Travel Adventures- Amalfi Coast, Italy

As usual, sorry I haven't posted much recently! I want to try and finish off these travel posts from my summer holiday so that I can more onto other content, and especially some more Christmassy bits and pieces. 

So our next stop on the cruise was Napels, and we decided to rather drive all along down the Amalfi coast, which was absolutely stunning and one of my favourite places on this trip! Driving along the coast through narrow windy roads that are super high-up on the mountains, just a barrier away from the deep cliff down to the sea is just so beautiful and picturesque. The sea was so beautifully blue and endless, and you can see for miles ahead all the upcoming little fishing villages and towns. If you're looking for stunning views, this is definitely the place to be. 

The first place we stopped at was this really sweet little Italian town called Positano. The whole town is situated on a steep mountain side (as most of the towns in this area are), and so to get down to the beach, you walk down the one main road that winds and weaves its way all the way down to the pebbled beach. The bottom half of this road is mainly for pedestrians only, so you park right up near the top and walk down. All along the sides of the road there are cute little shops, restaurants and gelato stops and other touristy places. It was so lovely to just take our time walking down and explore some of these places. The region is also known for their lemons, so make sure to try so delicious lemon granita or limoncello! As for the beach itself, the shore is made of black pebbles, which despite being super pretty, isn't ideal in terms of comfort, and does get really hot on a hot day, but the water was absolutely beautiful! Its so cool to swim in the sea right there and look up the mountainside that this whole town is built on, looming above you. We didn't have too long in Positano, but I absolutey loved it, and it seemed like a really relaxing place to spend a while, and there looked like there were some lovely places to stay. 

We continued to drive further along the coast to our next stop, Sorento. Sorento is actually quite different from Positano but the coast is equally as wonderful! I really enjoyed wandering through the town here, and we also had some of the most delicious pizza, as only Italy can do! There is also one really long street (I seem to have forgotten the name of it) that is known to be packed with loads of shops and retail stores, some touristy, some a bit more authentic. The road is colourful and loud and really lovely to have a wander down. It's packed with shops of all types- clothing, leather, touristy trinkets, lemon products of all kinds and lots more, so thats also a lovely thing to do while there. 

Another thing that's quite cool to do if you're anywhere near Napels of the Amalfi Coast is to visit Pompeii, as it isn't too far away and is just so interesting. Pompeii's ancient ruins of a city that once was, is just so fascinating and really not like anything I'd experienced before. I think the best way to see and understand the place and its history is actually to get a tour guide or pamphlet of sorts, as without it we were a bit lost as to what to do first, and what meant what, but despite this, it was really so fascinating and a cool, interesting thing to do. 

The Amalfi coast just had this wonderful charm to it and really captured my heart. Italy is filled with vibrance and vitality, and I just really loved experiencing this part of it and these sweet little towns. 

Pompeii

Travel Adventures- Rome, Italy

Rome is a city that is pretty close to my heart, and one that I'd not only been to before, but know kind of well because I lived in the central city for a week whilst on exchange, and also visited about 3 other times on that same trip. But there is always so much to see, and it never gets old or uninteresting, so I was excited to go again. A really lovely thing to do whilst in Rome is catch one of the Hop On Hop Off buses because there's a lot to see, but it is all quite far apart and not everything is within walking distance from each other, so that's a nice easy way to see it all. Otherwise, the metro is pretty easy to understand and use, and the main attractions are indicated at the various stops where you need to get off, so that works as well (just watch and hold onto your bags). 

One of my favourite attractions in Rome is the Trevi Fountain. It was absolutely packed due to the usual summer tourists, but the sculpture work itself and beautiful blue water is really so pretty, and worth seeing. A lot of lovely shops and restaurants are located quite close to the fountain, especially in the back alleys/roads in and around that area. Also, a close-by 15 minute walk away is the Pantheon, which is a huge building with a large round hole in the centre of it's roof. I'm afraid I don't know too much about its' history, but it's pretty cool to go and see. Also, in one of the roads up from the Pantheon is a very well known ice-cream shop with some of the best gelato I've ever had and over 100 flavours!! 

Another lovely attraction to go and see is the Spanish Steps. The walk up is a little tiring but completely worth it to see the lovely view of the roof tops and skyline of Rome. In the main road across from the steps is the main road for all things expensive and high-fashion shopping with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Givenchy and the works- great for window shopping, not so much for the budget! 

The Roman Forum and Colosseum are also a must-see if it's your first time in Rome. From my experience, the queues to get into the Colosseum are nightmarish, so go at a more quiet time, or early morning, but it's definitely worth a peek inside, and the history of the building is absolutely fascinating. The Roman Forum is a big region outside the Colosseum with ruins from ancient Rome, it is not ideal for a hot day as it is a lot of walking and standing around, but if you're a history-lover, it's definitely for you. 

Another must-see in Rome is The Vatican. Specifically St. Peter's Basilica, which is free to the public and is honestly one of the most overwhelming and stunning buildings I have ever been into. Make sure to wear clothing that covers your shoulders, midriff and knees though. The basilica is huge and has the most stunning sculptures, mosaics and embellishments I've ever seen. It is also completely stunning to walk up the 1000s of steps to the top of the basilica's dome to see the completely-worth-it view over the whole city of Rome. Also in The Vatican is the Sistine chapel, which is also absolutely stunning- the painting on the roof is completely awesome and definitely something worth seeing despite the hours of queues. In this area, there are also a lot of touristy shops if you need to do some gift shopping and some lovely restaurants with delicious authentic Italian pizza, pasta and bruschetta, just to name a few (oh my goodness, I love Italian food). 

Rome is quite overwhelming in it's size and expanse, and also how much history it has and the loads of tourist attractions there are to see, but they definitely are all worth it. Everytime I have been there it has been absolutely sweltering, as that's what you get when you combine European summer with a huge city, so be prepared for a lot of walking and sweating, and also an absolutely wonderful city with loads to do and see. 

Pics of the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain: 

Pics of The Vatican 

St. Peter's Basillica

View from the top of the dome of St. Peter's

Pics of the Colosseum and Roman Forum

Travel Adventures- Cinque Terre, Italy

Next stop on the cruise was at Livorno port nearby Florence, Italy. Myself and a couple of my family members had already been to Florence, and so we decided to rather drive up to Cinque Terre, which is only about an hour's drive to the closest port. This was one of the places I was most looking forward to because Cinque Terre has recently become very popular among travellers of all kinds, and I knew a few people who had been and raved about it! It's basically in northern Italy along the west coast, and consists of 5 headlands/capes of rocky land jutting out into the ocean, with these really sweet, pretty little 5 towns located between them. The only way (as far as I could gather) to get between them is by train (through the mountain) or ferry, we opted for both. So we drove up to Porto Venere, which is a cute little city right at the bottom of the cape (and not actually part of Cinque Terre), where we wondered around for a bit. It has a lovely promenade and right at the end there is a church called St. Peter's, which is really beautiful and has the most stunning views out on the water and up in the direction of the Cinque Terre. You can also walk back through the little town from the church and see the cute little authentic shops and colourful buildings forming narrow alleyways. 

From Porto Venere, we caught a ferry up to the top little village of Monterosso. The whole trip was about an hour and really very pretty. Monterosso's beach front is lined with beach chairs and umbrellas all along the cobbled beaches, and was absolutely packed. We could barely find a spot on the beach to put down our stuff, but the swim in the sea was definitely worth it! This region is also meant to be known for their pesto, so we then set out on a mission to find some pesto pasta for lunch. We succeeded, and I can undoubtedly say this was the best pesto I've ever had, yuuum! We wondered along the main beachfront street for a while, looking in at some of the clothes shops, etc. and then headed up to the train station to catch a short train to Riomaggiore. RIomaggiore is so stunning, its right all the way up the steep mountain side and is filled with loads of buildings of all different colours, and steep streets. We wondered up (the walk is a bit of a trek, but definitely manageable and worth it) to get a good look at the view right from the top, which was actually just beyond beautiful! 

We obviously only had a day here, and so could only manage to see two of the 5 "terres", but I've heard that they are all really lovely, and if you stay here for a while, you can also hike between them, which is apparently very cool. So yeah, there' quite bit to do and a ton of beautiful things to see here. Not to mention that Pisa is also pretty close by (maybe like a 45 minute drive or so) as is Florence. 

We all really loved Cinque Terre, it is extremely pretty and had a lot of charm. I will say in mid-summer it was quite touristy and was pretty packed,d but that didn't take away from the experience. 

Portovenere

Monterosso

Riomaggiore

Looking down on Riomaggiore

Let's Live the Crap Out of Life

So, I found this quote by Ryan Adams that started with "There's nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything. Negative people find their walls." And I just really liked that idea, one that was actually really well expressed in another of my favourite quotes by Ernest Hemingway:

I just really like the idea of doing everything you do with everything you have, living the crap out of life. So I was looking through some photos over the last 6 years or so, and I was just reminded of how lucky I am and how happy I am with everything I've been able to do so far. So I'm doing this "Love the crap out of everything" type tag I found, which basically is based on times of extreme emotion, you know like, the happiest moment of your life, or the most beautiful thing you've seen, that type of thing. I just thought it was a cool and inspiring tag, to remind myself of how great life is, and to get excited for everything that is still to come. 

THE HAPPIEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN

Hmm, there have been a couple of moments, but the one that comes to mind first and was the most recent, was finding out that I was accepted into medicine. It just came as such a shock and I wanted it more than anything, but really was sure I wouldn't get in, so that was probably one of the happiest days of my life. 

THE MOST EXCITED YOU'VE EVER BEEN

I think probably, this would be either when I was going overseas for the first proper time in grade 6 with my mom and gran. We were going to visit close family in Canada and then to New York and I was suppper excited! The other time I'm thinking of was for my matric dance (senior prom), it was just such a special night! 

My friends and I at the before party for our dance. 

THE MOST NERVOUS YOU'VE EVER BEEN

This was undoubtedly the night and morning before I got back my matric results. I had finished school for good and everything, and they release them online at 3pm  a month or so later and I was so so so nervous for the whole day. I was very grumpy (hahah my poor family had to be very tolerant that day) and I literally couldn't concentrate on doing anything else. I was so nervous that they would be terrible and that my chances for university would fade away and all that! 

THE HOTTEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN

This is definitely definitely when I went on youth exchange to Italy! I was there mid summer, and one or two consecutive days in particular, I remember walking around in the middle of Rome, with the heat just trapped and heavy between all these big buildings and literally not knowing what to do with myself. It was about 45 degrees (Celsius) and every morning I would wake up feeling almost panicked because it was just so hot, all you could do was have a cold shower. 

My youth exchange group and I in front of the Colosseum.

THE COLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN

I went on a school science trip to Sutherland which is a tiny little town in South Africa, but is also the coldest town in the country, so going mid-winter, I did kind of expect it. But, wow, it was FREEZING! We were there looking at the SALT telescope (largest one in Africa) and so we were out in the cold at night, and I have never been so cold before. It was at the point where we were wearing stockings, leggings and then pants, like 6 layers of jerseys, hats, gloves, socks, all of it, and were still so cold that we literally were shivering! 

MOST DELICIOUS FOOD YOU'VE EVER EATEN     This was definitely on my exchange to Italy! I was there for 6 weeks and everything I ate there was amazing!! But one pizza I had in Venice stands out! I was on a tour type exchange, and so we were a group of about 50 people from all around the world. One day, we went to this restaurant in Venice near the main canal, and were told we could pick from 1 of 4 pizzas (because there were so many of us, etc.) and I ordered a pretty plain one with mozzarella, basil and tomato, quite standard right? But no.... it was the most delicious thing I've ever had, I don't know exactly what it was about it, but plain, simple, delicious food, in an amazing place, with really great people, I was just very happy. 

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN

This is a difficult one, because I don't think I can properly describe to you how absolutely stunning it was! Last June my family and I went to Mauritius for holiday. We went snorkelling pretty much every day and it was always amazing and beautiful. On the one day, the resort guide took a small boat full of us to this place right out of the reef, away from where we usually went. I was pretty scared (I'm very nervous of deeep deep open sea, which this mainly was) and wasn't going to do it, but I'm so glad I did. Looking through my snorkel, underneath the water, it was about 6/7 meters deep (not bad for the open sea!) and like crystal clear, you could just see the entire sea floor covered in colour! The floor was covered in the massive colourful rocks and all around and in between were these exotic, multicoloured fish of all shapes and sizes! They were just beyond beautiful! We saw sea snakes, and massive fish and then tiny ones, and wow, it was just like the most beautiful I've ever seen, although I know my description will come no where near the real thing. 

Mauritius

A MOMENT THAT TOOK YOUR BREATH AWAY

A moment that comes to mind was when I was in Toronto, and we went right up to the top of the CN tower. Up there, they have this glass floor that you can stand on and look down below you, from like 554 meters up! It was just so breath-taking and incredible to see the whole city from so high up, standing on this glass floor! 

SOMETHING YOU REALLY MISS

Being out of school now, most of my closest friends aren't here anymore cause they've gone to different universities, and I really miss them. I miss seeing them at school everyday and the laughs and all that. But also, even when I do get to see them, a lot of them are different, not bad different or anything, just different and I miss how things used to be sometimes. 

Some of my friends and I on Plett Rage after our final exams.

SOMETHING YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO

I am really looking forward to finishing this semester, because it gets a lot easier after June, and I feel like my timetable at the moment is far too hectic and I can't keep up! I am also really excited for the future in general, I can't wait to get further in medicine so I can start working in hospitals and with patients and all that! 

I feel like that quote just sort of sums up what the person who created this tag was thinking- why not just live life to the extreme...

My Travel Wish List - Part 2

Continuing from part 1: 

1) BACK TO ITALY
I really can say this is a country I know well and love. I went to live there for a month and a half on exchange and loved it so so much. I just want to go back. 

2) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I have been here to, to New York (city not state) only though. I love America , I don't know what it is about it, but it is a land of massive variation in terms of landscape and geographical beauty and also has a lot of culture, music and exciting things to offer.

Morning Glory Rainbow Pool, Yellowstone National Park

Las Vegas, Nevada

Hollywood, LA

Disney World, Florida

New Yooorkkk

3) THE DEAD SEA
This just sounds too amazing! I mean you float in it, a sea that everything floats in! Not to mention the massive cultural experience of visiting the surrounding countries and learning about such a different way of life for me. 

4) MEXICO

5) CANADA

I have family living there so that is partly the reason, but I have also been there and really enjoyed it. I really want to ride the Maid of the Mist to the Niagra Falls again!