4-17-09 Amalfi Coast, Italy

Buongiorno from Firenze!

Hello all! Well, we are now certified TEFL teachers! We had our final exam last Thursday, graduated last Friday, and hit the road to start our Europe trip on Sunday! Our last couple weeks absolutely flew by. We were so busy with lesson planning, teaching, and studying/paper writing. Stymfalia, as we mentioned in the last blog post, was our final excursion. Lake Stymfalia is a beautiful wildlife sanctuary in the mountains, located about 90 minutes from Vrahati. It was gorgeous – we had a great time walking around the mountains, spying on frogs and lizards (we’re still bio geeks at heart :)!!), and having a picnic on the mountainside overlooking the lake.

On Sunday we were off by bus to Patra, Greece where we purchased our Eurail passes and boarded the ferry that would take us on a 15 hour ride to Bari, Italy. It was a huge ship – so big that tractor trailers drive into the bottom section to make the trip. We stayed on a part of the deck with lots of seats that were similar to those on airplanes. But when it came time to sleep, we rolled out our sleeping bags and camped our on the floor. When we woke, we went up to the deck just in time to see the ferry approaching the coast of Italy.

While waiting for our train that would take us to Naples, we met a couple of really nice American guys who were traveling Europe on their Easter break from Cambridge University. It was great to talk to them and kill a few hours before our train. We caught our train to Naples and along the way we chatted with a friendly Italian woman who is living in Rome. She gave us lots of Italy advice & even gave us her mobile number in case we ran into any trouble in Italy. Since our Italian is obviously very limited, she spoke to an Italian guy who was also going to Florence so he could help us find the track we needed to connect to Sorrento & the Amalfi coast – our final destination. He didn’t speak any English but we communicated just fine through hand gestures and smiles. The Naples train station was very busy and confusing at night so we were very grateful for his help. Italians were making a great impression on us already!

After a little stress, confusion, & more help from friendly Italians, we eventually made it to our rented flat in Pogerola – a small village above Amalfi. The Amalfi coast is truly an incredible place. The village are build right into the cliffs that overlook the ocean. The roads hug the cliff side, making bus rides very interesting – and frightening! We spent Tuesday hiking the coast, exploring shops and villages, and visiting Villa Cimbrone. This was and incredible property once owned by a very extravagant lord. He created gorgeous botanical gardens in English style. The main attraction was the Terrace of Infinity – a natural balcony on the cliff that overlooks the villages of the coast, accented by seven marble busts. It was an amazing place.

Wednesday we were off to Pompeii – an ancient city that was extremely well preserved because it was buried under 8 meters of ash after the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. It was incredible to see the efficient layout of the town, the detail that went into the structures and the frescos. The floor mosaics were especially interesting – intricate patterns and pictures that showed scenes from mythology as well as warnings, such as ‘beware of dog.’

We could have stayed on the Amalfi coast forever I think, but come Thursday it was time to move on. Instead of waiting for the bus to make the climb up to Pogerola to pick us up, we decided to strap on our packs and make the trek down 746 stairs to the center of Amalfi. From there we caught the bus to Sorrento, the train to Naples and then on to Florence!