Path of the Gods (and frightening, fantastic fireworks)

Yesterday was truly a New Year’s Eve to remember. An amazing hike followed by the best fireworks I’ve ever seen.

Let me catch you up to speed:

Last week my mom and I finished up our Venice stay with more food and a free choir/orchestra concert in the beautiful church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Next we went to Milan, to catch our flights to Madrid (and then home for my Mom), and to Rome (for me). We briefly stopped downtown and saw the Duomo and La Scala (awesome opera house), and that was about it. We couldn’t find anywhere to eat, I started feeling really sick, we got to our hotel, and then I started getting homesick… just bad all around. But the next day I made it to Rome, met up with my friend Paige, and we took a few trains to the beautiful seaside town of Sorrento. We spent a day exploring Sorrento, and the next day rain canceled our hiking plans, which brings you up to the last blog post.

Path of the Gods

Yesterday morning (New Year's Eve) we took a bus from Sorrento to the small town of Praiano on the Amalfi coast. There we followed signs and helpful Italians to the beginning of the Sentiero degli Dei, or “Path of the Gods,” a hiking trail on Mount Sant'Angelo a Tre Pizzo. First task, walking straight up a bajillion steps. Killer. Then we reached the actual “Path of the Gods,” about 500m above sea level, a more rugged, but (relatively) level path, from this point above Praiano over to the town of Nocelle. We walked for about an hour or two on this path, and the entire time we had the most amazing views of the sea, the coast, and our destination, Positano. We even ran into a real live goatherd and his goats using the same path. And it was unbelievably warm for December!

Here's a little taste from the top (sorry for all the wind noise):

We left Praiano as women… but we arrived in Nocelle as goddesses. Unfortunately, Nocelle is still very high up the mountain. As a goddess I had expected something like a chariot pulled by flying horses to appear and carry me down to Positano. However, there were 1700 steps I had to walk down instead. My sore goddess legs were very angry at me, and I could barely hobble down those steps. But we made it to the road, walked the last leg to Positano, and reveled in our feat by chilling at the beach.

"Fireworks" 

A few hours later, we took the train to Naples for some of those famous New Year’s Eve fireworks. We got to our hostel and were told that it was too dangerous to go outside (crazy Italians and lots of fireworks)… hmm. We met some other people who were also afraid to go outside, but we decided we had to see these fireworks, so we braved the city! After dodging some street fireworks, we made it to a castle atop a hill overlooking the city. When we got there, quite a few fireworks were going on all over the city already. But at midnight, the city literally exploded.

I don’t think I can accurately convey how awesome (literally “inspiring awe”) this sight was, and of course this was the one time I forgot my camera. There wasn’t just one big fireworks display like we’re used to in the US. Instead, as far as the eye could see… the entire city was lit up with fireworks. You probably have a visual in your head, and that visual is probably not sufficient. There were fireworks everywhere. People shot fireworks off their roofs, in plazas, out of their windows, in the streets. Kids, grown-ups, old men… everyone. It was terrifying and amazing all at the same time. After 15 minutes a haze had set in across the city. After 30 minutes it was still going on with the same gusto. My eyes couldn’t keep up with the constant flicker of lights. I thought I might go deaf in my right ear from the cannon-like fireworks being set off right next to us. And then an old lady offered us some of his champagne! We must have looked pathetic sans-champagne on New Year’s Eve! It was great!

What a way to send out the old year and ring in the new…