Sunday 13th May I spent walking all over Naples. I had only one day there so I got a big map, circled everywhere I wanted to go, and worked out a route before I left the hostel. Saturday had been the start of something called Culture Week, meaning that Italy-wide all state-owned museums and attractions are free until the following Sunday. So I went everywhere. I saw two castles, a couple of churches, and I spent the afternoon in a very nice museum called the Museo Archeologica di Nazionale, which is definitely worth some time if you're ever down there. I'd been told that Naples was not a safe city to be in, which is of some worry to travelling alone especially. It also doesn't help when I arrive at night (around 8pm but still light) and head out to grab some supper, and the hostel owner tells me 'no,no I can't bring a bag with me! It will be snatched and I will be mugged!' I never had a problem in Naples, although I never did feel quite safe walking around near dusk and after dark. I'm not sure how much of this was warrented, and how much just an aura of the negative warnings I'd been getting. But I played it safe, and didn't stay long anyway (just 2 nights).

Monday I spent in Pompeii with 2 Canadian guys (Bryce and Shaun) who were staying in the hostel in Naples with me. Pompeii is really big. I think when you read about it, or see documentaries, they fail to bring home that this place is actually a big town. So exploring Pompeii can take anywhere from 2hrs (with a tour) up to 7 or 10 if you've the day to meander around. We spent almost 4hrs there, and for the most part didn't see many other tourists at all. We did get to see some archeaologists and restorers at work though, which was cool. The boys wanted to see the casts of bodies that are on the site, but they are only in specific places so we had to go back to the entry and get the tourist office to mark them on our map.

Monday arvo, I said goodbye to Naples and headed an hour further south to the Amalfi Coast, where I stayed in a little town called Sorrento. It has the only hostel on the Coast, and it was half empty when I was there (I had a 4 bed dorm to myself almost the entire time). The whole coastline is amazingly picturesque, with these georgous villages and towns perched on terraces on these steep, wall-like cliffs. The views of the ocean are amazing. However, alone in the dorm, and eating alone in a resturant (lovely though the food was) made me start to get all lonely again. Tuesday the weather turned, and confined to my empty dorm I started wondering if I was really made for travel, or at least travelling alone, and at one point was seriously considering the viability of booking a ryanair flight back to Ireland. At that point I headed downstairs to send an emergency email to Joan (aunt) who spent a year in Australia by herself not so long ago and I figured would be the best person to help me with this. Luckily, she was still at work and I got a speedy reply. A few emails later and I was feeling, if not great, than like I should hang out a little longer. After all, I'd only been gone a week. So on Wednesday I headed out to Capri, a georgous little island off the coast. Or so I've been told, because I never made it. I missed the last ferry in the morning, and the hydrofoils were more than I could afford (literally, because I'd forgot to replenish my cash stash before I left the hostel). So I went to Positano instead, a cute little resort town a stunning half hour bus ride over and through the cliffs from Sorrento. Positano has only one winding road down the cliff. If you want to get anywhere, you have to lose yourself in the hidden stair-roads cutting through the town. And oh geez those stairs give you a workout both ways and sideways! Going down your knees turn to jello and going up your heart wants to burst out of your chest. The town has coarse black sand beaches, only a small stretch of which is public (most are owned and cordened off by hotels and restaurants). Going back to Sorrento proved a problem. I left plenty of time but apparently there was a delay I could do nothing about. All the roads had been closed for a bike race, according to the locals the most important bike race in Italy (Italy's equivilent to the Tour d'France maybe?). So the buses were stopped through the major part of the day, and Positano is the second town on the way back to Sorrento, so all the buses coming through were jampacked full with returning people from the start of the route. Eventually after waiting 2hrs and watching buses pass by, a couple of men took matters into theire own hands and stepped in front of the next bus forcing it to stop. Not so dangerous as it seems as the bus was literally crawling up the hill it was so full. A couple of people hopped off, and about 20 of us stormed the bus when it opened its doors. A good 10 at least got on (me included). So I got back to Sorrento and got chatting to 3 USA girls in the tv room. I ended the day playing the card game a****** with the girls and 3 other Candians who wandered in and joined us (I lost - but then won the last round yay for me!).