This morning I left Rome on a 9.45am for a 2 hour train trip to Naples. There I had to tackle the train station to find a ticket for the next train to Sorrento. After lining up for a while in the ticket line, I was told I was in the wrong place, and luckily another girl had just been told the same thing so I ended up following her and her new husband to the correct ticket office. The couple had just married on the weekend and were on their honeymoon. When the wife was purchasing their tickets, the husband told me, through gritted teeth, that he had told his wife to pack lightly. He was carrying 4 big suitcases and having a hard time battling to carry them through the station and onto crowded trains. Poor guy. She didn't seem to have a worry in the world.
The train took around an hour to Sorrento but it was a quick ride as I stood in what seemed to be the travellers section of the train, with 3 American couples. Once in Sorrento, I had to take a 40 min bus ride to Positano. Whilst buying my bus ticket, I heard the broadest Aussie accent behind me, it turned out to be a guy from Perth and his wife. About the sixth person from Perth ive met in Italy which is unusual as its usual Sydney siders or Melournites I meet.
I had been warned by a couple of people that the bus ride to Positano would be a sickening one because of the winding hills and steep narrow roads. I had no idea how sickening it would be, and I had started off holding the hand grip on the seat in front of me while using my second hand to balance my luggage. I ended up gripping the seat tight with both hands, and by the end of the trip my knuckles were white. If you can imagine a huge crowded tourist bus, hurtling down a road with oncoming traffic of vespas, trucks and cars taking up three quarters of the road, whilst turning a sharp corner that is on a cliff face and drops hundreds of metres into the open sea and other tourists gasping with fright behind you, this was my hell.
It soon ended when we reached Positano, and I truely believe i've found heaven without dying. Positano is villas spattered all over a massive cliff face that is situated directly over the Mediterranean sea. My hostel is high upon the cliff with a gorgeous terrace that we sat at for dinner and beers, overlooking the Med. As I got off the hair raising bus, I met a Aussie girl Karen who is travelling solo and staying at the same hostel, so I think we have adopted each other for the next few days.
We checked in to one of the best hostels i've stayed at with a 27 year old Italian owner, Chrissiana, who is truely Italian and loves to talk. The hostel has marble floors and stairs that lead up to the rooms, with the terrace out the front overlooking the sea. After checking in we walked down to the centre of town, which was an experience in itself. There is only one road in Positano that seems to be on a 90degree angle. We took the stairs down through the villas, which is faster than following the road down, and ambled through shops, past the most delicious patisserie that displayed the most delicious looking Italian desserts, past restaurants and down to the ocean. We forgot our bathers and didnt swim, but wont forget them next time. We found the most refreshing homemade lemon sorbet in a cup, sold by an old guy on the street, the best drink for a stifling hot Italian day.
Then there was the walk back up the hill. My goodness! It took around half an hour to walk back up the stairs, and I was the colour of a beetroot and in a lot of pain once we made it to the top. I will do one walk up and down per day to work off at least a little of the food I haven't been able to stop eating in the last month, but will take the bus if there are any more trips in the day.
Chrissiana made us a typical Italian dish for dinner which was a divine shrimp risotto. By this time Karen the Aussie, and I, had met another Aussie Kathleen, an English guy Andy, and an older Aussie couple John and Margaret. We all ate risotto together on the terrace then walked around the corner for dessert of gelato with the locals.
I had booked to stay Friday night here as well and was then planning to go back to Naples to meet Ruth and Rebel but im pretty sure I will just spend the rest of my time in Positano, until I have to go back to Rome to start my trek back to Oz.
This is heaven!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Italy - Thursday 24 May
Heading south today, via train. About a 4 hour train ride to Positano staying at www.brikette.com
More soon.
More soon.
Rome - Wednesday 23 May
Today I toured some of Roma with the two Aussie girls I met the previous night, Ruth and Rebel. Our hostel was a 5 minute walk to the Colosseum so we started with a tour of that. It was surrounded by tourists and Italians dressed up as Gladiators, trying to get tourists to pay for a photo with them. Its summer here and the temperature has been around 30c each day, glorious!
The Colosseum
Stands as the enduring symbol of the Eternal City, a hollowed out ghost of travertine marbel that once held as many as between 40,000 and 70,000 crazed spectators and now dwarfs every other ruin in Rome. Within 100 days of its AD 80 opening, some 5000 wild beasts perished in the bloody arena, and the slaughter went on for 3 more centuries. The wooden floor underneath the sand once covered a labyrinth of brick cells, ramps, and elevators used to tranport animals from cages to arena level. They used to make some people fight in the arena without weapons if they were due punishment. Spectators were seated according to social status, the most important including senators and aristocrats were seated at the ground level and the plebs at the highest level. The Colosseum was open to the public with free entry, and there was a fight with each festival or party. There were about 170 of these each year, so obviously the Colosseum got a lot of use.
The Palatine Hill
We took a tour of the hill which was so relaxing, and we could see some of the best panoramic views of Rome from there. The Palatine was where the first walls of Rome were built and was the most fashionable residential quarter where aristocrats and statesmen, including Marc Antony, built there homes. Emperors capitalised on the hills prestige and built gargantuan quarters. By the end of the first century, the imperial residence covered the entire hill, whose Latin name, Palatine, became synonymous with the palace. Much of it is now in ruins. There is a fresh water supply running through the hill, and we filled our water bottles with freezing cold fresh water. Also lovely orange trees everywhere.
Next stop was to buy the most delicious gelato which was so big it took at least 20 minutes to finish. We also got away from the touristy areas and found a traditional Italian restaurant for lunch of veal cutlet and spinach with olive oil and fresh lemon. Yum!
Trevi Fountain
Legend has it that a traveler who throws a coin into the fountain is ensured a speedy return to Italy, one who tosses two will fall in love in Rome, and three coins you will marry that person you fall in love with. I wont tell you how many I threw in!
We shopped like tourists, then stopped at a traditional delicattesan on the way home to purchase the most delicious olives, cheeses, cured sausage, limoncello and Italian beer. Later we were invited to a pub crawl but soon left as the others were a lot younger. We found a crowded pub to watch the football game, then I left for much needed sleep after having only 5 hours the previous night due to so much noise outside the hostel window, and I expect the excitement of being in Rome.
The Colosseum
Stands as the enduring symbol of the Eternal City, a hollowed out ghost of travertine marbel that once held as many as between 40,000 and 70,000 crazed spectators and now dwarfs every other ruin in Rome. Within 100 days of its AD 80 opening, some 5000 wild beasts perished in the bloody arena, and the slaughter went on for 3 more centuries. The wooden floor underneath the sand once covered a labyrinth of brick cells, ramps, and elevators used to tranport animals from cages to arena level. They used to make some people fight in the arena without weapons if they were due punishment. Spectators were seated according to social status, the most important including senators and aristocrats were seated at the ground level and the plebs at the highest level. The Colosseum was open to the public with free entry, and there was a fight with each festival or party. There were about 170 of these each year, so obviously the Colosseum got a lot of use.
The Palatine Hill
We took a tour of the hill which was so relaxing, and we could see some of the best panoramic views of Rome from there. The Palatine was where the first walls of Rome were built and was the most fashionable residential quarter where aristocrats and statesmen, including Marc Antony, built there homes. Emperors capitalised on the hills prestige and built gargantuan quarters. By the end of the first century, the imperial residence covered the entire hill, whose Latin name, Palatine, became synonymous with the palace. Much of it is now in ruins. There is a fresh water supply running through the hill, and we filled our water bottles with freezing cold fresh water. Also lovely orange trees everywhere.
Next stop was to buy the most delicious gelato which was so big it took at least 20 minutes to finish. We also got away from the touristy areas and found a traditional Italian restaurant for lunch of veal cutlet and spinach with olive oil and fresh lemon. Yum!
Trevi Fountain
Legend has it that a traveler who throws a coin into the fountain is ensured a speedy return to Italy, one who tosses two will fall in love in Rome, and three coins you will marry that person you fall in love with. I wont tell you how many I threw in!
We shopped like tourists, then stopped at a traditional delicattesan on the way home to purchase the most delicious olives, cheeses, cured sausage, limoncello and Italian beer. Later we were invited to a pub crawl but soon left as the others were a lot younger. We found a crowded pub to watch the football game, then I left for much needed sleep after having only 5 hours the previous night due to so much noise outside the hostel window, and I expect the excitement of being in Rome.
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