Geography trip to Italy
A dreary 3 am start kept many half-awake, although we were excited to begin our Italian journey.
Day 1 was a long-haul journey by both plane and coach. When we arrived at the Italian airport, waiting to collect our bags, a travel representative kindly took some of our suitcases from the carousel and was waiting for us. The rep brought us to our coach, and we went on our way to our hotel, where we stayed for two nights. Next, we dropped our bags off and went on our way to the prominent Colosseum. Today, there are many entrances to the seats, as in the first century. However, due to natural disasters and weather conditions, only a minority of seats are still visible. The weather was scorching, and our hunger was soothingly satisfied by an Italian McDonalds.
Day 2 was predominantly an adventurous day that required a lot of walking to and fro various places. We walked up the Spanish steps, which was 138 steps long! When we reached the top, there was an amazing and refreshing view that caused many eyes to focus and observe the large city of Rome. We also saw the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and the Trevi Fountain. However, rather than constantly looking at the Trevi Fountain, Ms Anderson and I went to an ice-cream shop, with a mischievous smile on our faces. After, we set off for a prolonged walk to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel for a guided tour. In the Vatican, you could not wear low cut or sleeveless clothes, as it is disrespectful. In the Sistine Chapel, we saw the vast amount of pictures drawn by Michel Angelo on every side of the building. In there, though, you could not speak, however, many tourists appeared to disobey that rule.
On the third day of our trip, we departed by coach to transfer to the Bay of Naples, where we stayed for most of the trip. However, before we settled down in our hotel, we visited the immense city of Pompeii that was obliterated by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Most, if not all, of the roofs of buildings, had come off, and you could clearly see the destruction of Pompeii, and how volatile Vesuvius was. Many bodies have been discovered, and there are still remains of skeletons, and people who were suffocated with the heat. There was an amphitheatre, which had an off-limit restriction for the seating area because humans ruin it when they visit it. After our touristic visit, we went to our fantastic hotel in Cosmomare, Sorrento in the Bay of Naples, and the view from our balcony was top class, and those who had a view of the sea, and the huge mountains, probably felt special.
Day 4 mesmerised my eyes at the beautiful views both from the hotel, and when we were outside, in the refreshing breeze. Around 10 in the morning we went on a boat trip to have a guided tour of the beautiful island of Capri. The boat trip didn’t seem long initially, however, it was around 20 minutes long to get to the island. Sometime after reaching the island, we began walking up a prolonged stair set that made many of us start to feel worn out. But soon, we had some free time in a small shopping arena. Once we had finished visiting the island of Capri, we set back to the hotel, and then we had some free time, in our rooms.
Day 5 was another adventurous day that required a lot of walking, and strength, especially when climbing up hills, or mountains, or steps. We arrived at Mount Vesuvius at roughly 10:30, and a coach took us up quite high, and this prepared us for the hours ahead. Mount Vesuvius took quite a while to climb to the top, and there were even little shops high up above the clouds that you could go to. Inside you can see pieces of burnt rock deep down, however, we were not allowed to go inside the volcano. After we had visited Mount Vesuvius we set off by coach to see the small town of Herculaneum. This town was one of the places that had been obliterated by Vesuvius. Many parts of it had been destroyed because it was in the direction of the lava flow. Despite this, most of the main infrastructures are still vaguely visible. After touring Herculaneum, we returned back to Hotel Cosmomare, we had some free time, and then had dinner.
Day 6 was spent travelling by coach and plane to KEVI Handsworth Grammar school from Italy, and we arrived at around 5pm tired but happy.
It was a fantastic trip and I really enjoyed myself. I would like to thank Mr Thaper and all the staff who travelled with us for making it so much fun as well as really interesting and exciting.
Rohan Reynolds-Korotania
