Positano & Amalfi - The Journey's End

It may have been October, but in Positano, it was still warm enough for the beach :)

How do you even build a city like this?

mmmm pretty water. It was possibly the clearest water i've ever swum in. (swum?)

It was so clear that I could see the seaweed on the bottom when it was too deep for me to pencil-dive down to touch it with my feet. impressive. 

This guy was painting boats :) 

So i photographed the same boats!

I made friends with this dog, of course :-P

He's cute enough to deserve two photos

After swimming and eating (duh) we hopped on a ferry to the town of Amalfi. Here's a parting shot of Positano from the boat

We arrived in Amalfi a bit before sunset

I have a theory that Amalfi would be more well-known if their duomo was easier to photograph. It's so crammed in between buildings that you can't get a good angle on it

But its portico is cool and has lots of photographic opportunities

Arches and columns and stripes, oh my!

(did you see Nina in that one?)

And to end the fall break journey (and, wow, all the blog posts from Europe....)...

Thanks for keeping up with my blog, guys. I made myself write it to really keep track of my adventures while abroad, and it was that much more exciting to be able to share it with you folks and hear your thoughts :)  I may post now and then if I find myself traveling or taking photos I want to share. Until then, Arrivederci! 

Shut the f*** up, Capri.

Capri is a tiny, cliff-filled island off the Amalfi coast. And it is ridiculously beautiful. 

The water is beautiful

The boats are beautiful

The trees are beautiful

The women are beautiful

And everywhere you turn there is a new stunning view

Seriously, STFU Capri.

We wandered up staircases and through tiny alleys, following little signs we discovered for some random restaurant.

Turns out the food is beautiful (and delicious) too

found a cool sundial,

an awesome windy road up a cliff

a great photo op spot

then another "STFU Capri" view

seriously, you can't make up how stunning this place is.

we found a beach, with a bathroom building that matched Nina perfectly :-P

I tested the water a bit (it was really cold)

And Nina had a personal dance party

We happend to time our ferry ride back perfectly at sunset. I even climbed on the roof of the ferry because there were no signs telling me not to. then i got yelled at in Italian. but I did get this sweet photo, looking back at the island.

Seriously, STFU Capri.

VOLCANIC LAVA (was here at one point)...POMPEI

Because there just aren't enough ruins in Italy, we checked out Pompei

It's weird how you can just walk around an ancient, desolated town, with rubble and pillars and crumbling painted walls everywhere...

There are also vineyards. Perhaps grape vines are volcano-resistant?

We were walking quite a bit, so we took refuge inside one of the buildings for a bit. Look at this pretty girl :)

Then, IN WALK MY UNDERGRADUATE BUDDIES! Seriously they just showed up in the building where we were chilling. Everyone, meet Brantley and Caleb!

It was a useful and productive chance meeting - we compared notes on what we'd seen and where the good spots were in Pompei. And by that I mean C&B told us where to go, since we'd just been wandering aimlessly.

(Nina gets credit for that photo)

Also, there are palm trees in southern Italy. It's pretty awesome. Especially in October.

 

There were also a ton of very well-behaved dogs roaming around the ruins. This one was my favorite. His eyes are different colors. 

He followed us into one of the amphitheaters (there are 3!) and hung out with a buddy of his.

Then I sniped this photo of an adorable older couple relaxing in the theatre.

Ok here's the cool thing. If you go to Pompei, after you seen the ruined city, walk into the real, current city. It's beautiful, but I bet few tourists actually see any of it.

We discovered it because we were searching for food. We found some. We also found an awesome fountain/mosaic/median in an intersection.

:)