Italy: End (Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi)

After all the students, chaperones, and guides departed the hotel, we took a deep breath preparing to enjoy a couple days in Italy on our own. Our trek from the hotel to the nearest subway station was surprisingly treacherous, the pavement was super uneven and there were often so sidewalks or crosswalks as we walked along busy roads. Thankfully, the boys helped me with my suitcase. 

This Airbnb was possibly the best we've ever experienced! I highly recommend. The host met us with pastries and Prosecco. He gave us a kind and caring explanation of the apartment and many tourist resources.

Boys relax and decompress after a pretty hectic week!

view from the apartment balcony

One of the many resources offered by our host were low/no cost walking tours. He had the locations mapped out on a linked Google map, as well as brief descriptions of the stops. One such tour he recommended we do in the evening, and so we took an evening stroll in Rome. We were able to catch these lovely vistas as the sun was setting. 

Giardino degli Aranci

[The Orange Garden]

Temple of Hercules Victor - Dating back to the 2nd century BC, this is the oldest surviving marble building in all of Rome. It survived the fall of Rome because it was repurposed as a Christian church.

These handy street fountains kept us hydrated - convenient and appreciated.

late dinner

Tiber Island - known for medicine and its hospital 

The next day, we did another of the hosts suggested walking tours. 

This one took us to the Trevi Fountain.

Another stop - Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola known for its optical illusion 3D dome painted on a flat surface.

The Pantheon (c.125AD), known for its massive unreinforced concrete dome and central oculus. Originally a pagan temple dedicated to many gods, it has also survived because it was designated a Christian Church.

Famous master painter Raphael is buried here, as well as the first two kings of unified Italy.

We found ourselves in need of a restaurant recommendation after the Pantheon. Fantastic Airbnb host to the rescue. This lunch was fabulous. Italy's reputation for delicious food is not an exaggeration according to our field research.

We strolled along Via dei Fori Imperiali one last time as we wrapped up our day. We got to take a closer look at the Forum, see the Colosseum one more time, which was lovely and captivating. 

exhausted

Again, our fabulous host hooked us up. His son drove us about 2-1/2 hours to Pompeii and Amalfi!! I mean, we had to pay him, but it was less expensive than if we went through a tour group, and the guy was super nice. We really appreciated his expert, assertive but safe, driving, especially over the mountain road that connects Pompeii to Amalfi.

Pompeii Forum

originated in the 4th century BC and destroyed in the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius

casts of victims

When the bodies of decomposed under the hardened volcanic ash, they left voids. Beginning in 1863, archeologists began filling those voids with plaster to better capture their final moments. These casts were haunting and fascinating.

Pompeii

We were in a bit of a time crunch, so we had enough time to get to Amalfi and return home at a decent hour since we had a super early flight home the next day. I wish I would have prepared more for our time in Pompeii so it wouldn't have felt so panicked (to me, not my family) as we were wrapping up our time there. 

Speaking of not having enough time, we would definitely like to spend more time on the Amalfi coast. There were so many cute coastal towns in this area. Definitely worth returning. Our first order of business was to walk out on the pier to get a better look at the stunning mountains, water, and buildings. Just an overall perfect vista...

Ryan tempted the phone fates when his phone fell but landed precariously on rocks and did NOT go into the water. It would have been gone forever, but miraculously, he was able to carefully extract it. Phew!

Ryan and Evan sit on the pier (bottom center)

💖

We really only had time to walk up and down one cute street. It was perfect, but like I mentioned, we may have to return someday. 🤞

Evan sips a lemon spritz at our seafood lunch.

To cool off, and because churches were a major trip theme, we toured Duomo di Sant'Andrea.

I think this is Burke's favorite picture from the trip - very holy!

Before heading back to Rome, I really wanted to put my feet in the water, so we walked down to Mandingo Beach. Perfect way to wrap up the trip!

Bye, Italy! 🇮🇹

Our perfect host arranged a 4:00 AM taxi for us to head to Fiumicino Airport. We had a bit of an issue with the driver, whose "card reader wasn't working" and we had to use an ATM to get more Euros. That was annoying way to begin our travel day, but the rest of the day went pretty smoothly (aside from the landing at O'Hare, began our decent but then started climbing again which was a little freaky). As we drove home from Chicago, Ryan was working out if he could get to a musical rehearsal (spoiler: he wasn't able to). Then, Burke and Evan had to leave for a travel baseball game at 6:00AM the next day, so quickly back to reality. For my part, after about 3 days back at home I Googled "how long does jet lag last". I was exhausted, emotional, and brain foggy for about a week. I was excited to see Artie and we needed to stop spending money, but otherwise, was sad for this adventure to end. Until next time...