mini cars in Europe

timeless Amalfi Coast, Italy

Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

A two-and-a-half hour commuter train from Rome to Naples. Easy, right? Kinda. Then a metro-style train ride from Naples to Sorrento. Even easier, right? NO. NO NO NO. While waiting for the Circumvesuviana train, a gypsy woman approached us begging for money, but what I didn’t immediately notice was that her boob was out and a baby was sucking on it. Yeah, she’s definitely got the shock factor down. Then on the train a gypsy woman opened Margo’s zipped tote bag and attempted to rob her. Luckily to no avail. And soon after we witnessed a fight between gypsies. And also saw the ugliest person either of us has ever seen in our lives (not trying to be mean, it’s just a sad fact…she had a beard). We ultimately stood for an hour, in wall-to-wall people (including a massive group of Asian tourists), to get to Sorrento. Oh, and then we got there and quickly realized we weren’t  where we need to be, and had to take a 20-euro cab to the hostel. So what did we do? Slept the rest of the day. Obvi. Fail numero dos of the trip. Our hostel (which was super modern but luckily our two-person room was great with a wonderful view of the coast) was a 35 minute walk from the main town square in Sorrento, but we trekked over there for a nice pizza dinner.

Sunday morning, we woke up at a decent hour and headed to Pompeii. Beautiful weather once again while exploring the incredible remains of the ancient city, all beautifully preserved in ash after the explosion of Mount Vesuvius. I was really fascinated by Pompeii as a kid, so this was pretty darn cool. We expored the ruins for two hours, and as afternoon hit and we got more and more confused (shoulda bought the audio guides), we decided to head back to town and hit the beach. We got about an hour of sun in before clouds filled the sky, but it’s really something to be sunbathing on the Italian coast. I just loved the beauty of the cliffs hanging over the Mediterranean. Swoon.

We decided to head to the town square for gelato before cleaning up at the hotel and researching dinner options. After drinks at the hostel (a 10% discount for staying there, how could we not?) we headed to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant we had heard about online. Oh. My. God. The owner was an old (yet still dashing) blue-eyed Italian man who (according to a website) knew English but refused to speak anything but Italian. The six-table restaurant was full, so he showed us on his watch when we should come back. 11 pm. Oh man, I’m so glad we waited. Not only was the young waiter tall, dark, and handsome, but the food was delicious.

Monday we set off for Positano, known as the most beautiful town on the Amalfi Coast. What we didn’t know ahead of time is that a landslide had closed the coastal road from Sorrento to Positano. What we also didn’t know is that Italian buses are notoriously off-schedule. So that’s how we ended up standing for two hours on a bus that traversed the mountains and cliffsides and that ended up in Amalfi, not Positano. Another thing we didn’t know was that you need to take a bus from Amalfi to Positano, and that day very few were running. So we waited, determined to make it to the fabled Positano. It ultimately took us FIVE hours to get from Sorrento to Positano. It should have taken an hour and half. That’s Italy for you.

Luckily, Positano didn’t disappoint. It is gorgeous. Really. A town built right onto the steep cliffs hanging precariously over the turquoise water of the Med. And in 80 degree weather, it’s even better. We were in heaven. We paid for beach chairs, and with tanning oil (and sunscreen) in hand, we basked the day away in the sun, taking occasional dips in the sea to cool off. Totally worth the trek.

We ended up waiting for a bus to get back to Amalfi, where we luckily made onto the last bus heading back to Sorrento, thank God. It was very surreal, just us and two Italian girls, an Italian couple, and the bus driver. We arrived back to Sorrento at midnight, starved, so we stopped for a late dinner at a pizza/pasta joint. Nothing to write home about, but it hit the spot.

We were terrified for the next day, having met an older Australian woman—“Diane”—in  Amalfi who told us we might have a hard time getting back to Rome in time for our 2 pm flight since May 1 was a national holiday. Which is why we woke up at 4:30 am to pack and catch the first train over to Naples. Yes, misery is what that’s called. We were quite the sight. Luckily Diane was dead wrong, and all was business as usual. We quickly bought train tickets to Rome and arrived at the airport four hours before takeoff.

Despite our myriad hellish transportation experiences, we made it back to Madrid after having an overall wonderful trip. Such incredible food all around (pasta, pizza, gelato, cappuccinos), amazing sights, and ample beach time. Now I can’t wait to take middle-aged style vacations when I’m actually middle-aged.

the best Roman eats in Rome, Italy

street scenes in Rome, Italy

graphic Rome, Italy

first look at Rome, Italy

When I went to Rome with my family in eighth grade, I didn’t like it. I thought it was a dirty city with good food but not much else. Honestly, I don’t what was wrong with me. Maybe my 13-year-old puberty-ridden hormones were running amuck and brainwashing me, because Rome is anything but dirty and boring. A girlfriend and I decided to spend a recent long weekend (due to university holidays and European labor day) taking a six-day, five-night trip to Rome and the Amalfi coast. You might be thinking, but why, Kat? It’s not your honeymoon, or your 25th marriage anniversary, so why are you taking THIS trip? And yes, I would agree with you—this is a trip typically taken by older American or Australian couples, not two college girls. But what can I say? We’re classy ladies (at times), and we enjoyed many an encounter with middle-aged peeps. (The best one involved an inquiry, spoken in a thick Australian accent, regarding the whereabouts of his “settings” folder on his iPhone; he incredulously told us, “My daughter sent me a message saying it might be in a folder…where do you think that might be?”)

Our trip, however, despite its classiness, was not without flaws. We arrived to Rome on our first day, checked into our hostel (where we got a nice two-person bedroom), and, having both gotten no sleep the night before, promptly slept the rest until 8pm that night. Fail. Luckily we more than made up for our laziness with a superb dinner that night at Hostaria Romana, with an amazing antipasto platter and perfectly cooked pasta (Oh yeah, and we were most definitely approached by two middle-aged American couples, on separate occasions. One of the couples kept exclaiming over our choice of study and advising us that life goes too quickly. Gotta love American friendliness.) We then checked out the magical Trevi fountain at night (and obviously threw coins in over our backs), and later attempted to go clubbing, which was an epic fail so we headed home early. 

The next day was perhaps one of the most productive travel days I have ever had in my life. Margo and I got up early and headed to the Colosseum. We were lucky to also hit some of the best weather I’ve ever experienced while traveling. It was between 70 and 80 degrees the entire trip, with a nice breeze the majority of the time. I rocked sundresses and sandals and got a sunburn. We explored the Colosseum and the other ruins, and then decided to stop back at the hostel before taking the bus across town to Saint Peter’s Square. We skipped going inside the Basilica, having both been before, and instead wandered around the Vatican and into the surrounding neighborhoods, eventually ending up at a hole-in-the-wall pizza place for some awesomely cheap eats. We walked our butts off that day, next heading to get a view of the river. We decided to go over to the Pantheon, but on the way stopped for a quick cappuccino in a neighborhood of adorable windy streets. Then we booked it over to the world-famous Giolotti, where Michelle Obama took her girls and where the pope used to order tubs of gelato. Let’s just say it did not disappoint. A tradition specific to Rome, they put freshly whipped cream on top of your gelato. I about died of happiness, and in the hot sun my chocolate and hazelnut scoops ended up melting all over my cone, hands, and jean jacket. For about ten minutes, I felt like I was six years old. It was glorious. Next up was the Pantheon, and after that we zipped off to the Spanish Steps (a pit stop was needed for some aloe vera and sunscreen—oops). 

It being our last night in Rome, we did it big for dinner and went to a New York Times recommended restaurant, Al Bric, and I had without a doubt the best pasta I’ve had in my life.  (Oh, and we scoured the wine list, full of thousands of wines worldwide, for the cheapest bottle. College student win). We then checked out the beautiful Piazza Navona before heading back to the hostel to hit the hay. The next morning we needed to head out early to get to Sorrento, and getting there turned out to be a major adventure in itself. To be continued…

hills around Granada, Spain

springtime in Granada, Spain

color story in Granada, Spain

springtime in Salamanca, Spain