September 15, 2010: A lot of pointing at jellyfish

We keep hinting that we're going to climb up a volcano to see lava explosions, and you're going to have to wait yet another day for those pictures. The tour group was full this morning, so we made plans to visit the Stromboli volcano tomorrow, and went to the island of Salina instead.

Salina is the only aeolian island with fresh water springs, so it is a little greener than the other islands. It is an island famous for growing capers and grapes for the local sweet Malvasia wine and gets its name from the saltworks located there. We took a hydrofoil over to the island and walked around the port town of Santa Marina Salina to get some snacks for the day. There are very few people around and a lot of good photos to take. Since there isn't much else to do in town, we took a bus to the opposite side of the island.

We went to a town called Pollara (aka, 10 houses), where there is a beach that was used as the setting for much of the film, "Il Postino". We had to hike down several steps off of the main road and all of a sudden we were at the bottom of a shear cliff where there was a swimming area. It was reminiscent of Capri, but...those damn jellyfish! There were so many jellyfish you couldn't even count them. During the day there were several people who visited the beach and we all spent the day pointing out the jellyfish. A few brave (or stupid) people went for a swim, and after three hours I had to at least go in and dunk my head. It was beautiful and relaxing from the shore, but would have been 100 times better if we could have actually enjoyed the water.

We walked back to the bus stop and took the bus to the south end of the island, to another town called Lingua, where the saltworks are located. The views of Lipari were great and we could see the road we walked down yesterday. The landscape of the roads on Salina were also amazing to see - it looked like they just sawed through huge walls of sandstone to create the space for the roads. We decided to walk back to Santa Marina Salina to get a better view of the landscape, and then took a boat back to Lipari for dinner.

Another huge portion of gelato for dessert and back home to prepare for our three-hour volcano climb tomorrow!

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Cioccolato e Pistacchio (I think you know what these are by now...)

Aviva - Tiramisu e Caffe di Nonno (tiramisu and coffee)

Also: In response to some of the comments on the blog:

1. I am very impressed with how closely people are looking at our photos. I can't believe two of you noticed the Coco Pops!

2. Fruit Vendors: I also thought that you weren't supposed to touch the fruit/veggies here. However, I am pretty sure that I've seen other people doing it, and yesterday I specifically asked the guy if I could take my own fruit, and he said yes. I think my new strategy might be that I have Mike be my decoy - I'll have him start picking out some fruit at the same time I do in order to distract the vendor so I can shop in peace.

3. I have to say that as soon as I complained that people weren't talking to me in Italian, people here started talking to me in Italian. Especially since we've been in Sicily, pretty much everyone speaks only in Italian. I find that it is getting easier to understand what people are saying to me, but I still have to think about what I am saying. The hardest part: understanding numbers. You'd think it would be pretty simple, but when people tell me how much things cost or when a bus is going to come, I probably look like a deer in headlights. I had to try some bargaining today and it was interesting...

To see more pictures of our day in Salina, click here.

September 14, 2010: Another "Lazy" Day

There were forecasts for rain for this afternoon so we played it safe and stayed on the island of Lipari rather than visiting another island and risk getting stuck if the boats stopped running.

We took a local bus around the island past the city of Quattrocchi where there are great views of the neighboring island of Vulcano, and got off at the last stop in Quattropani (where there was a view of another island, Salina). From there, we took a 5k walk to the next town of Acquacalda. The landscape was very varied, but there was no hiking trail. Therefore, we had to walk on the main road which took away from the experience a bit.

It was pretty clear why we were the only tourists in Acquacalda, since there is not much there. I am surprised it actually is listed on the map as a "major" town. It was so "major" that we couldn't even find the bus stop back to Lipari - or anyone to ask where it was. So, we had to walk another 6k back to Canneto, the town where we spent the day yesterday. The second half of our hike was actually more interesting - better views of the water and we practically walked through a pumice quarry.

Not having planned to hike this far, we stopped at the Spiaggia Bianca before reaching Canneto because we were starving. We had lunch at a very tropical beach area and relaxed in the sun some more. We've been finding a lot of sea glass at every beach we've been to on this trip, and we added significantly to our collection this afternoon. Shortly thereafter we were back on the road toward Lipari. Luckily, a bus drove by and we were able to save our feet what would have been another 3k on top of what we'd already done earlier.

Back in town, we walked up to the citadel - the upper part of Lipari that has fortified walls surrounding it (protection from attacks). There was a pretty interesting archeological museum (we were the only people there), two cathedrals and a cloister, and an amphitheater. The best part was that we were able to walk on the city walls to get great views of the city. After checking out that area, we stopped at a local fruit/vegetable stand to get some things for dinner. We prepared some pasta, vegetables, and a salad for dinner and we had our first home-cooked meal in weeks. Out for dessert, and back home for the night!

Tomorrow, we plan to head to Stromboli where we'll be able to see lava spewing from the top of the volcano at night. Should be pretty cool!

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Vaniglia e Pistacchio (vanilla and pistacchio)

Aviva = Another day off (I was too thirsty for gelato...Mike sees this as a sign of weakness)

PS: Does anyone know why the vendors at fruit/vegetable stands totally invade your personal space while you're shopping? The guy at the store today hovered over us so closely while we were shopping today that he was practically in my shoes! I can't figure out if they think they are being helpful or if they just don't trust tourists. As far as I'm concerned, it ruins my shopping experience.

For more pictures of our day, click here.

September 13, 2010: Beautiful Water - at a cost...

We left Milazzo early this morning and caught a hydrofoil to the largest aeolian island - Lipari. The ride was pretty fun - views of the islands as we approached them, and a sneak peak at Vulcano where we will spend some of our time this week. Once we landed in Lipari, we had to navigate and find our "home" for the week. Luckily it was early enough to beat the heat because carrying around our backpacks is not fun once the sun starts beating down.

Our new home is like a palace - especially compared to the small quarters we've had for the last two weeks. We have a full kitchen, dining area, couch/living area, 1.5 baths, a master bedroom, and a rooftop terrace. And most importantly, we're down a quiet alley (in Sorrento we had a window facing the busiest street in town where people drove their motorinos all night long).

We got settled in quickly, put on bathing suits and left to find some beaches. We walked down the main street of Lipari - similar to Sorrento - many shops, places to eat, tourists - but on a much less intense scale. Tourist season is starting to die down here, so things are a little quieter. We followed the main street past the town for about three miles and found ourselves at Spiaggia Bianca - White Beach. It was very secluded (no car access) and is known as a white beach for all the pumice rocks used to make up the "beach" area. There is a lot more than just pumice these days (obsidian, sulfur, and other things I can't name by sight), but there was no sand. The rocks and pebbles were surprisingly comfortable to lay on.

The water, as usual, was incredible. However, today it came at a cost. I got stung by my first jellyfish - its funny that even though I've never been stung before, I knew immediately what it was. After that we were a lot more hesitant about just diving in and we would do underwater checks with our goggles (luckily the water is so clear you can really do a good check). We relaxed for a bit and then walked back towards Lipari but stopping in the town of Canneto first for some lunch, gelato, and some more time on the beaches. We got a chance to see some pretty big fish and some schools of fish before more jellyfish scared us out of the water.

Then, back to Lipari to go to the supermarket and buy some thing to cook at "home". We went out for dinner, had some granite and went back to the ranch to plan out the rest of our time here.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Stracciatella e Cioccolato (chocolate chips and chocolate), and a strawberry granite

Aviva - Limone (lemon), and a peach granite

To see pictures of our first day in Lipari, click here.

September 12, 2010: Sorrento to Sicily

We left Sorrento early this morning for a nearly all-day journey to Sicily. There was a 70 minute subway ride to Napoli, and then a seven-hour train ride to Sicilia. The train ride was great - we hugged to coast for most of the way so we were able to see the never-ending series of beaches. To get to Sicilia, the train got onto a boat, we sailed a short distance from the mainland to the island, and then continued the train ride.

We arrived later in the afternoon in the town of Milazzo - we're just staying here overnight so we can catch an early ferry to Lipari - the main Aeolian Island, where we will have a home base for a few days. There isn't much to do in Milazzo, so we got some snacks for dinner and ate along the tree-lined waterfront. More storm clouds were in the distance so we grabbed some gelato and head back to the hotel.

While there isn't much to do in Milazzo, we are impressed with one thing - the gelato costs half of what it did in Sorrento, and the servings are bigger!

If the weather holds out, we expect to have some pretty amazing pictures from the islands, so stay posted.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Cioccolato e pistacchio (chocolate and pistachio)

Aviva - Gianduia e pistacchio (a hazelnutty chocolate and pistachio)

To see more pictures of our trip and stay in Milazzo, click here.

September 11, 2010: Wrapping it up in Sorrento

Since we are leaving for our next destination tomorrow, we spent much of the day running errands. It sort of made us feel like locals but it doesn't make for much of a blog...so this will be a short one.

We started the day at the laundromat - a much needed trip after all the hiking on hot days and walking on rainy days. Back to the hotel to start packing. Then we bought some small souvenirs and prepared a package to send home, but we were 15 minutes too late to get into the post office before it closed. Grabbed a quick lunch and some tasty pastries, and then relaxed a bit in the public park and played some cards. It was a relief to get away from all the tourists on the main drag - seems that everyone was out today after being stuck inside with all the rain.

Did some shopping at the supermarket to pick up some snacks for the 7 hour train ride tomorrow to Sicily and then spent some time down at one of the ports to enjoy the sun and water before dinner. Had our last gelato in Sorrento and then went back to the hotel to finish packing up.

If you've read this far, I've saved the only "exciting" thing for last: during some budget checks this afternoon we found out that someone got my credit card information and did some nice shopping at Walmart and at some gas stations in the Central Valley and Los Angeles. So we had to deal with that whole mess - but I'm more curious than irritated (assuming I won't have to pay those charges): how exactly did someone get my information and more importantly - how does someone use a stolen credit card number (without the card itself) to buy gas?

Well, that aside, the trip so far has been great and we look forward to getting some sunny days to enjoy the Aeolian Islands over the next several days. Also, Mike wanted to point out where we stayed in Sorrento:

Gelati Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Ringo e Mandorla Tostada (oreo and toasted almond)

Aviva - Profumi di Sorrento e Cioccolato Fondente (citrus mixture and dark chocolate)

To see our last couple pictures in Sorrento, click here.

September 10, 2010: Relying on Public Transit

Today was a little ridiculous. I'll describe it in a format a little differently from the previous posts...

5:30 AM: Wake up to catch early bus to Amalfi.

6:30 AM: Get on bus to Amalfi, Surprisingly, there are no crowds this early in the morning.

8:45 AM: Arrive in Amalfi. Turns out that many school children who live on the coast take this bus to Amalfi where they wait for another bus to take them to school.

9:00 AM: Get on bus to Salerno, and this is when we caught a glimpse of how serious the storms were yesterday. A beach near Amalfi was a disaster zone - literally. There were at least 10 cars on the beach that looked like they had been in fatal accidents (they had just been parked near the beach and the rough waters threw them around - they were totaled). Several of the cars were buried under the sand (up to their roofs), and one was even out in the water. Half of the beach was gone compared to yesterday...

10:30 AM: Arrive in Salerno. Go to the train station to catch a train to Paestum, but find out that there is a strike and none of the trains are running (luckily, I had learned the word for "strike" in Italian...the train station agent didn't speak English). Find out that there is a bus to get us to Paestrum.

11:00 AM: Get on bus to Paestum. Driving through Salerno was not much different than what we saw in Napoli. But, we did see our first McDonalds, our first Chinese/Japanese restaurant, and a traveling zoo - two camels, a tiger, and a trailer for giraffes.

12:30 PM: Arrive in Paestum (pronounced Paystoom), our destination. We saw some more ominous clouds in the distance so grabbed some lunch to avoid the storm.

1:15 PM: Finally, we entered the Paestum ruins. These are Greek and Roman ruins - the Greeks lived here as early as 600 BC, and the Romans were here in 300 BC. After the Romans, malaria infected mosquitoes took over - and the area was basically deserted for over 1,000 years. Then, in the 18th century, it was rediscovered and is now one of the best collections of Greek temples. Luckily for us, the Romans were pretty superstitious people - whenever they conquered an area, they left any religious and spiritual buildings untouched. We were able to see three Greek temples and a memorial tomb. Around these items, the Romans built their typical city - very similar to Pompeii. There was the forum, amphitheater, residential areas, but the new item we saw was a very large swimming pool. All in all, it was quite an impressive site, and only one fifth has been excavated. Of course, the most exciting part was the torrential downpour that took place just after we started our visit to the site. We ran for cover under a tree (not many things that provide cover in an excavation site), and when it really started to pour we waited it out with several other tourists in the women's restroom. For thirty minutes.

4:00 PM: Got on the bus back to Salerno.

5:15 PM: We wanted to avoid going back to Amalfi and suffering through the bus-madness that we have endured the last two days, so we took a different bus to Pompeii, where we could catch the train back to Sorrento.

6:00 PM: Got on bus to Pompeii. Asked the driver to tell us where the closest stop was to where we wanted to go.

7:20 PM: Bus driver pulls over and turns off the bus. Everyone is talking, we have no idea what is going on. Another bus drives by - everyone (except us) runs off the bus onto the other one. The driver is on the phone so we can't talk to him. Finally, he gets off the phone and I asked him, "What about us?". Turns out - the bus just broke down, and he had forgotten about us. I asked if we were close enough to walk to the train station - he said we were - it was only 4 km away - straight down the street. Simple enough, eh? Well, "straight" isn't really "straight" in Italian, turns out. The road had forks in it all over the place, but after asking 10 people, block after block, we finally made it to "a" train station. Not the one we wanted, but it worked.

8:00 PM: Got on train. Transferred a few stops later to the train we needed to get back to Sorrento.

9:00 PM: Finally - back in Sorrento. For doing a lot of sitting around it was an exhausting day!

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Twix e Coccialo (Twix and various chocolates)

Aviva - Cannella e Menthe (cinnamon and mint)

To see more pictures of the ruins, click here.

September 9, 2010: Reveling in Ravello

While we were asleep last night, the heavens opened up. The sound of thunder and lightening was so intense we both woke up - the echo of the sound of thunder on all the cliffs here really amplifies the sounds. Regardless, we decided to brave the rain and return to the Amalfi Coast. To avoid the crowds like we failed to do yesterday, we woke up to catch the 7 AM bus - but of course there is a bus at 6:30 AM and the next one isn't until 8:30 AM. So we experienced the first downpour of the day as we waited.

We arrived in Amalfi and started our tour by taking another bus to Ravello - a town located up in the hills. Here we saw the main piazza, cathedral, and some famous villas. Ravello is famous for being a musical town with many concerts during the year, as well a place where famous people like to live/visit. Luckily, the sun came out for a while and we were able to see the great views down to the water. Taking advantage of the good weather, we hiked back to Amalfi instead of taking the bus. The hike down was crazy - over 300 very steep steps down and through an adjacent town of Alfani. (Crazier yet was the guy running up the trail.)

Back in the center of Amalfi, we met up with Mike's friends Nick and Elisa for lunch. It was nice to see some familiar faces! We split up with them after lunch to go on another hike while they went to check out Ravello. We started on our way, and things were going well until the hiking trails stopped being clearly marked. Even though we had a map, we ended up climbing up ridiculously steep rock steps through tree-covered area only to get to the top and find that it was not a trail - it was someone's house. The last thing I wanted to do was climb down those steps...but there was only one way back. It was so humid and we got about 10 mosquito bites between the two of us during the hike that we decided to screw it and head back to civilization.

We stopped off at a paper-making museum - the paper industry has existed in Amalfi since the middle ages. Our tour book said to expect a 25 minute tour and we received about a 6 minute tour, but at least we got to see how they made paper out of cotton (which they still sell to the Vatican). On the way back to the town center, we experienced our second downpour. The rain was so heavy the streets were flooding, and we were lucky enough to find a roof to wait out the storm under.

Back in town, we experienced yet another torrential downpour - you could see the sheets of rain. It was amazing to see so much rain in such a short time (especially coming from California)! Then we got on the bus back to Sorrento, which was again, crowded beyond belief, muggy, and exhausting. Everyone was hot, sweaty, and cranky (and some were on the verge of getting car-sick). The highlight of the trip was driving over the hills and seeing all the storm clouds on the Amalfi Coast side, and clear skies on the Sorrento side. From the road we could see the lightening continue to strike the Amalfi Coast all the way home.

Oh, and here is a frog we came across:

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Pistacchio

Aviva - Mente (Mint)

To see our pictures for today, click here.

September 8, 2010: Amalfi Coast Tour

Today was the first real rainy day that we had. There isn't really too much to do inside in this area, so we decided to take the bus to Positano, a city on the Amalfi Coast.

We had a late start (for us), since we were just beat from yesterday. This meant that we had to deal with the tourist crowds for the first time. We walked over to the train station in Sorrento to catch the bus. There were about 50 people in line already, so we waited...when the first bus arrived, the people in front of us were the last ones able to get on. While this was frustrating, it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When the next bus arrived we got to sit in the very front seats on the right side of the bus - the best to get the views of the coastline.

As the bus traveled from Sorrento to Positano, we couldn't believe our eyes. Looking up at the cliffs was just as amazing as looking down at the coast and the various shades of blue water (even though it was gray and cloudy). We could only imagine what it looked like on a bright sunny day. Since we had such primo seats, we decided to stay on the bus until Amalfi - a few towns "down the road". Please understand that this tour took over 2 hours - a coach bus driving down the coast on a narrow road barely wide enough for two lanes that looks over a cliff - it takes some time...

In Amalfi, we walked around for a bit until we found a place for lunch. There, we met another American couple from DC who had just gotten married in Ireland. Turns out they have relatives in Brooklyn and they told us about the guy who wears a yellow thong speedo and tans in the new park under the Brooklyn Bridge. Something to look forward to when we're back in NY?? Anyway, after lunch, we did a quick tour of the impressive cathedral and then caught a bus back to Positano. We plan to visit Amalfi again tomorrow to meet up with some of Mike's friends from high school (also here on their honeymoon), so we'll check out more of the town then.

Back in Positano, a crazy place where people live on steep cliffs only accessible by stairs, we did a short tour - from the main road, down to the beach, and then back up through town. It really started to rain so we didn't linger - wearing non-breathable rain-gear and climbing steps is not a good combo - and we climbed back to the bus stop. For some reason, the transit agency here refuses to run enough buses during the touristy season to handle the demands. The couple next to us in line had been waiting 1.5 hours and the last 2 buses had passed them by. Luckily, when the next bus came, we were able to get on - and even get a seat. 50 people seated, another 50 standing...it was nuts. We took the bus back to our hotel, grabbed dinner, and went back to go to bed - tomorrow is going to be a long day of hiking in Amalfi.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Ferrero Rocher e Amaretto

Aviva - Methe e Cioccolato Fondente (mint and dark chocolate)

To see all of our rain day pictures, click here.

September 7, 2010: Paradise, aka, You Want to go to Here

We woke up very early today to beat the crowds and caught a boat to Capri. The island is comprised of huge limestone formations that stick up out of the water, and one of the best attractions according to our tour book is something called the Grotto Azzuro, or Blue Grotto. We started our tour of the island here first, and managed to figure out the bus system (with the help of two bus drivers and a local - who said I spoke excellent Italian (!)) so that we were the 6th in line - we were there before the tour guides.

For those who don't know what the Blue Grotto is: there is a cave 60 yards deep into the side of the island. To visit, four people at the time get into a dingy (small boat), lay down in the bottom of the boat, and a very talented boatman negotiates the boat into the three-foot opening to the cave. Once inside, the reflection from the sun through the opening off of the limestone underneath the water creates the most intense blue color you could imagine. The boatsman paddles you around for 5 minutes and then "safely" takes you out of the grotto through the same opening from which you entered. (Then he asks continuously for tips.) It was high-tide when we visited, so the entrance and exit were that much more exhilarating. Our pictures can't fully capture the experience, so we recommend you click here check out this site for a better understanding.

Next, the bus driver gave us a lift to the start of the Fortress Hike, for "serious hikers" according to our tourbook. Holy Cannoli! This hike was the best hike, hands-down, that we have ever done. It beat the pants off of the Blue Grotto, and it was free, to boot. We hiked along the coastline for about three hours for non-stop breath-taking views of the island and the crystal clear blue water. There were several off-shoots that took us down to the water's edge and we saw less than 10 other people on the trail during the entire hike. The whole time we couldn't stop staying how unreal this place was. Check out the pictures link below. It's incredible. And it was ridiculously hot and there were tons of stairs. It was hard not to want to jump off the cliffs into the water.

Finally, at the end of the hike, we arrived near one corner of the island where a lighthouse is located. Here, we found the GREATEST SWIMMING HOLE EVER. The water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom (10-15 feet deep at least), and with all the fish, it felt like you were swimming in an aquarium. There were many leathery-skinned Italians soaking in the sun and savoring this amazing place. After swimming, the greatest thing that happened was that people noticed two jellyfish (medusa) in the water. You have never seen people get out of the water so quickly. A grandma and a grandpa went into the water with buckets, caught the jellyfish, brought them to shore and saved the day. Everyone actually clapped! With the water safe again, everyone was back to swimming. It was hard to leave this place...

We took the bus back to Anacapri, one of the two towns on this island. Here, we took a chairlift (sort of like a ski lift, but just one chair at a time - a seggivia) up to the top of Mount Solaro. Here, there were more incredible views of the clear blue water and the Faraglioni Rocks, other small limestone islands. More amazing pictures were taken. Then we took the 40-minute downhill hike back to Anacapri, and caught another bus to Capri, the main town. We walked around for a bit, but both towns were just "eh" after the day we'd had. Lots of tourists and lots of shopping. Without a doubt, we had a better day than anyone there.

We caught the funicular down the mountain back to the port, took a quick dip in the water at a pebbly beach, and caught the boat back to Sorrento. Too tired to go out for dinner, we bought some cheese, olives, salami, crackers and grapes and had a mini-picnic back at the ranch.

Gelati Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Granita al Fragola (strawberry granita)

Aviva - Granita al Limone (lemon granita)

For all of our pictures of Capri, click here.

September 6, 2010: Holy Crater!

This morning we ventured to Vesuvio - the volcano responsible for all the devistation we've been learning about over the last two days. We took the train to Pompeii and had to determine which of the varius tour bus companies was going to scam us the least. Somewhat satisfied with the "deal" we got, we started the steep, windy drive up to the volcano. The bus took us up 1,000 meters, and from there we hiked the last 30 minutes to the edge of the crater.

Neither of us has ever seen into a volcano (I assume if we had gone to Hawaii we might of had that opportunity) - but wow - its quite amazing. None of the pictures we took actually captured what we saw. The edge of the crater was huge and we could look down into it, where there were rocks many feet below. Some parts were even smoldering. It was interesting to see that even as desolate as it was - sort of what I'd invision the surface of the moon to be like - there were many plants growing. Unfortunately it was somewhat cloudy so we weren't able to see the great views that we're told exist from the crater (for example, on a clear day you should be able to see the Pompeii ruins). But the clouds did add to the spooky atmosphere.

We hiked back down the volcano to catch the bus back to the city. Here is where Mike found a walking stick and goofed around a bit (see the link to pictures below for more details). We took the train back to Sorrento for lunch, and then stopped by a local organic lemon and orange grove which is located in the middle of the city. Here, they have grafted some of the trees together so that oranges and lemons grow on the same tree. They also make their own lemoncello and other liquors from oranges, blueberries, licorice and other. We had some samples and bought a small bottle of the licorice liquor.

We walked the short way back to the hotel where Mike took his first Italian afternoon nap (I've been napping on every single train-ride we've taken - as soon as the train starts moving I am out). We took a short walk up a nearby hill to watch the sunset and then had a late dinner. Its one of the few non-touristy places we found to eat, but the first to charge us for the bread they provided. 4 Euros! I am pretty sure they took advantage of the Americans - does anyone think we should have argued that charge? Of course, we can't really complain because Mike found a 10 Euro bill on the hiking path today...

Gelato Gusti per Giorno:

Mike - Frambole e Limone (raspberry and lemon)

Aviva - Took a day off.

If you want to see all photos from today, click here.

September 5, 2010: Herculaneum! Herculaneum! Herculaneum!

We took the train this morning to Herculaneum, another city that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Whereas Pompeii was destroyed by all the ash that spewed out of the volcano, Herculaneum was destroyed by the lava flow. It is mind-blowing to see how much lava covered the city - about 60 feet worth. Its also impressive to think about how archeologists were able to dig out the city from beneath all the volcanic rocks. In fact, they have only excavated one-fifth of what they believe exists underneath the current city. Some of the pictures we took depict the tunnels they are digging as part of a current excavation.

Because of how the lava flowed over the city and into the buildings, things were much better preserved. We saw many two-story buildings, nearly complete frescos on the walls, and almost perfect mosiac tile floors. There were even store-front shops where we could still see the menu options (depicted in frescos on the store walls). What was frightening to think about was that archeologists recently found over 300 skeletons near the boat storage areas. Apparently, people were trying to flee the city after the eruption. But they died instantly due to thermal shock as ambient temperatures exceeded 400 degrees Celcius. It is pretty hard to imagine this happening...

After we finished touring the excavation site, we made the walk back through the current town of Herculaneum (Ercolano). The city was more what I expected from Napoli, in a way. Run-down, depressed, garbage in the streets...it wasn't the hightlight of the day, that is for sure. We grabbed a quick lunch and took the train to another stop nearby - Castellammare di Stabia.

As we got off the train, the first thing we saw was the sign for the Funivia (funicular). We knew nothing about this town, so we took a gamble and got tickets for the funivia. Eight minutes later, we were 3,000 feet up on top of Mount Faito. There were amazing views of the towns and cities below, the coastline, Mt. Vesuvius, and not surpringly, a castle in the water (hence the name Castellammare). There were numerous hiking trails, so we took a short hike for some different views. It was one of the strangest hikes we've been on - there were cigarette butts and garbage along the trail, and people even rode by on their motorino (scooter). And we also saw some goats hanging out. Don't get me wrong - it was a beautiful hike and the rock outcroppings were amazing, but there were just a few things that caught us by surprise.

We took the funicular back to the bottom of the mountain and explored the downtown. There was a nice promenade along the coastline and a beautiful gazebo. Then we walked past a port area where there were about 20 small restaurants (chalets). They all looked identical, and none of them had a menu posted. We finally found a menu to look at and basically everything was made with seafood - clams, mussels, and octopus. We had our first seafood dinner and it was amazing - so delicious! The only challenging part was that I asked the waitress if they were open for dinner, and she responded in a way that she had never heard the word before (la cena). After she sat us, I asked her, and apparently since it was only 5:30 PM, it was still "afternoon" and therefore, lunchtime. Later in the "evening", they served la cena. I guess we just get hungry too early in the day.

After dinner we walked through the more residential part of town back to the train station. The interesting thing we saw was about 20 people at the local fountain, each with 10-20 large, empty plastic bottles. They were filling up all the bottles and then carrying them home! I asked one of the men why they didn't just use the water at their house and he said the water from the fountain was better. Seemed like a good answer to me!

Another great day!

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno (Gelato flavors of the day):

Mike - Caramella and Biscotti (Caramel and Biscotti)

Aviva - Banana and Pesca (Banana and Peach)

If you want to see all photos from today, click here

September 4, 2010: Pompeii Kicks Ash

Today we took the train to - you guessed it - Pompeii. Pompeii is a pretty amazing place - partially because of the whole volcano thing, but mostly because of the level of development that existed in this city prior to the eruption in 79 AD. Transportation-wise, all roads were paved and had curbs and sidewalks. There were pedestrian-only zones, there were stepping stones that pedestrians used as crosswalks, and all chariots were designed to have the same wheel-base so they could negotiate the stepping stones. There were ruts in the roads from all the chariot traffic and there was evidence that they "repaved" the roads when the ruts became too severe.

We thought that was impressive engineering until we visited the bath house. Here, they designed the ceiling to collect moisture from the air such that it would not drip on people walking through the rooms. They used non-slip mosaic tiles near the baths. They had heated floors. Amazing!

Other highlights included the "fast-food" restaurants on the main streets where people would buy food from the counter-top ovens, the cuts in the sidewalks where store owners could tie awnings down, and the overall sheer size of the city. One of the most amazing things we learned was that while you can see Mount Vesuvius in the distance, before the eruption it was much taller than it is today - about 25% of the volcano became ash and lava flow that covered Pompeii and Herculaneum, where we are going tomorrow.

After Pompeii we returned to Sorrento to relax - its exhausting walking in the hot sun all day. We did some more exploring around the town and had some dinner. We also went to the local supermarket to pick up a few snacks. A couple of comments about the supermarket. There are about 4 aisles of pasta, another 4 with cookies, treats, candy, and a ton of cheese. But it took us forever to find a reasonably decent snack to bring with us on our upcoming hikes. It was very surprising, and we ended up with PB&J and rice crackers. But if you needed clothes (nice brands like Express) or back to school supplies, those were easy to find...

Lastly, some of you may be wondering how the Italian is going. So far, I've been able to communicate what I want or any questions I have in Italian, but either I'm killing the language or the people here don't want to deal with it, because everyone except two people so far have responded to me in English. Its only been 4 days so I'm not totally discouraged, but it is frustrating to make the effort and get shot down.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno (Gelato flavors of the day):

Mike - Pistaccio e Ciocc. Bianco (Pistachio and White Chocolate) and Mente e Bacetti (Mint and Baci - a chocolate from Perugia) and a Barchetta which is a small pastry boat filled with frosting

Aviva - Mela Verde e Fragolina di Bosco (Green Apple and Wild Strawberry) and Melone e Kiwi (melon and kiwi)

If you want to see our pictures for the day you can click here.

September 3, 2010: The Chaos that is Napoli

This morning it was raining when we woke up, so we postponed our plans to visit Paestrum and Positano (towns along the Amalfi Coast), and took the train to Napoli instead. The train from Sorrento essentially took us right to the Museo Archeologico. Here we saw many large marble statues from the Farnese Collection, a scale model of Pompeii, and other artifacts from Pompeii. Everything was very impressive, especially the papyrus scrolls that were barely surviving. The funny thing about this museum was that nothing was humidity controlled (and there was no air conditioning), only a few items were stored in glass cases, and all the windows were wide open.

We left the museum and entered the complete chaos which is Napoli. Traffic was insane, everyone was honking their horns all over the place, there was the constant sound of sirens in the background, and people everywhere. This was true on the main roads and the narrow side streets. There are small shops along both sides of every road, and except on the main street, they are all selling ridiculous touristy things.

We then had the first best part of the day - we took a tour of the Napoli Sotterranea (underground tunnel system). Apparently, when the Greeks ran Napoli (Neapolis), they dug out stone from under the city, used the stone (tuff - volcanic rock) to build the cities, and then created an aqueduct system that ran through the tunnels that were left behind. The tunnels varied in size to create water pressure, and every house had a well that accessed a sistern near their home. When Cholera bacteria permeated into the water system, it was shut down. Then, in WWII, when Napoli was being heavily bombed, citizens moved underground (~40 meters below the surface) to survive. Not only were there tunnels, but there was also a Roman theater underground, that was built after the Greek aqueduct. The theater was only discovered in 1999 when archeologists recognized some arches in a random apartment. It seems that when the newer communities were built, they just plastered over and built walls around existing structures from the previous occupants, thus hiding things like an ENTIRE ROMAN THEATER for hundreds of years. It was an amazing experience and we got to walk through narrow tunnels less than 20 inches wide, and in some cases had to use candles to see our way. The last thing I'll say about this is that the Romans knew about building things to seismic code and basically built shear walls to protect against earthquakes by making square bricks out of the tuff and placing them on an angle to absorb vertical and horizontal forces caused by earthquakes (BUST OUT THAT P.E. STAMP!)

After the underground tour we had a much better apprecitation for Napoli and continued our tour, visting some cathedrals, gallerias, the Spanish Quarter, and other sites. The city is just so crazy, and it was hard to see how people live in a place like this - it makes Manhattan seem pretty laid back and quiet. But it was very exciting, we didn't feel threatened or in danger, and we thought at the end of the day, it was a pretty cool place - definitely worth a visit.

We ended the day, naturally, with some pizza and gelato. The Neapolitan pizza was delicious and we each ate a 14-16" pizza. Yum!

Gelati Gusti per il Giorno (Gelato flavors of the day):

Mike - Stratiacella, Mulberry, e Citrus (chocolate chip, mulberry, and a citrus combination)

Aviva - Melone, Pesche, e Anguria (melon, peach, and watermelon)

If you would like to see all the pictures from Naples, just click here.

September 2, 2010: Sorrento and the Sea

Today we woke up early to the quiet streets of Sorrento. It didn't hurt that we went to bed at 8:30 PM yesterday. We did a short walking tour of the city to see some cathedrals and learn more about the giant gorges and lively piazzas. They also love their lemons here (in drinks, pottery, gifts, etc.) Then we hiked down to the waterfront to get our first close-up of the beautiful water. After the climb back to the main road we were already sweating and it wasn't even 9:30 AM. This made it easy to decide to head to the beach.

We took a bus to a beach in Meta, frequented by many locals (quick aside: driving a bus here is absolutely crazy - steep, narrow roads with aggressive drivers) . It was gorgeous - the water was a perfect temperature, clear (you could see the bottom even at five feet deep), and we spent the day swimming and relaxing next to the adjacent cliff. We stood out compared to the locals - not because of the language, but because compared to every other person at the beach we were white as ghosts.

We headed back into town, had dinner and gelato, saw a beautiful sunset, and took a stroll through town. We purchased a small bottle of lemoncello to take back to our hotel room and relax to plan the next few days here and type up the blog.

Gelato Gusti per il giorno: (Gelato flavors of the day)

Aviva - Vaniglia e cioccolarancia (Vanilla and Orange Chocolate)

Mike - Banana e mandorla (Banana and Toasted Almond)

You can check out all photos from this day by clicking here

September 1, 2010: Ciao Sorrento!

So after about 13 hours of flying and 2 hours of train rides we finally reached Sorrento, and it is gorgeous. The beautiful surroundings are well balanced with the chaotic streets. We are absolutely spent so for us it is a quick meal, some walking around, and then finally getting some sleep. In the upcoming days we should start to get some pictures and videos posted.

September 1, 2010: Guiness, anyone?

We're here in Ireland for a short stop-over before we catch our connecting flight to Rome. (Mike would like to give a shout out to the Aer Lingus in-flight entertainment, great movie selection). It is 5 AM in Ireland and, true to form, the Irish already have a packed bar in the airport. My body has no idea what time it is, and if I should be sleeping. There are just a few more hours until we arrive in Rome and I attempt to speak to Mike only in Italian.

September 1, 2010: No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn: The End of an Era

Our trip officially begins in Oakland, California. After 11 years for me and 8 years for Mike, we packed up all of our belonings and said good-bye to our west-coast home. Our last few days consisted of very little sleep. Cleaning, packing, selling, and celebrating takes a lot of time! We're so happy to have seen nearly everyone before we left. Even though we sort of still feel like we're going to come back to California after the Italy trip is over, we know that isn't how things are going to go down. We're going to miss you all so much, you're like family to us!

Our last day in the Bay Area was a whirlwind - we drove Tunnel Road to re-live my favorite bike ride, drove over the Bay Bridge with a stop on Treasure Island, visited downtown San Francisco and the Embarcadero, went up Russian Hill and Nob Hill, drove down Geary with a stop at the Lyon Steps, then to Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, Sutro Baths, and then over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin to see the Civic Center, and back over the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. Back in the East Bay there was a stop to soak in the Bay Trail and the Berkeley Marina, a trip to downtown Berkeley to have our last Top Dogs, a drive down San Pablo to see the Albatross and the Hotsy Totsy, and finally after dropping off the car (thank you Lauren and Scott!) we had our last BART ride to meet up with Joe and Becky for Mexican food for dinner at Cactus. It was a perfect day which made it that much harder to leave.

At 9:30 PM we boarded our flight back to New York and arrived early on August 31st. We were honestly too exhausted to really do anything but nap, re-organize our bags for Italy, and shower. But since we're officially New York residents again, there was no urgency to soak in any of the city (and the humidity made it easy to want to stay inside). We were back at JFK just a few hours later to catch our flight to Italy.

September 1, 2010: Italy, here we come!

Welcome to our Italy-extravaganza blog. First and foremost, we'd like to thank our friends Scott and Sarah for the great title idea. We both expect to return to the States a little chubbier...there will be no holding back!

We'll be in Italy from September 1 to November 26. Starting in Sorrento, we'll visit Naples and the Amalfi Coast, then venture south to Sicily and Sardinia, head north to Cinque Terra, Florence and other Tuscan cities, and then spend our last month in Rome. We hope to provide updates every other day and will add some pictures that highlight our adventures, but should be posting all of our pictures to my picasa site, for those with some more time on their hands.

Enjoy the blog and feel free to comment - we're excited to "share" this trip with you! You can also reach us by email: aviva.laurenti@gmail.com and m.beattie02@gmail.com.