Capri: An Italian Paradise

Are you visiting Rome and looking for a weekend trip? Are you just looking for a relaxing vacation in an exotic location? If yes, then Capri is the place for you! It is the postcard-perfect vision of shimmering crystal blue water up against tall cliffs. It is the most visited of the islands in the Bay of Naples that can be reached by ferry from Naples and Sorrento. The ferries dock at Marina Grande and from there it is a short ride up to Capri, the main town. Another bus ride takes you up to the island's second settlement, Anacapri. If the bus line is too long, you can also take one of the cute convertible taxis.

For the best view on the island, take the seggiovia chairlift up from Piazza Vittoria to the summit of Mt Solaro, Capri's highest point. This was the best ride of my life! The single-seater chairlift is such a peaceful ride that allows you to take in the beauty of this island. Once you get to the top you can walk around, have a drink and snack at the bar and then head back down. The chairlift is open from 9AM-5PM Mar-Oct and 9AM-3PM Nov-Feb and costs €10.

If you have a good group of people, I recommend taking a private boat tour around the island. We had 15 of us (all American students studying in Rome with my cousin besides me). Even if you have a smaller group, you may be able to get a smaller boat or go on a boat with other people. Our driver showed us all of the Grottos on the island. When we approached the most famous Blue Grotto we realized that the line was too long and it would take at least two hours to see (downfall of going in the middle of summer). It costs €12.50 to take a boat into the Blue Grotto which is open from 9AM-3PM. Although we didn't get to go in, our driver showed us pictures of the stunning sea cave illuminated by blue light. He explained that it was best visited in the morning. Also note that the grotto is not open when seas are rough or tides are high. If you ask, your driver may even take you to one of the best cliff jumping sites on the island. We went to two separate locations but only the boys were brave enough to climb the tallest cliff.

Lighthouse by Faro Beach

Cliff Diving near Faro Beach

Blue Grotto- Taken by my cousin on her first visit to Capri.

Keep your eye out for this rock formation that looks like an elephant

Cliff Jumping at Faro Beach

There are a few beaches on the island. The two that we hung out on were the Marina Grande Beach and Faro. Marina Grande is the busiest beach because it is right by the main boating dock. This is the largest beach on the island and is suitable for children. Since this beach got noticeably crowded, we decided to try Faro, a beach by the lighthouse. Speaking to the locals, this was their favorite beach because not a lot of tourists know about it. This is also the only spot on the island where the gorgeous sunset over the Mediterranean can be enjoyed with a cocktail in hand. Although it isn't very big, it was a great time to jump off the rocks and grab a few drinks at the cafes.

Faro Beach

Marina Grande Beach

Faro Beach

Other things to see on your visit:
Gardens of Augustus: Admission: €1 Hours:9AM-1 hour before sunset
Enjoy breathtaking views from the garden
Jupiter's Villa: Admission: €2 Hours: 9AM-1 hour before sunset
Was the largest of the island's 12 Roman villas and was Tiberius' main Capri residence. Gives a good idea of the scale on which the emperor liked to live.


If you are seeing Capri, it is also worth the trip to Mt. Vesuvius (and the towns of Pompeii & Herculaneum)

Rome Had Its Ups and Downs

I was so excited to arrive in Rome! I was visiting my cousin who was studying abroad there for the summer. Well, my initial excitement only lasted about 40 minutes after arriving at the airport. How would you like to lose your passport on the first day of a week-long trip? That's right, it happened to me. We took a taxi from the airport to my cousin's apartment when we found out that the bus wasn't running anymore that night. I had a suitcase, a small black back that contained all of my documents (passport, visa, IDs, etc) as well as my cosmetics/toiletries, and my purse. We were focused on paying the driver and getting out in the busy traffic that we totally forgot the little black bag that was sitting between us. It was only 5 minutes later that I realized what just happened. I panicked and started to cry. All that was going through my head at the moment was me thinking I would be stuck in Italy for a long time. There was no way I would be getting my bag back. There are a million taxi cabs in Rome. They all look alike and there is no lost-and-found for the companies. After many phone calls and filing a police report, I was told that there was a slim chance of me ever seeing my passport again, especially that week. This was not the way I wanted to start off my week! After calming myself down, I just wanted to think about something else and deal with the situation later. So, my cousin introduced me to her roommates and we went out to eat and have drinks. Walking around the city definitely calmed me down. There is so much history and beauty that it was easy to start focusing on having a good time.
My advice to everyone: Always check and triple check that you have EVERYTHING before you get off of any mode of transportation. Count how many bags you have to keep track of. Every place I have gone after this, I am continually asking everyone I am with if they have everything. It gets extremely repetitive but I'd rather everyone be annoyed with me than them having to go through what I did. Luckily, there was a U.S. Embassy in Rome and they were able to get me an emergency passport. It wasn't ideal taking a day out of our trip to deal with this, but I felt so much better knowing that it was taken care of and that I could enjoy the rest of my time in Rome. When I got back to England, I had to take care of the Visa process again.

Okay, finally now onto my trip! It is hard to put this blog into a play-by-play since we spent a lot of our time relaxing and doing things with her friends. After all, they were taking college classes so had to spend some time every day studying. So, I am just going to tell you my favorite places in Rome.

1. Colosseum- I don't think anyone should go to Rome without visiting the oval amphitheater located in the center of the city. Completed in 80AD, the Colosseum is the largest amphitheater ever built, holding between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas. Although partially destroyed due to damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome.

The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. You can get there by the metro stop Colosseo on the B line. Even in the middle of a summer day, I didn't think that the line was too long to purchase tickets. My cousin visited numerous times during the summer and she said that the guided tour wasn't all that great. Even when I was walking around without a tour, I could still hear what the tour guides were telling their tours. However, if you are really wanting to know detailed information or aren't too familiar with the history of the Colosseum, go for the guided tour! I would suggest buying tickets in advance though if you know exactly what day you would like to visit. If you are a last-minute type of person, this is definitely a visit that I would want to save for a sunny day. Visiting the Colosseum is also something I would recommend doing in the day and at night if you have time to get the pretty view of it all lit up. Be sure to go up the stairs across from the entrance to get a great view.

Adult Ticket €12 Child Ticket €7.50 (includes Roman Forum and Palatine Hill)
Audioguide €5.50  
Tour €5
Hours: 8:30 AM-1 hour before sunset

Additional Tips:

• Buy your ticket from the Palatine entrance or the Roman Forum to beat the queues
• Get the Roma Pass, which is valid for three days at a bunch of sites for €30 (free admission to two museums or sites (choose from a list of 45), as well as reduced entry to extra cites, unlimited city transport and discounted entry to other exhibitions and events)
• Book your ticket online

2.  Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
 Holy ruins! This was crazy to look at. The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. I was fascinated by the remaining structures. The site fell into ruin by the Romans after the Roman Empire. Palatine Hill offers a stunning view of the Forum. When I visited, no ticket was necessary to get into the forum although if you are going to the Colosseum it is included in the ticket. There wasn't any information displayed so I was lucky enough to have my cousin with me who had already done a
tour. Without a tour, it is hard to know the significance of what you are looking at.

Ticket Price and Times is same as the Colosseum

3. The Vatican- 20 minutes from the center of Rome is the Vatican, the world's smallest sovereign state. You could probably spend an entire day here visiting St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, Vatican Museums, and Castle Sant'Angelo. Since my cousin had already been in most of these places and the lines were forever long, we decided just to visit St. Peter's Square and Sant'Angelo Castle (she had not been yet). Even though I didn't go in everything, I will still give a little bit of information passed along by my cousin:
St. Peter's Square- This is the Vatican's central space which from above resembles a keyhole.
Closest Metro: Ottaviano-San Pietro 

St. Peter's Basilica- This is Italy's biggest, richest, and most spectacular church. I was bummed that I didn't get to go inside but I was already planning on coming back to Rome with my husband so I was trying to save some things to see and do with him. You can climb the dome up to the basilica's atrium. If you are going during a peak period, expect long lines!

 Hours: 7 AM to 7 PM April-Sept, 7AM-6:30 PM Oct-March
Admission is Free!
At 11 AM on Wednesday, the Pope addresses his flock at the Vatican. Apply for free tickets here.
The Pope also blesses the crowd in St. Peter's Square on Sunday at noon - no tickets required.

Vatican Museums- To see one of the world's greatest art collections, visit the Vatican Museums which are located in the Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano. If you are only there for the day, you will have to pick and choose what to see since there are about 7km of exhibits. Here you can see the Sistine Chapel, home to two of the world's most celebrated works of art - Michaelangelo's ceiling and his Last Judgment piece.

Hours: 9AM-6PM Mon-Sat, 9AM-2PM last Sunday of month
Price: Adult €16 Child Free & Free to all on the last Sunday of the month
Book tickets in advance here
Tips: Afternoon is less crowded than the morning. Avoid Mondays, when many other museums are shut.

Photos taken by my cousin

Castle Sant'Angelo- If you have time, visit this cylindrical tower that was converted by the popes in the 14th century from a mausoleum to a castle and fortress.

Hours: April-September 9AM-7PM Tuesday-Sunday Closed on Mondays & Public Holidays
October-March 9AM-2PM Tuesday-Sunday Closed on Mondays & Public Holidays
Price: Adults- €8

View of St. Peter's Basilica

4. Trevi Fountain- This is Rome's largest and most famous fountain. Go there and throw a coin into the fountain which resembles that you will return to Rome someday.
Closest Metro: Barberini

Fun Fact: About €3,000 is tossed in daily

 5. Pantheon- This is another FREE attraction, although you can purchase an audio-guide for €5 if you wish. The Pantheon is a striking 2,000-year-old temple that is now a church. It is the best preserved of ancient Rome's great monuments. The dome is considered the Romans' greatest architectural achievement and was the largest until the 15th century.
Hours: 8:30AM-7:30PM Mon-Sat, 9AM-6PM Sun

6. Spanish Steps- I don't really understand why, but the Spanish Steps have been a tourist attraction since the 18th century. The steps rise above Piazza di Spagna and were named after the Spanish embassy to the Holy See, although they lead to a French church. At the foot of the steps is the fountain of a sinking boat.
Closest Metro: Spagna

7. Trastevere- This is the neighborhood in Rome where my cousin was living for the summer. It is a great location with so much to see, eat, and experience. Walk the streets and you will find ruins all over the place.

Italy, of course, is known for its food! There are GREAT Italian restaurants everywhere. Be sure to get some gelato for dessert! One of our favorite restaurants was Tony's Hostaria del Moro in Trastevere. So many people were recommending us to this restaurant. Tony is an amazing and friendly Italian who loves taking care of his customers. This restaurant serves BIG portions too.

What I'm about to recommend next might sound a little weird but I wouldn't recommend it if it wasn't AMAZING! Not many people think of going into an Irish Pub in Italy but we were also recommended to go to Abbey Theatre. Now, what's going to sound weirder is that we went there for their €1 tacos (offered Tuesdays and Thursdays). Yes. Tacos. They were DELICIOUS! Living in England, I was missing some good Mexican food so this satisfied my craving. Not just once, but twice...I went there on Tuesday and Thursday. They also play live Irish music weekly. Go there if you want a break from the Italian food.


Besides getting gelato every night, stop by the  Fries shop to get delicious homemade french fries with a HUGE variety of sauces. The fries are served hot. It is only €3 for the small size and it is a big enough portion for two people (unless you're greedy like me and can eat them all). This is also a perfect mid-day snack!







I could literally go on for hours about things to do in Rome but these were my top highlights. Knowing that I would be going back with my husband, I didn't want to see everything on this trip. Comment below with any recommendations for my next visit!

Also, checkout my next blog on my weekend trip to Capri, Italy! If you have the time, GO THERE!

Check out my next blog on Capri, Italy...a.k.a. PARADISE

Exploring Wales: Snowdonia and Conwy

What an adventurous trip! My husband was getting a little over the sight-seeing aspect of cities and wanted to do something active in a new country. So I looked up a few things to do outdoors, and Wales is the place I decided on. There is SO much to do there, from the beaches to the mountains to everything in between. If you are like my husband and want to go somewhere other than a touristy city, Wales is the place to go! We were spontaneous and just went the next weekend. We spent a Saturday in Snowdonia and then drove to Conwy on Sunday before heading home that night. Snowdonia is a region in northwest Wales concentrated around the mountains and glaciers of Snowdonia National Park. The park's historic Snowdon Mountain Railway climbs to the summit of Wales's highest mountain, Mount Snowdon, offering views across the sea to Ireland. The park is also home to an extensive network of trails, over 100 lakes, and mountain peaks.

Accommodation:  The Dragon B&B and Restaurant
We stayed in Betws-y-Coed, which is a village located in the Conwy valley. I thought it was a terrific location! The room was a good size. However, the room smelled a little bit. The complementary breakfast was a traditional welsh breakfast. If you are like me, and don't want beans and vegetables for breakfast, they also offered cereal, fruit, yogurt and bread.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Zipworld to do the Bounce Below adventure. This was the coolest thing ever! Bounce Below is the first facility of its kind in the world, located at the Zip World Titan site. Hidden underground in a 176-year old cavern, is this subterranean playground, installed with HUGE bouncy trampoline-like nets. The whole place is lit up with different color lights allowing you to see all around the cave. The activity is one-hour session but make sure you arrive 30 minutes early to check-in and get instructions. Also make sure to wear clothes that cover your entire body from the neck down or you will need to wear a suit. This is because you slide down ropes and they don't want you to get rope burn. Bounce Below is open year round although they are closed right now for reconstruction. They are putting in new nets and bigger slides made of metal that will allow for more speed. I can't wait to go back!! Watch the video to get an idea of how much fun you could have! Be prepared to get out of breath in 10 minutes. It is exhausting but you can take a break whenever you'd like. I took several :)

 

Zip World also offers many other adventures including: Velocity Zip Line (the longest zip line in Europe and the fastest in the world), Titan Zip Line (the first 4 person zip line in Europe), adventure course (unique and exciting high ropes course), and caverns (an underground rope course adventure), as well as a couple other activities. This is awesome because it is for all ages! I highly recommend booking in advance, especially during the summer time.

caerblaidd.com

After our excitement in the caverns, we drove to Snowdon Mountain to get started on our hike. We are not hikers! In fact, this was our first time hiking with a purpose. My husband grew up in the N.C. mountains so he loves to be outdoors but the mountains in North Carolina are filled with so many trees, it is hard to get a good view. In Wales, some of the mountains don't have any trees, they are just marshy and filled with lots of rocks. We found a parking lot and then set out on our hike at noon. We brought two sandwiches each and 3 large water bottles. Our goal was to get to the Cantilever stone at the summit of Glyder Fach. The thing is, we didn't have much of a plan. We bought a map at one of the hotels and just decided to wing it. Little did we know, there was an actual cut-out path that would have made our journey a LOT easier. Well, we took on a challenge. The first mountain we climbed was extremely steep.
I don't know how the sheep do it (they were everywhere). Once we got to the top of that mountain we could see the mountain that we actually wanted to climb. We walked down our mountain, around the pond, and started climbing the very marshy mountain full of prickers.

We took a break on this rock for lunch

First climb

I had on capris which was a bad call. My legs were getting all torn up. Had we gone up the trail from the beginning, it wouldn't have mattered. I'm sure if we went in the middle of the summer, there would have been more people and it would have been easier to see everyone on the path. However, we were going up the steepest route and we couldn't really see that others knew something that we didn't. About two hours into our hike, we started noticing more people, and they were all walking in the same place. We realized that they were walking much faster than we were. Seriously, we were struggling not to step in holes or trip over rocks. We decided to head toward them. Once we got close, we felt really silly once we saw that there was a perfectly cut out trail that went straight up the mountain. No more dealing with bushes or muddy grass! The rocks were a little uneven so we still had too look down but man, oh, man did this hike seem like a piece of cake now. The sad thing is that we just wasted two hours of daylight. We knew that sun would start setting at 4 PM and was supposed to be completely dark by 5 PM.

Jumping rocks at the water fall

We still had a long way up. We started to calculate how long it would take us to get up and come back down. At 3 PM, we still felt like there was a lot more mountain to climb until we got to the cantilever. We didn't want to chance getting stuck in the dark so we sadly decided to turn around once we reached the waterfall. We spoke to a few people who were headed down, and they said that it was about an hour more to the top. If we found the trail at the beginning, we definitely would have made it. So next time we know to start our hike earlier and now we know the quickest way to get there.

We could see the ocean from here

On our way back down we saw some hang gliders running off of the mountain. We stopped to watch some of them and then continued down. We got to the bottom in about an hour. We were disappointed we didn't reach our goal but we are using it as a reason to go back and hike again!


Since we still had a little bit of daylight, we stopped at Swallow Falls on our way back. I was a little annoyed to find out that it cost £1 to view it. I've never had to pay to see nature before so thought it was a little weird. It's also not a waterfall that you can't get real close to since they have railings and signs that tell you not to swim. If you've seen some amazing waterfalls, you won't be too impressed and it may not be something that you would want to take the time to visit.

Next, we dropped off our backpacks at the hotel and then walked down the road to Pont Y Pair Inn. This is also a B&B and restaurant with a bar. The homemade food was fresh and delicious! My husband ordered tomato soup for a starter and he said it was the best tomato soup he's ever had. I had the vegetable soup and I also thought it was extremely tasty. Both of our main courses were also good. The bar was crowded since they were playing the Wales vs England soccer (football) game on the TVs. It was a bit noisy but we were seated in another room from the bar so it wasn't too bad.


On Sunday morning we ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel and then drove to Conwy, which was only 30 minutes north of Snowdonia. We parked in a long-stay parking lot right near Conwy Castle. We were lucky enough to be visiting on a weekend that they were offering free entry. It usually costs £7.95 for an adult ticket. This medieval castle was breath-taking with its high towers and curtain walls. It is situated right on the water with great views of the mountains.

Across from the castle, is a boating dock. Along the water were lots of food vendors, as well as restaurants. We got fish and chips from one of the restaurants and sat on a bench near the water. We were blessed with another beautiful day. In this same area, was the Smallest House in Great Britain. This is something that you must visit if you are in town! To take a look inside, it costs 50p for children and £1 for adults. It is open from 10AM to 4PM in the spring and autumn and open longer in the summer. It is just 72 inches wide and 122 inches high. It was occupied until May 1900. It was extremely hard to imagine a family of four living in it. There was just enough room for a single bed, a fireplace, and a coal bunker. The ladies out front were very kind and were there to answer your questions before entering and give you a little history of the house.

We were sad to leave Wales but the weekend had come to an end. It was a perfect weekend getaway. It only took us 4-5 hours to get there and back home so it was definitely worth it! Check back to see what travel blog I post next!