The Amalfi Coast

 Hello Blog People,

This is one of my favorite parts about ACA: We get to go on trips as part of our schooling. Everything is taken care of for us: food, transportation, accommodations, tours, everything! And we get to travel and experience the culture all together, without worrying toooo much about homework. This was the first BIG trip that I went on with ACA and probably is the biggest trip we will have. A lot happened, so let's get started on this recap. 

Monday: Napoli 

We left for Napoli (or Naples) at around 5 in the morning on Monday. I packed everything in a duffle bag and backpack, which looked like a lot but I swear I tried to pack light. We drove 7 hours, and only stopped twice, and got to the city in the early afternoon. ACA had organized a tour for us to see The Veiled Christ, an incredible marble statue in the Sansevero Chapel Museum. The whole chapel was absolutely incredible, and sadly weren't allowed to take pictures. There were at least 13 other impressive marble statues depicting different virtues. The vaulted ceiling also had a massive mural of angels all pointing toward the Holy Spirit, depicted as a dove with a triangle crown. If you ever get the chance to visit Napoli, go see this chapel. It was breathtaking. 

After our tour of the chapel, we were given free time in Naples for part of the afternoon. I went and got an authentic Margherita pizza and it was huge and delicious. Then we met back with the group and got back on the bus to continue to Sorrento. 

For the rest of the trip, we spent the night in a little motel-ish place in Sorrento called Villagio Verde. The ACA trip has been staying there since 2011, and students get into small groups before the trip and each gets to stay in a little bungalow with a bathroom and, for us, a small kitchenette. I roomed with Natalie and Fabi, and it was actually very nice. We had dinner at the hotel and I just stayed in for the night. 

Tuesday: Pasta! and Sorrento

We left Tuesday morning to go to Gragano, a small town about 35 minutes from Sorrento, the pasta capital of the world. We had one objective here: go to the Pasta Factory. We visited Pastificio Ducato D'Amalfi, a really fancy artisanal pasta factory and pasta experience. This company is special because it is protected by the Italian government to make their own unique type of pasta. No one else in the world can make pasta like them. They use local mountain water that's unique to the region, special organic Italian flour, and their own processes. Basically, it is fancy pasta and we got to watch it be made. We also got to go into a VR experience that taught us a little bit about the history of pasta making in that region. They used to dry pasta out on the streets until the 1900's. It was very interesting to hear about the history of the region and learn about something that I knew nothing about. 

After the little tour and watching the pasta be made, we got to have a taste-testing experience. We watched fresh mozzarella be made by a professional cheese maker who also works at the factory, and then went and sat in a fancy dining room where they served us three types of pasta. The first one was some big noodles in a red sauce and it was some of the best pasta I have ever had. The sauce was incredible, and I wish I could have bought some to bring home, but there was no good way to get it there. The second dish was round noodles with a creamy zucchini sauce on it. It was pretty good. The third dish was a bunch of random noodles with a cheese sauce. The cool thing about this dish was that all the noodles had to be specially created so they would all cook at the same temperature and for the same amount of time. It was really fun to try the different dishes of fancy pasta. 

That afternoon we got back to Sorrento and got to spend some time in the city. Some of my friends wanted to go swimming, but most of the beaches required some payment to swim on them. I hung out with my friend Nevaeh and we walked the streets for a little bit, met up with the group again, and got gelato (I got freshly squeezed orange juice which was really good). You learn very quickly that Sorrento is decently touristy. They have a lot of shops for souvenirs, especially limoncello. Citrus and limoncello are a specialty in the Amalfi Coast region. In the evening, I went back to the hotel and spent the night talking about Fall Break with Nevaeh because we're planning on traveling together. I was glad to rest after a long day.

Wednesday: Capri and Pizza

Wednesday was another big trip for the week, filled with lots of walking. We took a boat in the morning from Sorrento to Capri, an island in the area. We got there and immediately walked to another boat, reserved for us, that gave us a tour of the island. This experience alone solidified that I would be happy if I lived around the Mediterranean. I am a Mediterranean girly :) 

The boat ride was absolutely beautiful. We got to see the different grottos that were around the exterior of the island. We saw stalagmites from the top of a cave. We saw the famous rock formations and boated under the famous arch. We listened to classic Italian songs like Bella Ciao and some more recent, like Cruel Summer and ABBA. We also took A TON of pictures. I think this excursion was the highlight of my trip. 

Once we got back from the boat ride, we were given free rein of the island to go wherever we wanted. I explored with some of my friends (Anna, Sarah, Breanna, Hannah, and Ainsley). The side of Capri we were on has two parts. One part is down by the water where the port is, and the other you have to access by a cable car. It's up the mountain. We explored a part of the upper town and then found a restaurant to eat., Afterward we got a classic Capri sweet treat, a lemon sorbet that's served inside a lemon. It was really good, not too tart or too sweet. We walked the shopping streets a little bit more, and just like in Florence, there were a lot of high-end stores. It made me wish I had an unlimited budget. Go figure. It was getting a bit late, so we headed down the mountain again to meet with the group. We got our tickets to go back, and had some time to kill so I stopped at a coffee shop and got an overpriced coffee and little tart to tie me over until supper. We got back on the boat around 5:30 and got back to Sorrento around 6:30. Then we walked to the bus and headed to one last event. 

For supper, we got to go to a pizza-making experience. Everyone was given the basic ingredients to make pizza dough, and the instructor Luigi (yes his name was Luigi! I grinned when he said it.) We made the dough, but then we went inside and ate the pizza that they prepared for us because pizza dough is supposed to rise for 24 hours (if you're doing it correctly) and we didn't have time for that. Plus, we were hungry. The pizza was really good, and I loved the crust. We also got this delicious Nutella-filled bread with powdered sugar for dessert that I loved. It needed a pretty good day.

Thursday: Positano and Amalfi (almost) 

On Thursday we were supposed to go to Positano and Amalfi. However, we got the news in the morning that because of the winds that day, the boats were canceled. So Antoinette gave us the option to try to get to one of the towns by bus (which could be difficult because everyone who was going to take the boat would most likely try to take the buses now and the buses were really small because of the roads, OR stay in Sorrento. Since we had been traveling for the last few days (and also I had had a cold the entire time), I decided to spend the day in Sorrento. I know some people were disappointed and most of them chose to go, but I was really grateful to have a rest day. So I spend the morning laying on my bed doing nothing. 

In the afternoon, my friends told me they were going to go to a blue cove to swim in the afternoon. First, we went to a restaurant that was good but took FOREVER. I got a kebab with falafel and it was really good, especially once I added the tzatziki sauce. Then we started walking to the cove. Oh, I forgot to mention that the cove was a 30-minute walk AFTER the 20 minutes to the restaurant. Yes, it was basically an hour away by walking. And since Sorrento, just like every other town, is on a hill/cliff, there were a lot of steps to get down to sea level once we got there. 

I would have loved to get there an hour or two earlier to enjoy the sunshine and heat while we swam, but that wasn't the case. I did get in and I did get to swim and I'm glad I did that. It was kinda fun because the water was so blue and a lot of my friends were swimming too. There was some learning experience when I started swimming in the ocean, mainly timing when you get out of the water so you don't get slammed into the pointy rocks. I'm being dramatic. I only got a little scratch on my elbow, but I bruised my dignity when I had to hold onto the sharp rocks like a frog to take a little break from swimming. My friends said I looked cute, but I knew I felt and looked ridiculous. 

After a couple hours (maybe? Idk how much time passed actually) I was ready to head back. Some of my friends had left a little earlier and they were able to catch a bus. So I also got on a bus with two friends Minah and Olivia, and rode the 12ish minutes back to our stop. I had never ridden a bus in Europe before. This one was sketchy. There were no seats in the back row, but seat rests (like the back part). The driver was yelling at people and stopping pretty abruptly, and there was a couple kissing right in front of us. That was awkward. Through it all, I'm still grateful I didn't have to walk back. 

That night I stayed in (Again. Go figure) and packed up. We were leaving early in the morning the next day (not as early as some of the other days though), and I wanted to be prepared. I also just watch TV cause why not. 

Friday: Pompeii and back!

Friday, we left in the morning for Pompeii and then back to Villa. This was also one of my favorite stops. We only stopped to see the ruins, not to explore the modern town of Pompeii. We got into the ruins and were basically told "Explore and meet us on the side in a couple hours". I walked around with my friend Emily, and later my friend Chad, and just got to see everything. It was crazy to walk around. I'm still processing, honestly. It was amazing to see the buildings, tables, and roads that used to be just part of a regular person's life. And then they are still standing to this day! We got to walk around bathhouses and regular houses and see storefronts and statues and busts of people from the past. We also saw plaster casts of people who died during the explosion, all lying face down, arms and legs outstretched like they had fallen. It is hard to think about the fact that each one of those people had lives and families and one day it was all destroyed and was never the same. 

Other than the fact that the whole town underwent a whole travesty that got it to the place that it is today, Pompeii was really beautiful. There was a big amphitheater and a pretty garden area on the edge of the town that I loved. I also took a lot of pictures here too. It felt nice just to walk around and think for a little bit. 

We exited the ruins and then got some lunch. Then the bus came and picked us up and we headed back to Villa. I am not sure how long we were in the car. Probably 5 hours, and we stopped twice to eat and take a break. But we finally got back and I was really glad to be home. I like traveling and I'm glad I got to go and see everything. It was just a lot, and I'm happy to be home and get back into my normal routine. 

Fun Little Details

- We almost left 2 people when we left for the trip. The bus had pulled away and we saw them running down the hill. Thankfully the bus stopped and they were able to come with us, but it was close. 

- When we headed back, we were on our way and the adults were doing roll call and we realized we left ANOTHER person. That time we were in traffic and we had to wait for him for like 3 minutes. I could see the panic on the admin people's faces, but thankfully he made it. 

- It was raining in the first part of our time in Napoli, cloudy in the afternoon when we were at Capri, and raining a good amount when we got back to Villa. I do not like the rain very much, nor do I have the shoes for it. But that's beside the point. Most of the other days were sunny and beautiful. 

- I have found that one of the best little gas station snacks here is Nutella Biscuits. They are like cookies that have a layer of Nutella and then part of the cookie on top of it. It's hard to explain, but look it up. They are delicious, and I will miss them when I get back to the US.

-There were quite a few random cats at just about every place that we went. I love seeing cats in the wild, and most of them have been friendly so far. It makes me miss my cat. 

- I got to drink out of a fountain in Pompeii. It was clean, don't worry, and it was actually very fun, even if I looked a little ridiculous while doing it. 

Anyway, that's all about my trip to the Amalfi Coast. I had a great time, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Now I'm going to go do homework that I've been procrastinating. 

Ciao,

            Ellie

Link to the Chapel: https://www.museosansevero.it/en