First semester of Studying abroad in Italy: finished!
Crazy, right?
After finals week it was definitely time for some warm weather, beaches, and some good food a.k.a Southern Italy.
Travel crew: Caroline, Lauren, Brittani and Alessandro.
Our first stop was Napoli- verrrry different from Florence. Much dirtier, and kinda falling apart. But once you got over all the garbage and stray dogs running around, it was kind of charming (in the right areas of course!)
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| Caroline on the streets of Napoli |
In case you haven't already figured out, I have a thing for pizza. So, Napoli being the birthplace of said delicacy, we made it a point to have as much of it as socially acceptable (which in Italy is in my favor since everyone here eats a whole pizza by themselves...)
Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo is by far the BEST pizza I have ever had, and yes, we went there twice.
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| My new boyfriend. Everyone says that all the gorgeous men are from Southern Italy--clearly, it's true. |
The next day was our one whole day in Napoli--we walked along the coast to Castello d'Ovo, explored Napoli, had an amazing lunch, and then went to the top of a mountain to Castello Sant. Elmo to watch the sunset over the beautiful panoramic view of the city.
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| view from atop Castello Sant. Elmo. HELLO NAPOLI! |
That night we went out to dinner with a bunch of kids from the Hostel, and after dinner hung out in a piazza filled with Italians. There we ended up hanging out with an Australian girl named Joy and met two really cool italian guys (Alessio-who could speak perfect English and Gennaro- who only knew 5 english words: spider, ok, hello, flip-flop, and car. hahaha) We had a really great time with them!
Next stop: Sorrento!
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| the view of Sorrento |
We had a little mishap with the booking of hostels--Lauren and Brit thought they booked us for a hostel in Capri, but turned out it was right down the street from our hostel in Napoli. So we had a little change of plans, and decided to go to Sorrento, home of Limoncello :)
When we arrived and dropped off all of our stuff, we headed straight towards the ocean, and stood in awe of God's beautiful creation. I forgot what it was like to smell ocean air, and not the car exhaust and cigarette smoke that clouds my lovely little Firenze.
We just so happened to be in Sorrento when one of its two festivals of the year was going on-- the Festival of their patron saint: St. Antonine. There were street vendors all down the main street, where we enjoyed some corn on the cob and crochettes (a breaded and deep-fried ball of mashed potatoes, mozzarella, ham=glorious and only 1 euro).
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| gelato will be the end of me |
We finished off the night right with some gelato from a famous gelateria called La Primavera, which was covered in photos of all the famous people who have been there (the POPE, Roberto Benigni, etc.)
Final destination:
Ischia, a beautiful island off the coast of Napoli!
We took a ferry boat from the port of Napoli to Ischia, and when we arrived, we instantly wished we had spent our whole trip here! It was Valentine's day, so Lauren Caroline and I had a wonderful lunch in a restaurant overlooking the bay and we ate--yep, you guessed it--pizza :).
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| I Vecchietti :) our new friends |
After lunch, we hopped on the bus to head to our bed&breakfast hotel in Lacco Ameno, one of the towns of Ischia. Like a scene out of a movie, we ended up being on the same bus as a giant tour-group of "vecchietti" (old italian people) and they invited us to tag along on their tour!! It was priceless. We walked all over with them and saw some really beautiful sights and then they pointed us in the direction of our hotel-- absolutely wonderful!
Our next day, which I must say was the highlight of my trip, was spent in Baia di Sorgeto, where there were natural hot springs sitting inside a gorgeous cove. We spent most of our day in
bathing suits, in
February.
I was a happy camper!! We sat in the hot springs which felt like a jacuzzi, and then laid out on our towels and dried/napped/read a book in the warmth of the sun. It was like revival to my soul :)
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| Baia di Sorgeto-- thermal Hot springs!! |
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| we're pale but we don't care |
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| Caroline and I |
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| SO STOKED |
After many hours spent in the sun (and we didn't get sunburnt! wooooo) we walked up the hill a little ways to eat at Ristorante da Gisella which overlooked the ocean. We ordered some white wine, salad, and spaghetti con frutti di mare, which is spaghetti with seafood. Now, I am not the hugest seafood fan, but it would practically be a sin if I didn't eat it on an island where it's the freshest of the fresh.
It came out in a HUUUGE dish, filled with clams, shrimp, squid, octopus, and other little friends from the ocean, and we thought--there is NO way we are going to be able to finish that!
We did. Every last bite. And it was gooood :)
100% reccommend traveling to Ischia--I wish we had spent more time there! It wasn't until I got home when I checked my email, and my mom had forwarded me the "Top 10 Islands you should explore before you die" with Ischia being #4.
Check that off my bucket list!
