The Unpolished Princess

Neither one of us slept very well in our new apartment, although we aren’t quite sure why. The air conditioning gets cold, the comforters are cozy, but even still-we both slept bad. It could have also been that we knew we had to be up and at the hotel up the hill by 9am.

Mom made me some cheese toast in the toaster oven for breakfast and she had her coffee. She had also gotten some energy drinks from the grocery store she went to last night while I was gone to the gym. Praise her! Just the pep I need! (I know, I’ve got to quit drinking them, they are so bad for me.. I just can’t drink hot coffee while it’s 9000 degrees outside).

We headed up the hill and waited for our ride. One man came to see if we were his passengers, I showed him the info I was given, and he laughed a little and said, “no no, your driver will be here in a bit, I’m picking up 8:45.. we Italians are never really on time..” hahaha

When our guy did get there, only a couple minutes later, he seemed so frazzled about the traffic. He said tourist season has started early this year, but like, it’s June now.. sooo. Hmmm. Anyway, he drove to another spot to pick more people up, but they weren’t there yet, so while we waited, mom went into a tourist store and found out that we can take a shuttle bus to the Naples airport when we leave. She got all the details and the little booklet. Awesome! No sketchy train while lugging around everything we own!

Our new people never showed, so our driver got the ok from the tour company to leave without them. Then he was weaving and breaking and skirting through the tiny one lane streets that make up the roadways between cities on this coast. He was telling us how much it frustrates him that people that live in this area won’t just drive a scooter with all this traffic when they’re driving alone.. he would point out cars of solo people and say, “you see! Look at him, clogging up our roads!”

He even told us of a story where in bumper to bumper traffic he got out and went to ask someone why they chose to drive a car and not a scooter or bike.. wow, I pray he never does that in the United States.. not sure what it says about our country, but I don’t think many sane people get out of their vehicles to approach someone else’s without a slight fear for their life. It was pretty hysterical listening to his story while he’s driving like a lunatic, though.

We got to the bigger marina (not the one we’re currently staying at, that would be WAY too convenient), and they must have been waiting on us.. the second we walked down the stairs they were escorting us to our boat. Mom and I got lucky enough to get to sit at the very front of the boat with an Italian couple here from London, celebrating their 3rd wedding anniversary.
The boat ride alone was incredible. Being up front meant we could see absolutely everything! And it felt a little like a roller coaster at times, going over the waves with the sudden drop. I was like a little kid at Disney, having the BEST time.

Our captain stopped at a little outcropping of a round island, protected from the wind, and let us swim! The island is privately owned, has 2 villas and a little chapel on it, and the owner allows tour boat guests swim in the middle where the water is calm (and crystal clear blue).. before he owned the island, tour boats weren’t even allowed to pass through. Of course I swam. The second the Italian couple stood up and started taking off their coverups and t shirts, I did the same and followed right behind them. At first, we were the only 3 in the water! Slowly, others started to join.

It was so much warmer than in Greece and Northern Italy, but it had also been over a week since being at any of those places, so maybe they’ve warmed up some now too.. plus we’re a bit farther south. We swam, laughed and mingled.. all having the best time bobbing around, floating without any effort. When it was time to come back on the boat it was mixed emotions, I could have stayed right here all day long, but I knew better things were to come!

A short boat ride later, we were being let out in Amalfi. We were told to be back in an hour and a half.. and.. that was it! No lectures, no repeating 4 times and not moving-we were set free to explore and do as we chose! Wow! What a concept! Ha! We walked around, picked up 2 beach towels to have for our beach day in Sorrento.. our apartment only has the white bath towels and we were afraid we’d ruin them. Plus, now it’s a souvenir!

We took pictures and walked through the busy streets filled with tourists like us. We got drinks at a cute little restaurant on the water with great views, and later got ice cream to eat while sitting near the pier so we wouldn’t miss our boat. Back on board, I had a beer and enjoyed every second of being at the front of the boat, laughing every time the waves made my stomach drop.

Maybe 30 ish minutes later, we arrived in Positano, another gorgeous little city built into the sides of the cliffs, known for their tiny streets and many many steps. I knew I wanted to visit these cities by boat because everywhere online has people complaining about the winding roads and traffic jams and all the stairs to get down to the beach front-this has been perfect!

We walk around and shop some. I find a man painting with watercolors and pen, and of course have to have one. I picked one he made with an orange Vespa in the foreground, and then he showed it to me-it’s actually his Vespa! Lol he was super cute and wrote out a “dedication” to me on the back of the artwork. He put it in a cardboard roll for me to travel with and we carried on..

Then I found a man making sandals (Positano and the Amalfi Coast in general is known for handmade shoes), and I picked out a style and let him make them for me. He measured my feet (which I felt bad for the poor guy.. yikes) and went to work. Within 20 minutes, I had a perfect pair of brown leather sandals! I tried to get mom to get some too, as she has the worst luck with shoes fitting correctly, but she swore there were none she liked.

I loved this little city, we walked and wandered all the way up until it was time to leave.. and I almost didn’t want to. Knowing more swimming was in store ended up being good motivation though. Before no time at all, I was back in the water, continuing to love every second! Mom wouldn’t get in, no matter how much anyone tried to get her to. Our captain threw us pool noodles, so we swam, floated, played, and laughed a whole lot. It was a blast! We all made a pact to not make eye contact with the captain so he couldn’t make us get out.. and it worked! For maybe an extra 5-10 minutes of swimming.. lol

When we got back to the marina we had to wait for a driver. It was quite a long wait, and the waitress at the cafe we were told to wait at told us the bathrooms were closed. So, we ended up getting pretty irritated after 30 minutes of sitting and needing to pee. Around 40 minutes of uncomfortable sitting and waiting, mom asked the man with the tour group if he had an ETA because we needed to use a restroom. He seemed mortified after finding out the bathrooms were closed, went to look and then showed us where to go.. the lady had lied I guess. How rude.

Once those issues were taken care of, we were much more content to sit and wait. Our driver finally appeared.. he had been stuck behind an accident on the tiny road to get to and from downtown Sorrento. Before we knew it, we were being dropped off and walking to our little apartment! We showered and got dressed, and went in search of a dinner place.

There were several places I had read about online, the famous restaurant where you sit under the lemon trees called O’Parrucchiano La Favorita, and then a restaurant known for very good food in the heart of the city, called Donna Sofia. We didn’t make reservations, but set out for the second one since it was a closer walk. Sadly, they were fully booked for today and the next day too. We made our reservation for Friday night.

Knowing this one was full, we assumed the lemon tree one would be too. We just walked down little alley ways until we found something. We haven’t had bad food yet, so we weren’t really concerned.
We get to this place that seats us immediately. But then they don’t really come back for awhile, we watch as people get their food, from an older lady, maybe in her 70s.. that’s a good sign, it’s a family business! The other waitress looks very overwhelmed, a table of 11 sat down right as we did. We get our drinks, and when mom asked the older lady about the lasagna, just making sure it was available, because we didn’t see it on the menu, she just took our whole order. Okie dokie.

As we’re waiting for our main course, they bring a basket of bread and olive oil.. and then witness the group of 11 get up and leave-they never even got to give their drink order yet.. and then 3-4 other tables end up leaving too, all before we get our food. We’re starting to get concerned. The couple at the table nearest us has pizza, and it looks fantastic.. eh, whatever, we can wait.

I get my fettuccine bolognese and mom gets her lasagna. I don’t say anything, but my noodles are gross and the sauce tastes a little like ketchup.. I pick and eat what I can, until mom makes me laugh so hard I cry.. her lasagna had green peas and a hard boiled egg fall out of one of the layers. Regardless if that’s how it’s done here or not, her face was priceless! I’m laughing again as I type this.. oh my god. Anyway, her noodles were too hard to chew, I tried, and mine were just.. bad. We ended up not eating much of anything.

We still paid the bill, without complaint, after watching these ladies run around and have patron after patron leave unexpectedly. It’s funny to me that I had the best meal of my life yesterday and the worst of my life today (and trust me, after hiking the AT, I ate some shitty food) all in the same city.. ha, all you really can do is laugh, and know you won’t ever try this place again.

We left and were even too grossed out to try to revive our evening with something else, somewhere else. We were also just tired from the long day of boat riding, exploring, and sunshine. So we walked home, relaxed on the couch, and then tore the furniture apart to make sure we could sleep a little better tonight. Goodnight!

We were up and out early today for our trip to Pompeii. Mom made me egg and cheese sandwiches (I could totally make it myself, she just loves me too much to let me!), which I scarfed down quickly before we set off walking to the train station. We had to catch the train to Pompeii and meet our tour guide outside of the entrance gates.

Everything went smoothly, no uncomfortable encounters, and we got to have seats.. all pluses. At first I was irritated with myself for making us take the early 8:45 train, but then we had a few delays making our arrival time closer to the meeting time than we would have liked. If we had chosen the later train, we would have gotten there about 10-15 minutes late. Yay for OCD I guess. Lol.. while we had about 15 minutes to kill after we checked in with our guide, Chiara, we used the restroom and got slushees from the cafe across the street. It was already in the 80s with no cloud coverage. Today is going to be HOT.

Chiara took us through the ancient Pompeii ruins, explaining this and that about the area. The city was right on the ocean when it was created, and it was a harbor city. The city itself was spread out over 93 acres of land, all surrounded by mountains, which made for a natural border wall for protection.. they just didn’t know that the one mountain was actually a deadly volcano.. until they did..

She took us through the Roman bathhouses and brothel, which showed painted pictures of the sexual acts you could pay for, along with Roman numerals. She said this is because the general public was uneducated, couldn’t read or write mostly, and with it being a harbor town, many people from many different areas with different languages or dialects came through.. and men of all areas usually always want the same thing-sex-so they painted the scenes to make it easier to “order.”

Also, the prostitutes didn’t have the same stigma as they typically do now-considered poor and just trying to get by and whatnot.. these women were the most beautiful of the beautiful, chosen to be in this profession because of that, and they were paid and able to keep their earnings. They would go out into the town wearing their stunning jewelry and get the attention of new and returning clients. Chiara also pointed out that there were male prostitutes at that time, too. Also depicted in the paintings.

From the brothel and bath houses we walked up the huge hill to the main square with its huge pillars. It’s incredible that so much survived. When archeologists discovered Pompeii, they rebuilt the structures based off of the stones and bricks in the areas surrounding the few parts that didn’t collapse after the eruption. They started rebuilding in the 1700s, so even the rebuilt parts are ancient to me. It was quite fascinating.
We walked the original streets past shops and houses, a bakery and the first ever “fast food” joint.. the made clay pots that sat on counters with areas for heat to come through, so the food could all be cooked in the morning, put in the pots, and kept hot all day as patrons came and paid for their meal. Pretty dang neat.

We saw the home of the emperor, or who was thought to be the emperor based on the size and the different colored marbles found inside.. the mosaics on the floors are jaw dropping today, in their partially reconstructed state, I can’t imagine how it must have looked back then.

As we walked through, hiding in the shadows from the sun, Chiara told us of the story of Mount Vesuvius erupting, and how just as of 2 years ago, archeologists found proof that it erupted in October and not in august as previously thought.. anyway, the volcano doesn’t have an opening at the top where you can see lava moving and for the gases to escape. This makes Mount Vesuvius a very dangerous volcano because they can’t predict where the molten mud will spew when it erupts again. Plus, the mud moves faster than regular lava, and the initial eruption causes the debris to fly out and is deadly in its own right.

So all those years ago, it erupted and demolished the city of Pompeii (along with others in the area), and for days ash rained down. With the initial explosion, rock and debris flying though the air at top speeds was enough to kill people immediately. When the inhabitants saw this happening, most retreated into their homes to hide. Then, the weight of the ash over the next few days made the rooftops collapse.

Archeologists found ash casts of the people.. the ash hardened around the bodies over the centuries, and the actual human remains decomposed inside.. so they carefully made molds with the ash casts to see what the people looked like and to learn what their last moments were like. The people that were able to escape death came back days later to attempt to locate their homes and treasures left behind, but when they dug into the ash, it let the gases escape that suffocated them quickly. The others that saw this happen retreated back to safety and told the people in the new towns they settled in that the area was cursed by witches. This is why Pompeii wasn’t built on top of or scavenged for treasures after the gases escaped.. the people of the area thought it to be cursed-unlike the surrounding cities where people just rebuilt on top of the ash. Cities on top of unknown buried cities. Which, this is also why so much of Pompeii was able to be preserved and reconstructed, it had been vastly untouched from the eruption in 79AD until the 1700s when artifacts were found and the archeologists fought to save it.

At the end of this tour, Chiara sent us off with our next guide, Sofia, who drove mom and I plus a couple from Norway to a winery. Their names are Thomas and Helena.. they are in their early twenties and quiet, but we enjoyed their company all the same. We had lunch at the winery and got to sample 5 different wines with plenty of refills of each. Mom shared her fresh glasses with them as well as me, so I wouldn’t be “forced” to drink so much 😉 They loved it as much as I do!

After lunch, we went to the stables to ride horses! The winery and stables are on Mount Vesuvius, so the ground is more like loose ash compared to regular dirt. It was gorgeous! Sofia and her people put us on the horses (mine was named Mary, mom’s was named Beauty), and we followed Sofia in line around the winery grounds for an hour and a half.. up and down the rows of grape vines and down little paths between the fields and the villas on massive property. I had so much fun! Mary kept trying to eat the vine leaves. I learned how to steer her away, but at the same time, I was like, I get it girl.. I’d wanna snack if I had to lug me around too.. hahaha

After our tour was over, Sofia dropped us off at the train station. We rode back to Sorrento and walked to the apartment to get showered and ready for dinner. We were both so exhausted that mom called and ordered a pizza instead of attempting to walk around without reservations again. I was quite happy about not having to actually get dressed to go out. I ran an awkward mile through the apartment and a very slow pace, and then got in my jammies.

We attempted to watch TV, but none of the channels had anything other than the news on, so we ended up just eating our food and going to bed early. I’m quite happy about laying down, honestly. Tomorrow is another early morning, a boat ride to explore the island of Capri, plus our dinner reservations at Donna Sofia (so funny that this was our guide’s name today lol). So, off to sleep I go. Morning is going to come early.

Well, I slipped off a boat first thing this morning.
Mom and I got ready for our day trip to Capri, ate breakfast in our little kitchen and walked down to the marina hotel we were getting picked up at.. all before 7:30am. We. Are. Tired.

When the driver picked us up, we were the second group of people, and the couple already in the van is from Texas. That lady was chatty as hell for it to not even be 8am. Mom kept shooting me looks like I was the one talking, haha, at least we know I come by my morning irritability honestly. When we picked up everyone else (a total of like 10 people in our van) and finally got to the doc, we had to check in and get our group numbers. Chatty lady and husband are in our group.

Mom disappeared to find coffee, it was too hot already so she got me a coke.. when we went to get on our boat, there was a drop to the deck.. I was holding my open glass coke bottle in my left hand, my waterproof bag with our wallets was looped around my right arm and my cell phone was in my right hand. I thought briefly that the boat deck looked slippery, but mom handled it fine.. plus the captain holds your arm to steady you..

The captain held my left arm, I stepped down with my right foot.. and it slipped out from under me directly into the water. So picture it: this man is holding my left arm with my coke in hand, my right leg up to my waist is in the sea, my left leg is splayed out in front of us trying to make connection.. I’m in a bathing suit and a coverup dress. Lord have mercy. What a scene. As my left arm goes into the water, I toss my cell phone onto the boat praying to connect with cushions and not slide off the other side.. then I fling up the bag, the whole while the captain isn’t letting my big ass go-I’m telling him to let go, I don’t want to pull him in with me, and y’all-I’m going down.. it all happened so damn fast!

Someone else ran up and grabbed me too and between him and the captain they saved me from a complete submersion. How? I really have no idea-they stand me up, look me over-my hair is dry, my coke it upright without a drop spilt, my left arm is starting to bruise a bit and my right shin is starting to swell and bleed a tad-but overall, with all the adrenaline I guess, I was fine! Mom had missed the whole thing from when I slipped until I was yanked up and put back standing, it had to have been less than 10-15 seconds of pure chaos. Hahahaha

So, from that moment forward: I was not trusted to walk alone on the boat, step on or off the boat without my hand being held-that poor captain, Gianluca, looked like he was going through flashbacks every time I moved anywhere.. it was pretty damn funny. The couple I sat next to (which I think they may actually be friends or siblings) Juan and Caro, checked to make sure I was actually ok once everyone seemed to calm down.. mom kept staring at me and asking if I was ok, like I was suddenly going to freak out or something lol.. ahhh, good times.

Anyway, we went straight to the Blue Grotto by the island of Capri from the marina. We paid €14 each to get into a tiny rowboat (Gianluca looked ready to have a stroke watching me do that), with a man that paddled us in through the tiny hole, took us around in a circle while singing, and back out again. And then he asked for a €10 tip. Uhhh, excuse me? Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful in there, the water literally looked like it was glowing blue and we did enjoy all 3 and half minutes of it.. but we were in there with about 10 other boats, all with men randomly singing in Italian (pretty neat really), and then boom, we were back out again.

When I go to give him a €2 coin, he says, “you don’t think I’m worth the €10? Haha, uh, honestly, no.. I don’t. So, I just said, “you can have the €2” and we stared at each other a second and he realized I was budging. The couple from Texas tipped a €10.. so €12 for 5 minutes seems pretty legit to me.

So, from there we got back on our boat and went to Capri. We arrived by 10am and didn’t have to be back by 3:15.. which sounds great, except we thought this was a swimming thing and here we are in bathing suits walking around a town. Yikes. We end up meeting another couple from our boat, Allison and Jimmy, and Mom and I plus Juan and Caro all kinda stuck together. We took a bus to AnaCapri, a town on top of the mountain of the island. It had gorgeous views of the bay that only got better as we went up the gondola to the top of Mount Solaro.

As gorgeous as it was, we all got bored a little quick. We had to take a timed bus back down into Capri, and there wasn’t anything really to look at while we waited. Mom and I got drinks and we all sat and chatted in the heat waiting for the bus. When it finally came, it took us into Capri and we had 3 hours to explore..

We all ended up splitting up, mom and I went and got drinks and split a pizza on a terrace with gorgeous views of the water.. the only issue-it was SO FLIPPIN HOT! We literally dripped sweat all day long. We all thought we’d be swimming and day drinking on this boat tour, this isn’t quite what we were expecting. Capri is stunning, but walking around in hoards of people during the peak part of the day was a bit-dare I say it-miserable.

I did end up buying a bathing suit and a cute coverup in one of the shops. Mom and I played the game of shopping only in the stores with very good air conditioner. It didn’t matter what they were selling, cigars? Bourbon? €3,500 sweaters? Yep, we wanna see every single one.. hahaha

We were thrilled when it was finally time to get back down to the marina to board our boat. Gianluca and Andrea, his skipper, took us around the island by boat to different scenic spots. We say the green grotto, the big rocks that jut up out of the water that Capri is famous for, heart cove, and a few other spots, one with a waterfall. We finally got to swim and have beer and listen to music! Now THIS is what we’ve all been wanting!

When it was time to pull back into the marina to end the day, I tell our new friends that this looks a lot like our marina-like that yellow building up there with a terrace looks like our apartment. Come to find out.. this IS our marina! We actually docked at our marina, and while everyone else walked to the van-mom and I walked up the stairs to our apartment! We were probably inside before they even made it to the top of the hill in the van! Wahoo!

We showered and got ready for our dinner at Donna Sofia. When we walked over, we were seated immediately, on the terrace outside. It was picture perfect out there! I ordered the seafood risotto, which I loved! Thankfully the seafood part was just shrimp, and nothing still had its head on it-whew. It was maybe too 3 of my favorite meals. Mom just got grilled veggies and I swear the waiter looked like he was actively having a coronary when he couldn’t talk her into adding something else lol-poor buddy.

After dinner, we perused the little shops on the way to a pharmacy. At the pharmacy I set up our appointment for our covid test to get into Malta for tomorrow at 6pm. Then we walked over to the lemon tree restaurant for kicks and giggles to see about a reservation for tomorrow. The line to get in was a long one, and when I finally got to ask, the lady said they were booked but if it was just the two of us we could come tomorrow at exactly 7 and try our luck with being sat-but she couldn’t promise. Hmmm.. ok, we have to be down the road a little at 6 for the tests, so this could work out!

We slowly walked around and meandered back to our room. Today turned out to be incredible, even after I busted my shin and took an unexpected dip first thing this morning. I’d say, all in all, today was a great day. Tomorrow is a free day, so we plan to sleep in and then check out the beach Juan and Caro told us about until it’s time for our covid tests. I think we’re both ready to sleep in after the last 3 early days!