Our first stop on our southern Italian adventure was Pompeii, the ancient ruins of a long lost civil

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Anna and I organised our delicious breakie of yoghurt, muslie and slice banana ready to have on the bus as it was an early 7:30 start. We weren t the earliest so were left to be the back seat bandits with Dan from Adelaide and then Terry and Alan the only mature age couple joined us up the back. Anna and I cracked out tubs, started munching only to discover that our new guide, cheap used rental cars Ereni s first rule was "no eating on the bus". Whoops! Haha Big chats and we discovered the oldies were really cheap used rental cars super cool to hang out with and not afraid of being overun by a busload of about 30 twenty somethings. At our first service stop Terry and Alan met Teagan who decided as they were the olds then we should fully adopt them and they were then forever known as Mum and Dad. Anna and I, being the first to meet them became the older sisters and so began our family of 5! After 3 months without family and a recent bout of homesickness while looking cheap used rental cars forward to my own parent s immenent arrival an "Italian family" cheap used rental cars was just what I needed cheap used rental cars in the meantime. Funnily enough we had many of the other passengers convinced that we were actually a real family cheap used rental cars for a while!
Our first stop on our southern Italian adventure was Pompeii, the ancient ruins of a long lost civilization. It is amazing but their entire town is built on 50 acres in total! That is only 10 acres bigger than my family farm back in Wamuran! The map of the village looks like a fish, sorry my photo is slightly blury. We visited the market square, had a sing in the original amphitheatre and headed to the shops where they used to store oil. The cobble stone streets cheap used rental cars are amazing as they still have indents in the rocks where the carriges used to drive and they also had "speed bumps" which had the duel function of slowing the carriges and allowing people to cross the road without cheap used rental cars getting their feet dirty in the muck of the road. The original people of Pompeii were far ahead of their time, in building structures, plumbing and artistic decoration. It is unfortunate their civilization was destroyed and left undiscovered for so long. Anna has finished her degree in archeology and I could only imagine how exciting a place like thia would be to discover.
In the bath houses they used to heat the water and then use the water to insulate the floor so it wasn t cold in winter, they are my kind of people! The family rooms had decorative mosaics and beautiful paintings on the walls, cheap used rental cars it is amazing that so much has survived til today. The roads are also very wide, almost 3 cars could fit side by side in some sections. The result of the volcano on the people that were there is incredible. You can see the expressions on their faces, the details in their skin. We stopped at a water point and so did our guide (who was gorgeously handsome). There were a number of photos taken when he decided to dip his head under to get a drink, including Mum who managed to get the best shot. Haha
Which brings me to the funniest cheap used rental cars place, the house of ill repute (or one of them, there was 10 in the whole area!) . Funny mostly because the beds were concrete and had paintings above the doors. Historians cheap used rental cars aren t sure whether it is just for decoration or rather an indication of the special skills perfomed cheap used rental cars within. cheap used rental cars There is even an indication on the building outside of a "ahem member stone" to show what building you are close to, kind of like the red light district in Amsterdam.
My favourite part was seeing the renaissance architecture cheap used rental cars in the main square on the boarders of HUGE pillars which frame the view near Mt Vesuvius. This kind of decoration was then not seen again for another 400 years! Incredible! Anna and I shared our first margarita cheap used rental cars pizza and ordered a fresh lemonade cheap used rental cars as it was stinking hot by this point. We didn t realise cheap used rental cars it was made from lemons, not lemonades...so 3-4 sugar packets later and it was almost cheap used rental cars drinkable and very refreshing! I wanted a postcard so I headed for the stalls outside only to be quite affronted when the Italian seller said "hey blondy cheap used rental cars you want to buy this?". My first horse was called blondy...not me! I skipped the postcard and instead had a giggle at what one of the other girls bought...a souvineer, action figures, menage a trois keychain! Clever but not something cheap used rental cars I could ever hang my keys from.
On the bus again and we were introduced to Sophia Limone, Ereni s mascot for our trip, who then went everywhere with us. Including our tour of Sorrento! We all walked through the tiny laneways in a giant snake line heading for gelato and cheap beer. Anna and I voted for gelato first and then hadnto catch up with the gang who went for beer. Geez, priorities! Haha There are so many shoe stores with ready made or made to order shoes. Luckily the soles were a bit too hard for long term backpacking! Otherwise I would have spent up big! We did find the cutest earings which had animals doing sports...very funky. We all pilled into a tiny shop for a limoncello and chocolate tasting run by the most amazing guy who was such a character! He flirted with all the girls, made fun of all the boys and we all had such a good laugh at his antics and wonderful cheap used rental cars operatic singing. You could tell he loved what he was doing and although it wasn t to my taste, I tried everything!
Next was the group dinner at a local italian restaurant. The food and wine was pretty ok but not the amazing taste I was expecting. We headed to a bar afterwards but then decided we were all pretty exhausted and headed back into town to find the bus stop, via a quick stop to dance like crazy people with a local band at a different restaurant. We got some funny looks from their patrons eating dinner but the musicians cheap used rental cars appreciated our support of their playing!
We arrived at the bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited...then we had random gamily discussions where the girls and I disagreed or ganged cheap used rental cars up on eachother with various philosophical debates, worked out the order in ages, who was the eldest (me) who was the middle child with a complex (Anna) and who was the spoilt cheap used rental cars youngest (Tegan). We also had a discussion about Rome and religion, cheap used rental cars where upon Mum decided to say "Geez, it s just the Pope, who cares about the pope!" rather cheap used rental cars loudly....so fits of the giggles ensued when we all realised we were still in Italy, and yes, most people here care about the Pope. Honestly we were all so comfortable and relaxed it felt like we were at home relaxing and having a chat amongst the oldest (no age refernce meant) of friends and family. There was a number of other people who were waiting for the bus having a quiet giggle at our ramblings.
Enough waiting, we decided to abandon the bus and walk back up the hill to the hostel. For the first part there was a tiny footpath big enough for one but the view was so worthwhile, by the time we got just a little higher and saw the beautiful twinkly lights of Sorrento and the surrounds we were all glad the bus had forgotten us. This was until the footpath disappeared and we had to walk on the road, the very narrow, barely wide enough for 2 cars, let alone 2 buses, cheap used rental cars kind of road! Mum bravely took the lead with me following, cheap used rental cars then Anna and then the complaining Tegan and Dad were last. It was rather nerve wracking as there was no room for error and a few scary moments cheap used rental cars with fast moving buses and typical Italian driving which was scary for us as pedestrians.
I was glad I had Anna to share my tent as it was very basic and had camp showers, not my favourite option. Today we were all off for a walk down to the bottom of the hill to catch a boat that would take us out to the Island of Capri! The boat was packed so the family joined forces to make two teams so we could take a tour into the blue grotto. Ereni told us it is now illegal cheap used rental cars for boats to enter but it makes for so much tourism that the boats near the grotto do it anyway. Our big boat motored into the cove to swap into the smaller boats to take us in. it was decreed illegal because a girl hit her head on the entrance and died as a result of her injuries. cheap used rental cars It was quite choppy and I had no idea how low the entrance would be. It is literally a metre from the sea level at its lowest wave and lapping the top of the entrance with a big wave, it is also barely wider than their tiny boats.
They enter by rowing cheap used rental cars up to the entrance, grabbing a rope and pulling the boat through on a low point in the swell. Anna and I saw this and said hmmm, maybe not, it doesn t look safe . Luckily cheap used rental cars Mum said don t be a wimp, hurry up and get in the boat . What Mum says goes! So off we went. Mum, Anna and I in one boat, Dad in the other, Teagan took a boat without us (independant youngest child...so not cool to spend all her time with us! Haha) It was scary getting in as the three of us had to lie completely flat in the boat and the boatman had to squish himself to get in. Once we got in and sat up it was so very beautiful, one of the most special things I have seen on my trip so far. Our boatman even sang for us inside the beautiful cave inside and the echos turned it into something just magic! Back out again and we were back on the main boat to head to the main cove of Capri.
We were all starving so we stopped at the local bar for our first Caprese salad (on Capri! Italian dream come true!) and a big magarhita pizza. So delicious, much better than last nights dinner and so much more amazing than I imagined Italian food would be! Finally I felt like I was eating Italian the way it was supposed to taste!
We took the bus to the town of Capri somewhat higher in the island (I wasn t expecting Capri to be so big, or so high). cheap used rental cars Walked cheap used rental cars the town, fell in love with clothes I couldn t afford, discovered my favourite vintage cameos are actually made from shells an