On October 2nd 2026, at approximately 5:00am, I woke up barely unable to open my eyes and completely oblivious to the many wonderful memories that I would make in the sunshine-filled days to come. The Year 11 Bay of Naples trip was the best school trip I have ever been on but where do I begin…
Passport in one hand and day bags in the other, landing in Naples was like a breath of fresh air. Desperately trying to unblock our ears, we found our coach to the olive farm and excitedly retrieved our phones and cameras to take a hundred blurry photos of the stunning views that surrounded us.
At the working olive farm, we were greeted by the amazingly friendly staff, who demonstrated how they make the speciality cheeses and olive oil, supplying us with the most mouth-watering appetisers. We walked through some of the olive groves - with trees that were hundreds of years old - to the gift shop where their stock of olive oil was depleted and many selfies were taken (including ones with chickens).
A brief coach journey later, we arrived in the centre of Sorrento, bags unloaded with a 20-minute walk through the busy main road ahead of us. Buzzing with whatever energy that remained after a 5:00am rise, we ended up at our hotel. We found our rooms, ‘dibsed’ our beds, and got ready for our first evening in Italy.
At Ristorante Pizzeria Sant’Antonio, we were met with homemade scialatielli, steak and french fries, lemon cake and the most uplifting staff. We enjoyed a pleasant evening walk back (with a quick trip to the mini-market nearby, of course) and utterly defeated, said “buona notte”.
The next morning, we delighted in a breakfast buffet and another walk through the bustling centre of Sorrento to board our coach to Mount Vesuvius. The views were simply spectacular and as we approached the starting point, only got better. Slowly, we made our way around the volcano, accompanied by a wonderful tour guide (Ciro) who never failed to make us laugh. Slightly exhausted (and wishing we had applied more suncream) we made it to the top, only to be greeted by our third souvenir shop and panoramas unable to be captured on our phone cameras. The feeling was beyond elation but unfortunately couldn’t last forever so we made our way back to the coach, picking some magnets up on our way down and started our journey to Pompeii.
At Pompeii, we had our lunch and met another team of tour guides who showed us around the 66 hectare ruins. Looking at the ancient 'fast food' stands and preserved structures felt unreal and became my favourite part of the entire trip, which I am so grateful to have experienced.
Last on the agenda for the day was pizza-making which was yet another highlight, filled with sticky hands, full stomachs and even some skilful pizza-base tossing in mid air. We were then allowed a few hours of free time in Sorrento, a prime opportunity for souvenir-buying.
The realisation we were already halfway through the trip was slightly downing but we powered through, finding ourselves in the picturesque Amalfi Coast after a lengthy coach journey, across the gorgeous surrounding towns and villages. We had lunch on the beach, stracciatella ice cream on our walk through the main road and many photos taken of the gorgeous Cathedral of St. Andrew Apostle. We then swapped the crowds for a tranquil ferry trip to Salerno, with views of the coastline straight from a movie.
After a sleepy coach back to Sorrento, we located Gelateria David where we enjoyed dessert before dinner and learnt how to make gelato for our families when we got back. Laughs were definitely had as we were tasked with knocking back shots of pure lemon juice and whipping gelato for thirty minutes straight using the power of elbow grease. The evening ended with a visit to a restaurant, which looked ready to host a wedding reception, more delicious food and an eventful last night back at our hotel (let’s just say no one got their full eight hours).
Our penultimate activity of Naples 2026 was a visit to the Lemon Grove at the heart of Sorrento. We befriended the third generation of the Eposito family, learnt about their production of limoncello (the very first to start production in the Sorrento region) and studied the different types of lemons, sheltered by an ancient olive tree dating back three hundred years. After our second breakfast (all things lemon, of course) we left for our final excursion, the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum. And what a way to end the trip! For the last time, we were greeted by an amiable tour guide who entertained us with their multilingual knowledge and expertise on how water through pipes travels 'by magic'. After a speedy trip to the museum, we woefully departed, still utterly fascinated by the ruins.
At the airport, we reminisced about the days spent under the Italian sun, wishing we could have one more day of bliss. Unfortunately, you 'cannoli' do so much on a school trip so, regrettably, we boarded the plane that would fly us back to reality.
Naples was one of the best experiences of my entire life and, although the trip was only four days, the memories made will last a lifetime.
Adeline D, 11I