Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Italy: Day IIX (Positano, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Florence)

Tuesday, July 26th:

The Beach at Positano:


            We woke up this morning to one of the most beautiful seaside places I have ever seen. Positano really is just that gorgeous. All the eye can see is cliffs, beautiful blue ocean, and colorful houses built into the hillside. Max and I had breakfast at the hotel before venturing down towards the beach at the bottom of Positano. All of the roads, save for the one main winding one-way road, are not actually roads but tiny, steep staircases. We made our way slowly down to the beach, and explored the shops in the area. We also stepped inside the one main, colorful church in Positano called Santa Maria Assunta.

Positano and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta:


We hung out at the beach for a little bit before deciding to hike up the stairs (quite the workout, seriously) back to our mopeds to cruise the Amalfi Coast road. The road winds along dramatic cliffs for twenty miles from Sorrento to Amalfi and Ravello. We had an afternoon train to catch all the way back in Napoli, but we spent the rest of the morning and midday cruising along the road through tunnels and around the massive and scary buses. Each tiny city looked like a little rainbow gem stuck into the coastal cliffs! We got a pretty good handle of the mopeds too which allowed us to fly around the tight corners going much faster than cars are able to. We got almost to Amalfi before turning around and heading back to Sorrento. In Sorrento we returned the mopeds, gathered our stuff from the hostel, and headed back on the Circumvesuviana train to Napoli where we ate some pizza for lunch and waited for our train to Florence!

Positano, the Amalfi Coast, and the San Gennaro Church in Praiano:


We arrived in Florence pretty late at night, but checked into our hostel called the Luna Rossa, and headed to dinner. We were recommended to go to Il Contadino by our hostel host, and it was definitely not a let-down! I ate Fettuccine Bolognese with Mushrooms and Black Olives with a salad and some Roasted Rabbit. We also drank some local red wine and finished our meals off with a cappuccino (I am really getting used to this). After dinner we wandered around the center of the city, the massive Duomo cathedral, before meeting up with Max’s friend Pat and his friends from their study abroad program. We got drinks with them before heading to a club called Astor and partying through the night. We also hit a couple other nameless techno clubs in Florence through the night (I think one of them was called Twice?), and headed to bed in the wee hours of the night. The club scene in Florence is very interesting because it is very American (see Jersey Shore…), but it was a welcome night after interacting with lots of foreigners. Tomorrow we will start our sightseeing!

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