We got pizza for lunch, and I’ll tell you why. I’m not sure if you knew this, but Margherita pizza comes from Naples. Margherita is basically like regular cheese pizza, but they just give it the name of a drink here because Italians are *drunks (*disclaimer: this part is obviously nonfactual). So, the Queen asked some guy whose name I can’t remember for a pizza. When he made the pizza, he put the dough down, then tomato sauce for the red, mozzarella cheese for the white, and basil for the green—having all three toppings represent the Italian flag. Now, it is the most popular pizza, and it's supposed to be the best in the Naples area. So we all got a “personal” one, and it was delicious—like, the best pizza in Italy so far. I would know because I eat a lot of pizza!
Pompeii was incredible. We got an excellent personal tour of the ruins from a little old Italian man with a British accent. I was a bit thrown by the accent, but who am I to judge? Especially when a day prior, I was ready to say my vows to the best sandwich I had ever stumbled upon.
There was so much more to Pompeii than I had ever thought. Everyone knows about the volcano and how it buried people alive. But did you know there was an earthquake 20 years prior? Just as they were finishing rebuilding the city, Vesuvius obliterated it. The perfect tragic triangle: bad luck, karma, and science.
After Pompeii, we went to Mount Vesuvius. The hike was brutal. It was straight up, and I thought I would just die right there on the path. But my mama didn’t raise no quitta, so I did it for her. The fog at the top was so thick that I couldn’t see five feet in front of me, but I still felt insanely accomplished. I also may or may not have taken some volcanic ash. Expect updates if I get detained at customs.
This entire trip made me miss my mom. It was a weekend of everything she loved: cliffs, caves, coves, kayaking, and Pompeii. If she can’t say she hiked Vesuvius, at least she can brag about me and have some possibly illegal volcanic ash (please don’t report me). But that’s really what all moms want, right?—Bragging rights. So, Mom…I didn’t spend your money in vain! You’re welcome!
