Positano
Our trip down South began around 5:30AM. Marilena, Michelle, Tamara, and I decided to meet at the train station at 7AM to buy tickets/catch a train at 7:53; of course the train was full and we had to stand and wait in the train station for an hour… we were all really excited and pumped about the trip so the waiting wasn’t that bad (people kept coming up to us asking for directions around the station; ha, did they seriously think that we knew anything?!).
Our first train was to Roma and it was really nice and not crowded at all. Even though we were all assigned seats apart from each other we got to sit in a little square together. The ride was beautiful – last time I came to italy with my family I always fell asleep on the train and totally missed out on seeing the country so this time I made sure to try to stay awake!
Our second train from Roma to Napoli was really nice also only waaaay more crowded. Of course our assigned seats weren’t next to each other but we sat together anyways… unfortunately it got so crowded that we had to move to our real seats and it figures that a mother and her young son were sitting in my real seat and I was the annoying person that had to make them separate from each other. “um, this is my seat…” …blank stare… figures that she didn’t speak English. I felt so bad. It turned out to be a beautiful ride again (even though I DID end up falling asleep! Man…).
Then we got to Napoli… Ok, before I came to Italy I asked everyone and anyone that had ever been to Italy for any advice they had to give me and one thing that rings out in my mind is Katie Krim’s description of “Nappy Napoli.” Yea. She was DEAD ON. Napoli was gross and dirty. The buildings were ugly, the streets were dirty, the train station was sketchy, trash was everywhere, people were creepers, boys were sharks (meaning they would, like, swarm and circle around us and we’d have to keeping moving so as not to be attacked)… the four of us were freaking out and were grateful for our train to finally show up (figures that it was 15 minutes late!).
The train was, liek, and inner-city train. It was so gross. We changed seats about 3 times because there was always something wrong with where we were sitting (broken blinds on the window, window wouldn’t open, sketchballs sitting next to us)… Other than seeing Mt. Vesuvius (!!) the view from the train really sucked. If you can avoid Napoli, do it. The city is just very industrial and run down… as a tourist it’s really disappointing.
Around 1ish, we finally got to our final destination: it was a totally random stop (I actually just had to pull out my old train ticket to see what it was called…): Vietri S. Mare-Ama, which is prolly an abbreviation for something but I can’t remember what it was sposed to mean. The stop was completely deserted other than one lonely conductor man that worked at the stop. We asked him for directions to the bus then got stuck talking to him for about 10 minutes. Poor guy… The view was incredible (we were on a cliff that overlooked the Mediterranean!) and after taking pictures we headed out.
After limping down 5 flights of huge cobblestone steps (yes, my foot is still broken and hurting), and almost getting run over crossing the street, we found a tourist office, bought bus tickets and hopped on the bus to the Amalfi Coast. Seriously, we were on the bus ride of death. The coast is all cliffs and all the roads and cities are smashed up and down the cliffs. We were literally on a (two-way) road wide enough to fit one and a half cars, with such sharp turns that mirrors were installed at every corner to let the driver see on coming cars… AND our driver was literally accelerating the entire time! I thought we were going be thrown over the cliffs and was thrilled to finally arrive in Amalfi. The view, of course, was incredible and I spent most of my time watching the wind surfers (which made me think of my dad, which made me laugh… haha, love you dad!).
In Amalfi we decided that we were starving and spent about 20 minutes walking around looking for a place to eat… we ended up at a little bar that had the best panini, gelato, and fizzy water ever (well, maybe it wasn’t the best BUT I was so hungry that at the time it really did taste fantastic). For the rest of the afternoon we shopped and took pictures around the city’s duomo, which was really beautiful.
Then we hopped on a bus to Positano (it took us about 10 minutes to decide whether or not we were on the right bus…). The second bus ride was even scarier than the first! Seriously, the roads were skinner, the cliffs were higher, the traffic was thicker, AND we even had to back up a few times because we wouldn’t be able to fit passed other tour buses going the other way!
Positano was so worth it though. The city was built up a steep cliff and from the bus stop we could see the entire thing! More pictures and more walking in the wrong direction and being totally confused and lost… Finally Tamara called the hostel (our Italian rep since she speaks Italian) asking for directions and after an intense conversation, the people at the hostel told us that they’d come pick us up cuz apparently it was a 2km walk and they felt bad when they heard we were traveling with a girl that had a broken foot (aka me).
So along comes Giuseppe: a really really really jolly, skinny, old man in a really really really midget sized car. After cramming the 4 of us and our backpacks in the car we trekked back on the twisty roads of death to our hostel. We love Giuseppe; he was so excited to talk to us and when he laughed he literally went “Ha ha ha ha,” …liek, he said ‘ha.’ It was freakin hilarious.
Ok so if you ever go to Positano (which I recommend that everyone does if they have the opportunity) stay at “Gilda’s.” It was hardly a hostel. Our room was like a small apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen with an oven, mini fridge, sink, dining table, bathroom, and two incredible ocean views! AND we decided that the family that ran the hostel (Giuseppe, Gilda, and their lesbian daughter) were our adopted host family and even starting referring to them as our “host family.” After settling down they fixed us espressos and lemonade and we sat out on the patio and watched the sun set over the ocean.
Our adopted host family was freaking hilarious. They had a cat and told us that a rich German guy had stayed there once and left them his cat and a toothbrush for it. They also said that the cat had a computer chip in its neck and that they monitor where it is on the internet… haha, what?!
After our evening coffee we spent a little while getting beautiful and then headed into town for dinner. Our host family felt bad for me because of my foot so they had their crazy lesbian daughter drive us into town. The main street through the town is a one-way street so she had to drive us all the way around it to get us to the beach where we wanted to have dinner; it took about 20 minutes! We felt bad that the chick had to drive us but grateful (especially me!) at the same time. The walk from where she dropped us off was about 5 minutes downhill (which killed my foot) past some of the greatest shopping I had ever seen and was so so so excited to return the next morning when everything was open!
Then we got bombarded by paparazzi deerintheheadlights style. It’s too complicated to explain but even as I’m writing this I can’t help but laugh.
We ended up sitting down for dinner at the “Tre Sorelle.” It was a fabulous restaurant ON the beach! The food was incredible and, thanks to the fact that our waiter Paolo had a huge crush on Marilena and offered to drive her home on his scooter, we got tons of free stuff! For 95euro we got 1 ½ bottles of wine, bruschetta, prosciutto e melone (which is my new favorite thing), shrimp, 4 pasta entrees, pizza breadsticks, and 4 shots of limoncello (which tastes like vodka with a splash of Starbursts and you’re sposed to take a shot of it after you eat to help you digest; it was really really gross). Because of Paolo, we all refer to Italians that are creeping on us as “Paolo.”
I absolutely loved chatting with Marilena, Tamara, and Michelle at dinner. We mostly chatted about Alpha Phi and all the politics and corruption and gossip within it. I learned some things that I had no idea about! I can’t wait to get back to school and start up Alpha Phi again; during my time here in Italia I feel like I have literally “bonded” (how cheesy does that sound???) with my sisters and have a bigger appreciation for the whole thing.
Feeling buzzed after dinner, we decided to stroll along the beach and check out the local discoteks. Creepy waiters at all the restaurants we passed by pointed us in the direction of “Music On The Rocks,” so we decided to check it out. The bar was incredible… it was designed to look like you were in a cave and it had loud music and pink and purple lights BUT it was near empty and the people that WERE there were tourists that were literally about 40 years old. We stuck around for about 15 minutes then decided to peace out (it was about midnight anyways and we had been up and traveling since 6 in the morning and were all totally exhausted). On our way up for a taxi a local guy told us that it didn’t really get going until about 1 but we were so dead that we weren’t about to sit around until then.
So we hopped in a taxi, headed back to Gilda’s, and passed out, so excited about our next day in Capri!
Our first train was to Roma and it was really nice and not crowded at all. Even though we were all assigned seats apart from each other we got to sit in a little square together. The ride was beautiful – last time I came to italy with my family I always fell asleep on the train and totally missed out on seeing the country so this time I made sure to try to stay awake!
Our second train from Roma to Napoli was really nice also only waaaay more crowded. Of course our assigned seats weren’t next to each other but we sat together anyways… unfortunately it got so crowded that we had to move to our real seats and it figures that a mother and her young son were sitting in my real seat and I was the annoying person that had to make them separate from each other. “um, this is my seat…” …blank stare… figures that she didn’t speak English. I felt so bad. It turned out to be a beautiful ride again (even though I DID end up falling asleep! Man…).
Then we got to Napoli… Ok, before I came to Italy I asked everyone and anyone that had ever been to Italy for any advice they had to give me and one thing that rings out in my mind is Katie Krim’s description of “Nappy Napoli.” Yea. She was DEAD ON. Napoli was gross and dirty. The buildings were ugly, the streets were dirty, the train station was sketchy, trash was everywhere, people were creepers, boys were sharks (meaning they would, like, swarm and circle around us and we’d have to keeping moving so as not to be attacked)… the four of us were freaking out and were grateful for our train to finally show up (figures that it was 15 minutes late!).
The train was, liek, and inner-city train. It was so gross. We changed seats about 3 times because there was always something wrong with where we were sitting (broken blinds on the window, window wouldn’t open, sketchballs sitting next to us)… Other than seeing Mt. Vesuvius (!!) the view from the train really sucked. If you can avoid Napoli, do it. The city is just very industrial and run down… as a tourist it’s really disappointing.
Around 1ish, we finally got to our final destination: it was a totally random stop (I actually just had to pull out my old train ticket to see what it was called…): Vietri S. Mare-Ama, which is prolly an abbreviation for something but I can’t remember what it was sposed to mean. The stop was completely deserted other than one lonely conductor man that worked at the stop. We asked him for directions to the bus then got stuck talking to him for about 10 minutes. Poor guy… The view was incredible (we were on a cliff that overlooked the Mediterranean!) and after taking pictures we headed out.
After limping down 5 flights of huge cobblestone steps (yes, my foot is still broken and hurting), and almost getting run over crossing the street, we found a tourist office, bought bus tickets and hopped on the bus to the Amalfi Coast. Seriously, we were on the bus ride of death. The coast is all cliffs and all the roads and cities are smashed up and down the cliffs. We were literally on a (two-way) road wide enough to fit one and a half cars, with such sharp turns that mirrors were installed at every corner to let the driver see on coming cars… AND our driver was literally accelerating the entire time! I thought we were going be thrown over the cliffs and was thrilled to finally arrive in Amalfi. The view, of course, was incredible and I spent most of my time watching the wind surfers (which made me think of my dad, which made me laugh… haha, love you dad!).
In Amalfi we decided that we were starving and spent about 20 minutes walking around looking for a place to eat… we ended up at a little bar that had the best panini, gelato, and fizzy water ever (well, maybe it wasn’t the best BUT I was so hungry that at the time it really did taste fantastic). For the rest of the afternoon we shopped and took pictures around the city’s duomo, which was really beautiful.
Then we hopped on a bus to Positano (it took us about 10 minutes to decide whether or not we were on the right bus…). The second bus ride was even scarier than the first! Seriously, the roads were skinner, the cliffs were higher, the traffic was thicker, AND we even had to back up a few times because we wouldn’t be able to fit passed other tour buses going the other way!
Positano was so worth it though. The city was built up a steep cliff and from the bus stop we could see the entire thing! More pictures and more walking in the wrong direction and being totally confused and lost… Finally Tamara called the hostel (our Italian rep since she speaks Italian) asking for directions and after an intense conversation, the people at the hostel told us that they’d come pick us up cuz apparently it was a 2km walk and they felt bad when they heard we were traveling with a girl that had a broken foot (aka me).
So along comes Giuseppe: a really really really jolly, skinny, old man in a really really really midget sized car. After cramming the 4 of us and our backpacks in the car we trekked back on the twisty roads of death to our hostel. We love Giuseppe; he was so excited to talk to us and when he laughed he literally went “Ha ha ha ha,” …liek, he said ‘ha.’ It was freakin hilarious.
Ok so if you ever go to Positano (which I recommend that everyone does if they have the opportunity) stay at “Gilda’s.” It was hardly a hostel. Our room was like a small apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen with an oven, mini fridge, sink, dining table, bathroom, and two incredible ocean views! AND we decided that the family that ran the hostel (Giuseppe, Gilda, and their lesbian daughter) were our adopted host family and even starting referring to them as our “host family.” After settling down they fixed us espressos and lemonade and we sat out on the patio and watched the sun set over the ocean.
Our adopted host family was freaking hilarious. They had a cat and told us that a rich German guy had stayed there once and left them his cat and a toothbrush for it. They also said that the cat had a computer chip in its neck and that they monitor where it is on the internet… haha, what?!
After our evening coffee we spent a little while getting beautiful and then headed into town for dinner. Our host family felt bad for me because of my foot so they had their crazy lesbian daughter drive us into town. The main street through the town is a one-way street so she had to drive us all the way around it to get us to the beach where we wanted to have dinner; it took about 20 minutes! We felt bad that the chick had to drive us but grateful (especially me!) at the same time. The walk from where she dropped us off was about 5 minutes downhill (which killed my foot) past some of the greatest shopping I had ever seen and was so so so excited to return the next morning when everything was open!
Then we got bombarded by paparazzi deerintheheadlights style. It’s too complicated to explain but even as I’m writing this I can’t help but laugh.
We ended up sitting down for dinner at the “Tre Sorelle.” It was a fabulous restaurant ON the beach! The food was incredible and, thanks to the fact that our waiter Paolo had a huge crush on Marilena and offered to drive her home on his scooter, we got tons of free stuff! For 95euro we got 1 ½ bottles of wine, bruschetta, prosciutto e melone (which is my new favorite thing), shrimp, 4 pasta entrees, pizza breadsticks, and 4 shots of limoncello (which tastes like vodka with a splash of Starbursts and you’re sposed to take a shot of it after you eat to help you digest; it was really really gross). Because of Paolo, we all refer to Italians that are creeping on us as “Paolo.”
I absolutely loved chatting with Marilena, Tamara, and Michelle at dinner. We mostly chatted about Alpha Phi and all the politics and corruption and gossip within it. I learned some things that I had no idea about! I can’t wait to get back to school and start up Alpha Phi again; during my time here in Italia I feel like I have literally “bonded” (how cheesy does that sound???) with my sisters and have a bigger appreciation for the whole thing.
Feeling buzzed after dinner, we decided to stroll along the beach and check out the local discoteks. Creepy waiters at all the restaurants we passed by pointed us in the direction of “Music On The Rocks,” so we decided to check it out. The bar was incredible… it was designed to look like you were in a cave and it had loud music and pink and purple lights BUT it was near empty and the people that WERE there were tourists that were literally about 40 years old. We stuck around for about 15 minutes then decided to peace out (it was about midnight anyways and we had been up and traveling since 6 in the morning and were all totally exhausted). On our way up for a taxi a local guy told us that it didn’t really get going until about 1 but we were so dead that we weren’t about to sit around until then.
So we hopped in a taxi, headed back to Gilda’s, and passed out, so excited about our next day in Capri!
posted by tera a firenze at 9:20 AM
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