Napoli

Napoli was the last stop on our Greece/Italy trip and the pizza here was amazing, as expected because apparently it's the birthplace of the pizza. I think I had a pizza it least once a day while here. Napoli wasn't exactly the nicest city, but it was where we were flying back home from.

Oh, actually we had a rather interesting story while in the airport. So, we waiting in line at the security checkpoint and we come across some suspicious luggage that had been left behind and no one was looking at it or picking it up. Then when we're almost about to go through, the power went out. The lights had been flickering while in line, but no the power actually went out for a solid minute or two in an aiport! It was the one of the most ridiculous things that I had ever seen. None of us could believe that a power outage would/could actually happen at an airport, but in Napoli I guess it can. This combined with the suspicious luggage that someone had planted seemed quite suspicious and some members of our group got quite nervous. It really was just the icing on the cake to our Napoli trip... haha it was quite the city.

Oh and I did go to Pompeii, but I forgot my camera so I guess I'll steal some photos from my friends and share them later.

Capri

We took a ferry to Capri for the day. It was such a cool island and we (Amy, Julie, Will and I) all enjoyed the day on the island. Although I thought the Amalfi coast was better, Capri was extremely beautiful.




Capri




Blue Grotto





I stupidly left the flash on in the actual Grotto so the picture inside didn't come out that great... sorry.

Statue in Ana Capri



Street in Capri



Leaving Capri

Amalfi Coast

We rented a car...



Positano



Amalfi



Outside of Salerno





We rented a car for the day... unfortunately the weather wasn't nice enough to really use the convertible so we felt a little stupid riding around in this tiny little car, but we still had fun. Although I've loved all of my travels here, this one was definitely one of the most beautiful and inspiring places I've visited. It was so cool, and you definitely couldn't experience it properly without renting a car or getting a car hire.

Sorrento

Dates: April 16th – 19th



Sorrento was absolutely beautiful. Our hostel, Seven Hostel was a really nice hostel in Sant’Agnello, Italy. It is about a 30 to 45 minute walk from Sorrento, but it wasn’t bad at all. The hostel was really nice and inexpensively priced. We were there for a few days so the walks weren’t that bad, plus one day we went to Capri and the other day we drove around the Amalfi coast.
Outdoor lounge at hostel



Sorrento was a nice little town and of course had great food! Everyone had a really good time and thoroughly enjoyed this leg of the trip, even though we were all getting a little bit tired of traveling... we were going on our 3rd week of our trips and were living out of a carry-on sized suitcase.

Easter Tree in Sorrento


On the walk to Sorrento



View on the walk… yes it’s dorky w/e



Last night in Sant’Agnello



More Pictures: Click Here

From Bari to Sorrento

Date: April 16

We arrived in Bari, Italy early in the morning and had to walk to the car rental place to get a car we could take to Sorrento. It was just as expensive and took much longer to travel by bus or train so we figured it would be more fun to rent a car. So, we did. However, when we got to where the car rental place was supposed to be... it had closed 2 months before! Luckily, a woman at a Best Western was able to direct us to another car rental agency near the train stations. We had to walk for probably another 20 to 30 minutes to get to this one. But, we finally did and go the car to drive to Sorrento.

Of course, the only car they had available was a manual. And being the only person who was 21, I was the only one who could drive the car. I've learned that I've gotten better at driving stick than I used to be, so it wasn't a problem. Smartest thing we did though, was renting a GPS. We would've been in trouble without it.

It took us about 3 hours to drive across Italy, and everything went quite smoothly. The best part of the drive was between Napoli and Sorrento. The countryside was absolutely amazing, and the tiny roads snaked along the cliffs right next to the water. It was an extremely cool place to see. Driving was definitely a better choice than taking a train... I'll explain later about the trains in Italy.

Anyways, we found our hotel fine and returned the car later in the day. It was definitely a good end to a long trip from Greece.

Back to Athens...

Date: April 14 - April 15

On the 14th we took a ferry back to Athens. Thankfully, this one was much faster and we arrived in Athens on time. We were all pretty tired from the day and didn't really do that much in Athens on the evening on the 14th.

The following morning we had to figure out how to get to Patra, the port town where our ferry to Italy was leaving at around 6 pm. We found the people at the Athens Backpackers Hostel were very helpful and told us exactly where we needed to go. It was a little confusing as it involved using the metro, then walking to find a bus stop that was at a random spot on a street and taking that bus to another bus station. To top it all off, it was just starting to mist a little bit when we left our hostel, luggage in tow.

We got on the metro and got off at the right stop, but had to ask a few times about where the bus we were looking for would stop. Eventually, we figured it out and there happened to be a bus waiting there when we found it. We crammed into the overflowing bus, hoping we were headed in the right direction and that we would know the stop when we found it.

It just so happened that bus station we were looking for was the very last stop, as we had suspected. We got our tickets and searched for the next bus, hoping it would deliver us in Patra (on time). The bus ride was actually quite nice, and brought us to the bus station with about an hour to spare.

Of course, we were starving and got some food before heading for our ferry. Oh, and this time we did have the right confirmation numbers for our ferry so that worked out quite well. We quickly ate our last meal of souvlaki and then headed for our ferry.

15 hours later, at 8 am the following day we would be arriving in Bari, Italy.

Carnival in Venice

Carnevale di Venezia began in 1268 and usually occurs during a two week period prior to Ash Wednesday, ending on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). It is customary to wear a mask made of paper-mâché and sometimes a full costume.

We arrived at 9 am on Saturday morning, after taking a night train that we boarded Friday night in Vienna. We didn't leave until 11 pm Saturday evening, so it was 14 hours of touring around the city. I'm certain we must have walked a 1/3 of the city that day, and visited most of the popular/tourist locations in Venice, as well as many trips off the "beaten path" We visited Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square), Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark's Basilica), Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) and the Grand Canal. Because of the number of people at Carnival, the famous pigeons of Piazza San Marco were not really present; however, we were able to ride a gondola on the Grand Canal under Ponte di Rialto, a necessity when in Venice.

I would be lying if I didn't tell you that a good portion of our day was spent eating, we were in Italy afterall! We had gelato three times throughout the day at varying places around the city, which was amazing at every place we got it. We had lunch at a small restaurant next to one of the city's numerous smaller canals. In the afternoon, we sat down for a break at a cafe, and after a caffeine overload turned to their hot chocolate. When i say hot chocolate, I'm almost positive it was melted chocolate that was heated up. It was delicious, and at the same time quite filling. However, we managed to walk directly to another restaurant and sit down for an Italian dinner, which was quite good.

We finished off our evening by attending the Carnival festivities which were in the beginning stages of a late-night party in one of Venice's larger squares. This party made me wish I had left my backpack in a train station locker and that we were staying the night in Venice. But, we had to venture back to the train station for our train back home.

More Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/570253501dmXFyl