Grad Trip - Photo of the Day 24

May 15, off to Naples! But first, a trip up to Mount Solero, the highest point on Capri island, was in place. But alas, this was the FIRST cloudy day in two weeks. I couldn't believe it. But at least the chair lift up was quite interesting:

And I managed to take a shot of the Isole Faraglioni, three distinctive limestone stacks at the southwest of the island.

I had been gathering lots of information nuggets about Naples in the days leading up to this -- most people living in the Amalfi coast would have gone up to Naples at least a few times before, since it is the biggest city in Southern Italy. I was mostly worried about the safety of my belongings. So as I got off the ferry at Beverello port in Naples, I went on high alert immediately, paying attention to anyone who got near me. Quickly checked into my hostel, which was just a few hundred metres away.

And then I got out on the streets. The paranoia hadn't gone away, and that evening, everyone on the street was a pickpocket/snatch thief to me. But that didn't stop me from walking around with my camera out! It just stopped me from changing lenses on the streets.

My photo of the day:

Looks like the rubbish situation in Naples is not as bad as they say! I mean, people actually use the dustbins and follow rubbish disposal procedures!

Had some really good margherita pizza that night at the famous Sorbillo pizzeria. I would go back there at least two more times during my stay in Naples...

And here's the coin machine in the lift that goes up to my hostel. On weekdays, the lift is 5 cents per ride.

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Super old-school!

Grad Trip - Photo of the Day 23

May 14, the day that started out great and ended terribly. I took a boat trip around the island that morning, and took some of the best landscape pictures for the entire trip. Then in the afternoon, after I inserted my Sandisk Ultra II SD card into a photo printing machine somewhere in town, the card got corrupted and can't be read anymore.

At least I still have my Lexar. Couldn't do anything about the spoilt card, so I slipped in the Lexar, then went on to take a walk about town. This photo was taken from Anacapri:

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

You can see Marina Grande, as well as parts of the Sorrento Peninsular. Too bad I wasn't really in the mood to appreciate the views that evening...

Grad Trip - Photo of the Day 22

May 13, from Positano to Capri. Another day on the move, and just like other similar days, I took it slow. Spent the better part of the morning just lounging around the hostel and chatting with the owner Christiana (hope I spelt it correctly!) and Ming Joo, another guest in the hostel. And I took some pictures of Christiana and her pet dogs:

Kiki (hope I spelt it correctly, once again), the little one, was due to have surgery that coming friday for a broken bone in her leg. Hope she is recovering well...

Capri is the most well-known among the three islands in the Gulf of Naples, and is a popular day-trip destination for many tourists who stay in Naples. The two main towns on the island are Capri and Anacapri. On my day of arrival, I decided to just walk around Anacapri town, where I was staying. And I stumbled upon a sports centre for the locals, and hung out around there watching some locals playing football for a couple of hours before heading back to my hotel for the night.

There were initially a bunch of teenagers playing:

Then came the older lads, who were playing a best of three series of matches. The losing team will buy groceries and cook dinner for everyone, as one of the lads from the blue team, Luigi, explained to me. They didn't have the fastest feet but they sure passed and shot well!

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

Shooting through the fence was tough though. Even though the 60mm focuses very fast, there were still plenty of misses. The match ended at 6-6. Good luck to Luigi and friends for the remainder of the series!

It was a great day for photos, even though I was really just bumming around the whole day...

Grad Trip - Photo of the Day 21

May 12, took a walk with the Gods. Kind of. I signed up for a hiking tour of the Path of the Gods, which started from neighbouring Praiano town and ends at Positano, where I was putting up. The climb was a little tiring but once up there, the path is flat and the views are stunning. Just make sure you don't fall off -- the path runs along many sheer cliffs. Some views along the way:

Before the end of the walk, we had lunch at Trattoria Santa Croce, a small family-run eatery in Nocelle, a small, sleepy town above Positano. This is where I had the best pasta I ate during my entire trip -- paccheri with shrimp and rocket:

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

It's my photo of the day simply because it's the best pasta I've ever had. Haha. It's a very simple dish but it just tasted so good.

I reached my hostel at around 4pm that evening, and just rested there for the rest of the day. The walk took a lot out of me!

Grad Trip - Photo of the Day 20

May 11, a day of mixed fortunes. After lunch, I headed down to Amalfi, where I caught my bus to Positano. Unfortunately, I couldn't communicate my destination to the bus driver and got off at the wrong stop. Turns out that there are two stops in Positano, one very near my hostel, and one very far from it. Positano, anyway, is known as the most beautiful town in the Amalfi coast and I'll agree. But it's hardly the best place to take a walk around -- the roads are long, winding and very slopy. The secret to getting around is to find the secret stairs that run through the town, just that a newcomer like me wouldn't have known about them. The map is useless too, because the terrain is too hilly to make any sense out of it. A shot I took along the way:

You can tell the views were breath-taking, but I was already a little short of breath hauling my pack up the hill.

Somehow I made it to my hostel and soon after, in came three Spanish ladies who'd checked in for the night. And they invited me to join them on a motor boat that they were going to rent at the beach. How can I say 'no' to that? Haha. Anyway the sunlight was beautiful that evening, and I put my gear to some use that evening:

But my favourite has to be this one:

© Lin Zhaowei, 2009.

All the while I was a little worried that the boat will capsize, since ALL my camera equipment was with me, but we were lucky. Thanks to Ana, Alicia and Alejandro for the wonderful evening!

And that night, I saw a red moon for the first time ever. A slight pity that I deleted the pictures by accident, but they didn't do justice to the beauty of the view anyway. And to anyone interested to staying in Positano on the cheap, Hostel Brikette is where you want to be.