Before departing for Amalfi us ladies had a full morning in Rome. We visited the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, along with a nice walk through the old streets of Rome- of course this included some gelato ;)
We had our transfer take us to the railway station in Rome where we set off for Amalfi. This being Mama Steps' first time in a busy railway station she was a bit intimidated- our driver pointed towards the main entrance, took our bags out of the van, and basically said have a safe trip. For me this was nothing to worry about you check a screen and look for signs then hope for the best. Of course we figured it out and jumped on our train, which left 40 min late- I thought "western" schedules were a bit more secure, I guess not! Haha The train was quite comfortable though. We did experience a moment of confusion when we left the Naples station (one stop along our journey) The train started moving the the same direction we had just come from! My mom and I looked at each other and said "didn't we just come from this way?" Haha but it turned out the train looped around to another track in a new direction. I said to my mom that it was easy to know your stop in Asia because you just follow the group of white people haha Europe you need to pay a bit more attention!
Once we arrived in Scalerno we had another transfer to our amazing B&B just up the mountain from the small coastal town of Cava Del Terrini. What a beautiful place this was filled with gardens in full bloom and an amazing view from the restaurant terrace.
The following day included our ascent of Mount Vesuvius and a visit to the ruins of Pompeii, a city devastated and completely preserved by the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD. Mount Vesuvius included a 1000m ascent up to the volcanic crater- we crushed it! For me the volcano itself was a bit over-rated but the view of the Bay of Naples and the entire coastline was incredible. Our driver told us that if Vesuvius were to erupt today that over 1 million people would be displaced.
Then came our visit to Pompeii. This civilization/city was first inhabited by the Greeks and then later taken over by the Romans. All the main roads ran from east to west- in the direction of Rome of course. There were market places, meeting homes, bath houses, and multiple temples. All of this was hard to discern because much of what is left is broken down walls and pillars. We needed to use our imagination to build a picture in our minds of how people lived during this time.
Finally we needed to make our way to one of the exits. You would think this would be an easy task buuuuut turns out not so much. Between misleading maps, blocked walkways and killer cobblestone roads I didn't know if we would make it out of there. I thought I would end up spraining my ankle on the uneven roads, my mom was worried we wouldn't find our way and then to make matters just that much more difficult, and entertaining, a huge rainstorm hit! So us ladies were wandering through this ancient city trying to find our exit in a downpour of rain haha it became quite the adventure.
Our Dinner = Italian pizza- yep! We both deserved it after today! Oh and a bit of wine for 3Euros a bottle ;)
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