Bella Campania

Ahhhh, Campania, the playground of the rich and famous since (and before) recorded history. From the time of the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, and Cretans all the way to a modern playground for celebrities, the area’s incomparable beauty draws all people to this home of literary wonders. The Bay of Naples hosts such mythological places as Lake Avernus (Virgil’s entrance to Hades in book VI of the Aeneid), the buried cities of Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Pompeii, and the well-known Amalfi Coast. And we’re staying here for three days.
Caveat lector: If you like surprises, don’t read the rest of this. If you are a planner, and would like to see what’s in store for our first weekend, READ ON!
We’ll travel by hired bus from Rome to Sorrento the day we fly in. We’ll stop on the way down at a filling station (truck stop) to grab some lunch. At these great spots, there are usually three different dining options – a sandwich bar, a pizza restaurant, and a hot food/cafeterium option. Be ready to know how to order food – I’ll be jet-lagged and grumpy. Ask my husband and last year’s group. Soon after that stop, we’ll take our first excursion in Pompeii, a perfect induction into the appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman culture, and the dustiest place we’ll visit. You’ll love it. One warning: All tourist places (this is the same as in Rome) are surrounded by vendors selling, well, junk. It’s all the same junk at all the different stands, and it’s all JUNK. If you’d like to buy the junk, wait until we’re leaving Pompeii – you can bargain better in the afternoons/evenings than in the mornings, and you can decide whether you’d really like to carry the junk with you all the way to Siena, then to Rome, along with your bags which we’ve carried around since Friday. Pompeii is absolutely incredible, and there are SO many websites about this ancient city – feel free to look around the internet! However, as it is always true – if the story you’re reading seems incredible, it’s probably not true. These people from Pompeii lived very standard, regular, middle-class lives. Look through to see if there are specific places where you’d like to visit, and make note – I can adjust our tour to your own likings – there’s no way to get through ALL of Pompeii in one day, so we’ll see samples of various issues of Roman daily life.
Have you noticed that we haven’t checked into a hotel yet? After our Pompeii tour, we’ll head down to Sorrento to check in, clean up, and hit a great pizza place just to the east of Piazza Tasso, on the main street (Corso Italia). We might also get a little stroll around town, just to see how wonderful the city is. Plan to be surrounded by loads of beachcombers and interesting folks. Plan to be on your feet and in the same clothes for these two days (Thursday and Friday), and wear COMFORTABLE shoes on the plane. We’ll have flown from your home town to Newark to Rome, will have taken the bus to Pompeii, walk for at least four hours around Pompeii, then take the bus to Sorrento in late afternoon Friday/tourist/beach traffic. We’ll smell the same as the beachcombers.
Once we arrive into Sorrento, we’ll drag bags to our hotel (great location – center of town), where we’ll take our first shower in about 48 hours, and then we’ll all meet up, ready for dinner, and stroll the town of Sorrento, hunting for pizza and saunter for a while until we find gelato (Gelateria Davide, anyone?).
Now, I’m not a big fan of uncooked tomatoes in America. In fact, I request no tomatoes on my burgers at restaurants. But in Campania, tomatoes (pomodori) are the most incredible food – sweet, solid, delicious. One of the most famed dishes from Campania is the Insalata Caprese – slices of tomatoes with slices of fresh mozzarella, with basil and olive oil sprinkled over the slices. It’s my favorite dish from this region.
After an early evening, we’ll stroll back to the hotel and crash. Capri will be incredible. We’ll meet early for breakfast, then hustle to the Marina, where we’ll catch a boat out to Capri (usually about a 20 minute ride – bring the Bonine if you have problems like I do). We’ll immediately catch the funicolare up to the main Piazza in Capri, from where we’ll hike up to the Villa Jovis, the largest of Tiberius’ 13 villas on Capri. There is a walking trail, but it’s steep – I wore backless shoes on this walk . . . once. Awesome site – you won’t believe it until you see it. Then, we’ll slowly stroll back downhill, stopping for a spremuta (orange juice) or granita (Italy’s far superior version of an icee), back to the main Piazza. Then we’ll catch a local bus up to Anacapri (an adventurous ride, to say the least), where we’ll take a chairlift to Monte Solaro, the other peak of Capri, where another of Tiberius’ villas was located. We’ll return to the Piazzetta in Anacapri to decide whether to stroll out to the Villa Damecuta (yet another of Tiberius’ villas – do you see a repeating theme?) or the Villa San Michele. If the weather’s good, we might walk down to the Blue Grotto to see if we can enter (it’s been years since I’ve been able to – the weather’s always been a little too rough). After much walking, we’ll need lunch, and we’ll decide where and when we want to stop. Of course, shopping is very important in Capri, so you’ll be given a little time to do some purchasing of the famous lemon-based items (soaps, perfumes, treats) or ceramic gifts (we may even stop by the ceramic production shops) before we take the bus back to the main Piazza, take the funicolare back to the Marina Grande of Capri, and sail back to Sorrento. We’ll enjoy dinner in Sorrento, and stop by woodworking shops to learn about the inlaid wood production which is SO famous in Sorrento.
On Sunday, we’ll meet with packed bags for breakfast, and check out. We’ll catch a bus and head to Siena (Road Trip, anyone?). We’ll stop again at a filling station to get lunch on the way up. *A little fun story about Italian truckers – in December, they were so tired of the rising gas prices that they went on strike (sciopero – something you’ll hear me curse at least once on our trip) for a few days! Closed down the filling stations, too! These Italians are serious about their strikes, and they do them often in summers.* We’ll arrive into Siena around 6 PM, where we’ll meet our homestay families at the train station, and I’ll see you off until we meet on Monday morning (8AM) for your placement tests to get you into the right level! Classes will start at 9 AM following this day.

Feel free to research any of the places which I mentioned (or will mention) in these e-mails. Here’s a brief list of search topics, if you’re interested:
Continental Airlines (air carrier from Newark to Fiumicino)
Fiumicino or Leonardo da Vinci Airport
Campania
Circumvesuviana (the local train line in Campania)
Sorrento
Capri
Anacapri
Villa Jovis
Monte Solaro
Villa Damecuta
Villa San Michele
Grotto d’Azurro
Capri ceramic production
Capri lemons
Sorrento inlaid wood
Pompeii

Of course, start keeping an eye on the conversion websites, checking to see if the dollar is getting any stronger against the Euro. I won’t do any exchanging until we get to Fiumicino (I use my ATM card only to exchange money, but will have a few euros left over from an earlier trip this summer to France), and hope that the dollar will fight to regain strength – last year was a pricey one.

Next entry: What to expect with your homestays!

Ciao!
Laura J