Switzerland

So, flying into Switzerland was absolutely gorgeous. We were so excited to see what it looked like from the ground.

 We were not disappointed. Taking the bus to our hostel was absolutely a sight to see. We passed a waterfall that was behind homes. We quickly contemplated living out here, until we got off the bus and realized the weather.

After learning Amanda's grandmother had passed away we spent most of the time in the hostel figuring out the best way to make it to DC in time to go to the funeral. Fortunately, we were not in a dull hostel and had many activities to entertain ourselves with to keep the spirits up. Amanda kicked butt with her phenomenal driving skills in an old-school race simulator game. So Callie took to the slopes to try out her virtual skiing skills

After a few days cooped up inside we decided to walk around and explore St. Moritz. We found a beautiful lake to make a picnic by and a charming moth took a liking to Callie.

For our last stop on our European get-a-way we decided to hit up Munich for the wonderful OKTOBERFEST!

Budapest

On the way to Budapest we had a lovely ten hour layover in Zurich and got stranded in a very deserted airport. We locked up our luggage and milled around doing absolutely nothing. Do not believe any movie hype about being stuck in an airport over night; there is absolutely nothing to do. No shinanigans to get into, no cool security guard that will let you mess with awesome equipment. So after we figured out the suitcase locker machine (which took up 20 minutes of our time)  we then tried to find an outlet to charge our electronics. There was only one. which a girl decided to Bogart all night.

In Budapest there was a lot to see, but we never got to any of it. We decided to go to a "Party Hostel" thinking it would be a great way to meet people around our age to do fun activities in the city with and get to see some night life. There was no actual viewing of the city. The first night in we bonded with the staff and guests over fun games followed by a fun boat ride of the city. The second day we joined a bachelor party and wandered around Budapest taking in the sites between bars. The next few days were spent in the hostel making new friends and not doing much else.

Sora

Whilst spending time in Ischia, we found a poster for a farm stay program in Sora. We figured we would try something new since we were getting a little tired of Italy. An incredibly bumpy hour long bus ride, two hour train ride, and another hour bus ride later, we made our way to the beautiful farm in Sora. Family owned and operated, we were immediately greeted with the promise of a home-cooked Italian meal. We were incredibly stoked since this would be the first time we had had a home-cooked meal since we left the states. It was delicious! Every dinner was a five course meal, but we couldn't help but stuff our faces with everything that was on the table.

Our first two night there we camped out on a little patch of grass right below the house. Unfortunately,  the ground was more rock than grass and happened to be on a slight incline. We opted to move into the house for our last five night there.

There was plenty to keep us busy in Sora and we definitely took advantage of our time there. Hikes, food, beautiful views, attempting to communicate in pseudo Italian/Spanish to the locals - we tried it all!

Our second day in Sora, we took a two hour hike to a "waterfall". The first half our or so was enjoyable, taking in the views, but there was about an hour stretch of just straight uphill. While the views were absolutely breathtaking, it was a difficult journey. Another forty-five minutes to an hour later, we made our way to a stream where we met up with the couple we started with. Another ten minute hike through freezing cold water and very slippery rocks, we found the waterfall tucked away. The journey was definitely the better part of this excursion. While trying to take a picture together, Callie slipped off of a rock and banged her shin on another rocked. It swelled up and bruised almost immediately. A month later and it's still a little swollen and bruised! The walk back was a little bit faster, at least in the beginning, but as we got closer to the bottom we missed our turn off and ended up walking through a random cow pasture, through a barbed wire fence, then finally making our way back to the car. It was quite a long day, but so much fun!

One afternoon, the lady of the house taught us to make pasta by scratch. It was a very long process, but quite enjoyable. We ate our noodles for dinner later that evening.

The farm was quite relaxing, and when we were hiking or exploring their land we would sit outside in the sun reading or just hanging out with the volunteers.

Our last day in Sora, we went for a beautiful horseback ride with one of the girls we met. While it was an easy ride, it was very interesting to say the least. Each horse had its own personality. Amanda's horse was not only adamant about being the leader, he would eat everything in his path. He even dragged an entire branch around with him until he could no longer eat it. Callie's horse, on the other hand, was a complete and utter klutz. He tripped and slipped on everything. It was such a blast though!

After spending a week in Sora, we made our way to Florence for one night. We flew out the next day to Budapest which was definitely a different kind of adventure.

Naples

Well, I managed to do it again. My phone was accidentally pocketed by a friend we met at Oktoberfest. Therefore, there are currently no pictures from my time spent in Naples. Once I get a few pictures collected from other people I will make a post about Naples. Till then, enjoy pictures from the rest of our trip!

Bari and Frascineto

We flew into Bari on Aug  17 and wanted to go south. We have read in so many books that southern Italy was underrated and tourists rarely visited. It sounded like the perfect place to see. We rented a car and Amanda, being the quick learner she is, taught herself to drive stick shift. After stalling out at every red light the first day we decided to shoot a quick email to Riley for pointers. Luckily, he is very good at teaching via text and the next few days went a lot smoother.

From Bari we drove to Frascineto. This very, very small town with only two restaurants in it. Our second day in we decided to do something more adventurous: cave climbing. It was so beautiful, though we got soaking wet! Luckily, we met a very sweet couple from town and they took us out to dinner that night.

Ischia, Italy

After Amanda came back to Naples, we spent one more night in the hostel then left for another ferry to the island of Ischia. We stayed there for a week. There was plenty to keep us busy for that week. The hostel was pretty empty during out stay, but our first night in we were taken to the owners restaurant with a few other guests. The meal was interesting to say the least. For a place that is literally right on the water, this restaurants seafood was quite horrible. Even by Callie's standards. That didn't stop us though. We went back almost every night we were there and had some great food.

On one of the brochures we were given, there was a place that you could cliff jump into the water. We spent a few hours trying to find this seemingly non-existent place. After finally turning around, we came across this incredibly delicious restaurant that had some of the best mussels we've ever had. We also loaded up on bruschetta, a variety of meat, and a caprese salad. We tried numerous times to go back, but in true Italian fashion, they were always closed. We continued to look for the cliff after finishing our meal, and as luck had it, we found it about five minutes later. It was a bit of a struggle to get down to the water so we could swim to the cliff. We ran into two people from our hostel, and one of them filmed us jumping off the cliff. We both jumped off a few times. It was nerve wrecking, but so much fun! We spent the next few hours laying out on the rocks and swimming around.

Another day we took a boat tour around the island. It was a seven hour boat ride filled with gorgeous views and tons of snorkeling! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of us snorkeling, but it was so much fun! We definitely would want to do that again. Ischia was incredibly beautiful and very relaxing. We had yet to decide what the next part of our trip was, but we found it in Ischia... a farm stay in Sora!

Sicily

From Fracianeto, we drove to Palermo in Sicily. We stayed in a small beach town called Mondello. We stayed in a cute little ten person hostel. Since there was not too much to do in Mondello, we spent a lot of time on the beach. Our first day out in the sun, Callie got a lovely burn. We also found a cute little restaurant that we frequented for most of our time in Mondello. 

One day we decided to explore more of Palermo and drove about fifteen minutes into the city. We immediately found a little cafe and had a great lunch. We were told that there was a huge market place that was great for finding cheap buys, but after getting horrible instructions from four or five different people, we decided to call it quits. Back at the hostel, we met two guys from London that we hung out with for the rest of our stay. We rented a paddle boat one evening and floated around the gorgeous blue waters for a few hours. Afterwards, we walked to a market and made dinner back at our hostel. 

After leaving Palermo, we made our way to a small resort town close to the ferry. We stayed there one night and met a lot of interesting people. The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We spent the day driving to Naples. The next day, unfortunately,  we had to drop off the car, and Callie and Amanda had a say a brief goodbye. Amanda was going to Washington D.C. to see her grandmother, and Callie was going to stay in Naples for a few days.