Christmas Castle in Naples

Because I was in Naples towards the end of November, they were starting to get ready for the Christmas season. As such, there was a local Castle that they dress up with all kinds of decorations at this time of year, and for two weeks turn it into a big local famers/ flea type market.

Every booth there is all hand made.

I could have spent days there.

There were local fresh cheeses, meats, breads, jams, chocolates, pastries, soaps, candles jewelry, pottery, leather workings, Christmas ornaments, woodwork, etc. etc. etc.

I could have spent tons of money if I had been there long enough. We were on a time schedule, so we didn't have a ton of time to spend here. Definitely a good thing because I would have spent more than I have.

But sadly there are a few things I really regret not buying while I was there. Since I have family out there, there's a good chance I'll go back for a visit again before they leave. I will definitely plan it for close to the holidays. Not only so I can go back to this beautiful Christmas market, but also so I can see the city all done up with lights for the holiday.

Sorrento Italy

I've always liked Sorrento. It is such a beautiful little town along the Amalfi Coast. I've been before, and I wanted to go back to do some shopping. This is a great place to do shopping of all kinds. It's also where my brother's favorite little restaurant is at.

When we got there, the restaurant wasn't open yet for dinner. To kill time we did a lot of shopping. two leather purses, gelatos, and some other treats later we finally enjoyed an amazing feast of food.

I just love Italy.


View of Mt Vesuvius from Sorrento

The Blue Grotto on Capri Island

The Blue Grotto is a cave that's part of the Island of Capri. Getting to see it is all a matter of timing. It's only open during certain times of the year, and even then, it's only open during those times of the year when the weather is just right.














Getting into the cave is tricky. Our small tour boat taking us around the island stopped and weighed anchor, while we were slowly transferred to a row boat, big enough to hold 4 people. This whole escapade is not recommended for people without a strong stomach. The boats rock quite a bit. I took Dramamine before hand just to be on the safe side.

The row boat, rowed by a local, then rowed us over to a floating doc where we paid for this extra trip into the grotto. From there he rowed us to the cave entrance. To get into the cave, us passengers lie down flat on our backs. The rower then lays down on top of us, in order to get into the cave entrance. It's definitely a bit precarious.

But once in the cave, it is quite beautiful. The acoustics are amazing, so our rower gave us a beautiful serenade as he rowed us around inside for a few minutes. To leave the cave, the same creative laying down had to be down. We of course tipped our man, then were transferred back onto our touring boat. We had to wait for all passengers to return to the boat, so it took a little while. Totally worth it though. And we were quite lucky to hit it on a day when it just happened to be open, and there weren't any crowds yet.

Isle of Capri - Italy

I've wanted to go to the Island of Capri for a while now. It's only about an hour off the coast of Naples, and the ferries run regularly. As this was my second trip to Naples, I really wanted to pop over to the island and see what it was all about.

We barely caught the morning ferry out to the Island, and it was a pleasant ride out there. It was also fun to be on the water, as I haven't done that in ages. Once we got to the Island, our options were to wander around and do some exploring, or do some boat tours around the Island.

The previous day we had spent hiking around and wandering through the Island of Santorini. My cousin and I wanted to see the island and all that was there, but we also were a little hiked out from all we did on Santorini.












Since we didn't get to do any water stuff over in Greece, we thought we'd start off with a boat tour around the Island, enjoy the water aspect, and then go from there depending on how much time we had left.

The boat tour was a lot of fun. It's such a beautiful island, and the water was just beautiful shades of blue. It's not a huge island, but it's a good sized one, with lots of amazing cliff faces.

After the boat tour, we really didn't have much time to really explore the island before we needed to get on the boat back to Naples. (The original boat we planned to take back was already full, so we had to take an early than anticipated boat back or spend the night on the island with no place to stay).

Sadly we didn't get to see the
actual island. But the boat tour and Blue Grotto was amazing!

  
 

  

Sunrise In Santorini

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Sunrises are something I love watching on a beach. And since I was in a breathtaking part of the world, I absolutely wanted to take advantage of it and watch a spectacular sunrise.

My cousin was my travel companion on this little adventure. While my internal clock is set to be wide awake by about 5am, she is not a morning. I might have coerced and forced her to be a morning person for a few days, but I think the sunrise we saw was worth every missing minute of sleep.

I'll let you judge for yourself and tell me if I'm wrong.
It was cold, and chilly. However, this beautiful beach was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel. Really can't beat that at all. No one was up yet, so we had the whole beach and sunrise to ourselves.

As our hotel owner was taking us back to the airport to leave the island, I asked him if he ever got sick of living in this location. He said never. He wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I fully understand why.