Two weekends ago I traveled to Sorrento, Pompeii and Capri. It was the most rigorous trip I have been on during my semester abroad in Italy. The first day there we arrived in Pompeii and immediately went to explore the ruins. The city was so much more intact that I thought it was going to be. It was amazing you could go inside what used to be churches and grand halls of a city that was on the brink of becoming the next Roman empire when Mt. Vesuvius destroyed it all. Mt Vesuvius is still an active volcano and is overdue for an eruption and yet people, including myself, still feel the need to hike to the top and look down into the crater (which might I add was literally smoking when I first set eyes upon it). This hike is a good 1600 meters above sea level and gets your heart going. It was a great day to be out in nature for a hike though it was harder than I first thought. That night we wondered around Sorrento for a bit and went to bed early to prepare for a another full day of exercise and activity.
So when you imagine the island of Capri, yes you see pretty blue water and lovely mediterranean cafes on hillsides but after my trip to Capri the word conjures up a whole new vision. The crystal clear, aquamarine colored water is still there but it is somewhat negated by the inordinate amount of hiking I did to get to the top of the island to get the best view. There is an old villa at the top of a cliffside on the island of Capri called Villa Jovis. It used to be a grand palace where the king Tiberius (who was kind of just a figure-head of sorts) used to live his lavish life and take in these beautiful views. On all accounts the effort it takes to get to this place is A LOT but the even more treacherous hike came later. You feel like you could walk for days and days and still not reach your destination on this island, despite that fact that it is only 4 miles long and 2 miles wide. The winding roads and curving off-road paths made for the most exercise I had done since arriving in Italy. After all this huffing and puffing we did come upon some of the most amazing views a human could possibly ask for. This trip was one filled with follies and falls but in the end we had a lovely mixture between The Little Mermaid, Joe vs the Volcano, and Animal Planet.
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| Resting on the top of Mt. Vesuvius |
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| The end of the hike up the volcano |
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| Signs like these lead us through the streets of Capri all the way up the cliffs |
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Beautiful aqua waters that lead to the famous
Capri grottos |
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| One of the treacherous paths i took to the cliffside |
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After hiking for a while we found a cool look out point on the cliffs
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View from the top of the cliff
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