My final morning in Rome started slowly as i treated myself to a rare sleep in. I checked out and sat at a table in front of the hostel and soaked up the morning sun. Before I knew it (Facebook really can take up hours) I had downed 3 packets of gluten free Italian styled Oreos and it was time to go meet up with Nat for lunch! Even donning my 20kg pack I was so excited to see a familiar face I ran across the road darting through crazy Italian drivers and waving like a lunatic. A giant hug followed and we went to meet up with 2 of her exchange friends for our joint reunion. We headed to a restaurant which was way over my budget so I opted for a side of roast potatoes and suffered major food envy as their delicious salads and meals rolled out, the tough backpackers life.. After some good chats, reminiscing and a cheeky scoop of gelati (they had gluten free cones, how could i resist?!) it was time to say farewell, and ill admit it a few tears escaped me. I felt like a sook but it was hard saying goodbye to a true friend after such a short tease of a catchup and heading out solo again into the big, bad world. I quickly pulled myself together though and headed to the bus station where i boarded my bus to Sorrento!
After 3 hours of putting up with an annoyingly stereotypical American family being loud, obnoxious and plain annoying I was finally freed and let off the bus at Sant Agnello. I was astonished at the over friendly nature of the locals who were all shouting out to help with directions and any assistance I may have needed, it was a lovely community feel and a nice contrast to the high paced hustle bustle in the city centre of Rome. I checked in and after hearing 'rooftop bar' and 'happy hour' in the same sentence I was sold and climbed up the stairs to socialise. I soon found the group of Australians which seems standard at every hostel throughout Europe and got chatting. After a few cocktails and some free peanuts, the big group of 15 Aussies traipsed down to dinner and I joined even though my excitement over free food had left the peanut tub empty and my stomach very full. After everyone else had finished eating (for once I observed and didn't eat, an extremely rare situation) we all tried some limoncello back at the rooftop bar and I agreed to explore along the Amalfi Coast the following day with two Melburnians, Sarah and Aileen.
At home, putting up with my constantly late best friend Alex, is the biggest pain of my life. It was one thing I was excited to escape from but it seems these girls had similar traits. Despite agreeing to meet at 8.30am, an early start considering our 2am bedtime, they ambled down to breakfast at 9.20.. Fortunately I had made the most of my time and booked my train to Florence for a few days time which was a dismal 60euros (that'll teach me for leaving things until the last minute!) The slow start didn't finish here but I can't blame that on the girls this time. Our bus driver assured us that his bus took us to Sorrento where we could swap and catch a bus to Positano. About 20 minutes later we were hurried off the bus and left on the side of the road a 5km walk from sorrento, clearly the driver had forgotten to tell us our correct stop, so instead ushered us off a reasonable distance away.. We caught a bus back to sorrento, finally boarded a bus to Positano which took a further 45mins in the sweltering heat, no air con and mno seat, the sweat drops were accumulating in a puddle on the floor. The views along the coastline were the only constellation, the driving however was a different story. Hairpin turns and cliff edges did nothing to unsettle our driver as he preceded wildly around these turns and corners at very high speeds blasting his horn simultaneously as a warming to oncoming traffic, get out of my way or else! It was definitely a relief to depart the bus and clamber down the hundreds of steps throughout picturesque Positano, before roasting my poor feet on the scorching black pebble beach followed by a big belly whacker dive straight into the cool ocean. The ultimate refreshment. The beach was an interesting experience. I felt as though I was on a spit roast and was being cooked alive from every angle. The sun beamed down from the clear blue sky and the black rocks beneath absorbed this heat and fired it back up through your towel into your skin. As shameful as this admission is, I like to think of myself as quite a talented sun baker. Always sun-smart and piled with lotion, I could lie in the sun for hours easily without the need for a cool down in the pool like all the other girls. Positano however, definitely beat me, I couldn't last more than 10 minutes in the sun without a slick of sweat covering my body and the urge to cool down completely overwhelmed me. Ice cream was needed and my favourite treat, a magnum fit the bill perfectly. Next stop was Amalfi where I prayed my tanning skills would return and I was happily rewarded. It was a cute little town, minus the steps and hefty prices and our little sun beds were much nicer than the boiling rocks, until we were charged for them- nothing is ever free! The afternoon rushed by and suddenly the sun had disappears behind the cliff top and we headed back for another wild bus ride. Time escaped us yet again and the trains to sant Agnello had finished, so after a 20min walk to the hostel with the girls slowing me down, it was 9.30pm and I was RAVENOUS. I whipped out the gluten free pasta I had bought in Rome and with fingers and toes crossed I asked the bar whether they would cook it for me and to my delight they obliged, and even added tomato sauce and Parmesan to complete my meal for the fantastic price of FREE! Although it was rather 'al dente' /uncooked, it filled my belly and I was happy. After a free feed I was feeling rich and went and splurged on a day trip to Capri the following day on a little speedboat with the girls and a few others from our hostel, very exciting!
I had bought a box of gluten free crackers which turned out to be little individual packets of four biscuits so two of them with some stolen Nutella was a perfect breakfast. I stole a few more spreads to last me the day and packed some more crackers in my bag. We piled into a bus and braved some more wild Italian driving before reaching the port and boarding our rather glamorous little speedboat with the group of 6 from our hostel, and 4 others we quickly befriended. The day was filled with swim stops in little grottos, the most notable of which the famous, 'Blue Grotto' (which I had never heard of but pretended to know all about). For the hefty price of 12 euro you could squeeze into a tiny rowboat and be escorted through a tiny hole in the rock to the grotto, which was truly spectacular. The water glowed blue, fluorescent, electric and stood out in the otherwise pitch black cave. Despite the signs strictly banning swimming, money can get you anywhere in Italy, so we gave the sailor? 5 euros and were given the pleasure of a 20 second swim in the ice cold water before being hurried back in, money definitely well spent...
The remainder of the afternoon was back on our boat and the free wine and soft drink flowed while we baked on the helm of the boat admiring the crystal clear water that surrounded us, what a life! We reached Capri and were dropped off for 2 hours of exploration. We took a cab to the town of Anna Capri at the top of the island and wowed at the spectacular view. The others opted to take a cable car to the very peak but I was feeling poor and decided to wander the streets instead and ended up accidentally stumbling into an old nonnas back garden! We bused back down and hopped on the boat for some final rays and refreshments before sadly, our adventure had come to an end. Back at base camp I sat on the rooftop and had a cocktail or two with a couple from our boat and them once again enjoyed some free pasta for dinner, which thankfully was marginally more cooked. A few hours of conversation with the boat gang followed during which I made plans to head to Pompeii the next day with the two Americans, so exciting!!!
Skype started the day and it was nice as always to see Mum and Pal's faces, even though it made me slightly homesick. Some Nutella quickly eased my mind, and the on time Alex and Eddie appeared and we were off on our adventure! Pompeii was not exactly as I had imagined throughout my childhood after dreaming of seeing the real thing since completing a project on it in grade four. Frustratingly, a lot of the original artefacts and objects had been excavated and taken to the archeological museum of Naples, and many of the houses still remaining were closed for visitors. Despite this, it was still an amazing day. The houses we could enter were quite well preserved, as was the main square, market place and temple. Surprisingly the most well preserved building in all of Pompeii was the brothel, whose graphic wall etchings and images were still in perfect condition. The heat was overwhelming us so after some food and water we headed to our next stop for the day, Mount Vesuvius. An army style truck led us 3/4 of the way up the volcano and the remainder was for us to hike up (I wish we could have walked more to be honest). I understood how the Pompeiians could have been so naive and not realised they were living in such close proximity to a volcano, it looked nothing like one, a hill covered in flowers and trees, it was only at the very top the huge abyss was evident, but this was only there after the eruption blasted off the top of the mountain. So sneakily disguised, Vesuvius was a ticking time bomb and a thing I could now tick off my bucket list, hooray! I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't more volcano like, with lava bubbling at the pit, but on second thoughts that's probably ideal! We walked back to the station and managed to miss the train by sitting in the shade, so had to wait an hour for the next one, idiots! A pitstop to the supermarket on our stroll home sorted out my dinner, cheese and crackers (life of luxury!) and I sat up on the rooftop with a freshly arrived tour group of 100 loud Americans and tried to calmly watch my last Amalfi coast sunset
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