When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Lemoncello

I took another mini spring break. I felt like it was needed. 

We had last Thursday off and my friends and I wanted to take advantage of it- so we went to the Almafi Coast for a few days. No biggie =].

Getting there was a bit of a challenge. My life was in chaos between school projects and getting things for the trip and packing and what not. Alex and I found ourselves running down the platform to catch the train on time. It was so hot that day and we were each carrying so much luggage that we needed to be careful with like food and everything. We looked pathetic and had a good laugh about it once we sat down and got our barrings on the train. We looked nuts. 

Caitlin, Alex, Emily, Rebecca, and I had a great apartment in Minori, a small town in between Salerno and Almafi. It was up high and overlooked the beach area. The town was very residential and cute. It was good to stay in a place with less tourists than usual because Florence is starting to get a bit crazy lately. 

The first full day we were there, we headed to Pompeii and Naples. Pompeii was what I like to refer to as the land of ashy people. We explored these ruins from a volcano that destroyed an empire back in the Grecian times. The city looks as though it was never left in some parts. I mean, granted, they are ruins so they are not in great condition, however, they are preserved well enough for me to picture how it used to look when it was an actual town. The cathedral the baths, the ampa-theater, and the houses are all very much still there. Also, seeing the people who used to live here was a weird feeling. These people were literally preserved in the positions in which they died, covered in ash and lava. I am sorry if that is somewhat graphic but I thought it was really interesting and very much a mind blowing experience when I saw it. The agony and pain was clear in their body language. I felt their suffering.

baths

court

people

wall of the baths

ampa-theater

bath

From there, we decided to lighten the mood a bit and fill out food cravings with some pizza- from Naples, the land where this great food was invented and shared among others

Now, Naples (Napoli) is not really known for being a great place to visit. It actually kind of sucks- people get pick-pocketed very easily, their is garbage everywhere, and the city itself is known for being more rundown that others.

FUN FACT:

 Being the lucky person that I am, I get to live with someone who is learning about this (Alex) and she explained it was because of the organized crime that controls the trash system. How weird?

Well anyway, the reason we went there was because of the pizza. After much searching and walking around we finally asked for help. That help just happened to lead us to the place where JULIA ROBERTS ate in the movie Eat, Pray, Love. At the time, this did not mean much to me because I had never seen the movie or read the book, but later that night we actually watched it so now I am loving that we went there.

The place has been around for over 100 years and was renowned before the movie. Naturally, the line was over an hour long. A nice group of people switched us numbers though and we got to only wait a half hour- love those people.

side streets had the clothes hanging across the streets like this. Note: if you have seen the movie, you have seen this street.

JULIA

two kinds of pizza. I got the Margherita with extra  cheese

yeah- I ate that.

after we ate- this is actually half the people who were originally there waiting.

The pizza was somewhat indescribable. I just can't find the adjective to paint a good picture as to what it tasted like. It made me happy though. Oh so very happy. I literally had a relationship with the pie.

From there I proceeded to get us lost. I blame it on the state of euphoria I was in from the pizza. 

Exhausted and finally back to the coast, we ended the night early by eating gelato while sitting on the dock. Perfecto.

Next day!

The plan was to go to Capri and see the blue grotto. However, we caught a late bus due to the other one being too full and therefore missed the ferry. mer. SO we went to the emerald grotto instead.

SO COOL we hopped on the boat that allowed us to stare at the amazing amazing view of the coast.

 When getting to the grotto we hopped on a small row boat- our guide was to say the least, very attractive. 

The grotto was beautiful. It was my first grotto so my credibility probable is not very high since I have nothing to compare it with, but I was impressed. I mean the water literally looked emerald color- it was unreal.

this has no editing to it

BABY JESUS- a fisherman placed a nativity scene under the water back in the 1970's and you can see it down in there.

On the way back, the driver asked me to sit with him and I got to drive the boat! Just call me Captain Hayley. Simone (the ACTUAL captain) watched me very closely to make sure we did not all die, but I think I did pretty good, and just might have a future in sailing after all. Simone was nice and offered to take me around the coast that night, however, due to his slightly creepy nature and the fact that I was there to spend time with the girls, I kept his number as a souvenir. Sorry Simone.

For some reason we did not go to the beach when we got back, still to this day I am confused as to why that decision was made. But we shopped instead- something I am ALWAYS up to do. The town was super cute and the lemons were the size of a small child'd head. That is not an exaggeration. 

Lemoncello was everywhere you looked. Really lemon everything: soap, perfume, candles, chocolate, candy, cookies, and of course, lemoncello. 

he was completely unamused by all the people taking his picture.

baha

okay look at my foot next to the lemon. and they got so much bigger, I just didn't get a picture.

That night, we made a great homemade dinner, the table was set with candles and all. We made drinks, pasta, and dessert of course. After dinner, we retired to our balcony, drank our drinks, and played catch phrase. 

The next morning we got up and realized it was raining. womp. We didn't want to allow that to bring us down so we headed to Positano anyway. Although it was freezing, we had drinks by the beach and walked around a bit. 

the clouds were crazy

This day seemed to be consumed by waiting for buses and dealing with traffic jams. 

While we were waiting for a bus, the weirdest thing happened. 

A pirate wondered down the road past us and waited on the other side for a different bud. He had two dreadlocks, one on each side of his face, accompanied with some crazy sideburns. He was wearing many prints. Mostly of Indian inspired designs, something that resembled a yamaca(spelling ?), and a pink umbrella. He was very tan and had thick thick eyeliner. He had a tattoo in the middle of his forehead and I could see his hands covered in them as well. It was like Jack Sparrow in real life. 

I am sure all of you are wondering why I don't have a picture, but it is awkward taking a picture of someone who knows you are already staring at them, and he was not close enough to get a picture with. 

An hour later- the bus came.

During the ride I was standing on the bus, with no handles, trying not to fall onto the people in their seats. That wasn't the best 45 minutes of my life. The only highlight there was that I was standing next to a dog who took a liking to me and snuck some kisses to my hand.

This was our last night in Minori so we decided to go out to a nice fish dinner. It was great- the town is really small so there was not a lot of people at restaurants so we had the place to ourselves. Afterward, we walked around the beach a bit- I wanted to get this dessert called Baba. It is cake soaked SOAKED in rum. Literally there was a puddle of rum in the container. It was good and all BUT I could not finish it. It was way too much. 

The trip was a great time and I am glad we got some time to just sit back relax and enjoy our time together. The people down there are so so friendly. I think I prefer southern Italy more than northern. The food, the hospitality, and the men are all great. Everyone is smiling and willing to help.

I feel like it is a very similar comparison to how America differs between the north and south. The south is more reserved, traditional, enjoy life, friendly, etc. The north moves at a quicker pace, more modern, less friendly, and embraces change better.

All in all this trip was a nice little spring break #2. I wish I had more time there.