Skip to main content

The Amalfi Coast

 Today was finally a sunny day with no rain.  And perfect timing for our private driver along the Amalfi Coast.  Like so much of Italy the pictures cannot do it justice but I sure tried to capture the magic. The amazing cliffs and the emerald green sea intermixed with the quaint Italian homes and narrow passageways make it the most captivating place.  Our driver was so knowledgeable about the area and taught us so much about each town along the coast.  We stopped in two if the towns: Positano and Ravello.  Positano was a quaint fishing town right on the water. We walked down to the beach and right there was a beautiful church. It was by far the most ornate church we have seen in Italy with a lot of gold around the altar.  Ravello was built up on the mountain instead if by the water like the rest of the towns along the coast. It offered amazing views down below.





As we left the Amalfi Coast we headed towards Pompeii for a tour.  When we drove North through the mountains we arrived at the outlook below.  Mount Vesuvius looms over all of Naples and the surrounding towns.  Still an active and considered dangerous volcano, it has not erupted since the 1940s.  Just looking at it from a distance was freaky enough for me.  But instead we went closer to see the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii.



I knew of Pompeii but not much beyond the basics. We met up with a private tour guide for a quick 2 hour tour (note for anyone wondering if the private tour guides are worth the money…they are!).  The ancient city was almost 8 square miles and it was amazing to see all of the different areas in the city that we have today (streets, shops, restaurants, an amphitheater, and even pizza ovens).  The most shocking and disturbing part were the casts of people and animals that had been frozen in the ash.  The detail of how the people were positioned in their final moments was able to be seen because of the way they were preserved in the ash from the eruption. Such a sad piece of history but it’s amazing the things that we were able to learn about them from such a tragedy. 




Our driver dropped us of off at our final hotel in Naples.  Naples is a very large city of 1 million people. It’s nothing like the places we have been staying and add in top of that they are poised to win the Italy Series A championship.  We thought they win on Sunday because of all the decorations but turns out they didn’t. Tonight (Wed) there is a soccer game at 9pm and if Napoli wins that game they will be the champions.  So they have put in place road blocks and have polizia everywhere in the square in front of our hotel in anticipation of the celebrations.  It could make for an interesting night.  And we already have a early morning flight to catch. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Florence Day 2

Today started off by us getting picked up right outside the door to our hotel by Simon in a black Mercedes to drive us through the Chianti region of Florence. We stopped at two small towns on our way to the first vineyard. The first was so small we walked around the entire town in 5 minutes. The second was a little bigger and had a secret tunnel that walked you under the town but still had windows showcasing the view of the countryside.  The first vineyard, Poggio Amorelli, was a family owned and run vineyard.  They only sell their wines at their vineyard, along with the olive oil they make there too.  We sat outside on the terrace and sampled their wines, along with breads, cheeses and meat, and had the place to ourselves for most of the time (it was only 10:30am so that might have been why).   The second vineyard was I Selvatici. Upon arrival we were greeted by the winemaker himself, Guiseppe.  We had a private tasting with him as our guide and fresh pasta for...
2 comments
Read more

Sorrento Day 2

 The day started off rainy.  Really rainy.  We walked 20 minutes in a steady rain down to the marina to meet up with our tour group to go to the island of Capri. After getting in the wrong tour group line and worried our day had been cancelled because of the rain, we learned that our group was still going and boarded a ferry bound for Capri (pronounced KAH-pri).  The ferry had inside seats so we didn’t get wet and a short 25 minute ride later we were ushered off the big boat and onto a boat half its size.  The water was rough which meant we couldn’t go to the blue grotto but instead we went to the other side of the island to see the well known Faraglioni (beautiful group of rocks jutting out of the Tyrrhenian Sea).   Upon our return to Capri we were immediately ushered to a tiny bus.  The bus was tiny so that two of them could pass each other on the crazy narrow roads going up to the towns of Capri and Anacapri. We started at the top in Anacapri (“Ana”...
Post a Comment
Read more

Final Day in Florence

 Our last day in Florence started early with our photo shoot.  We booked a local photographer using a website recommended by our travel agent.  We met Emma at the Duomo and had 90 minutes to walk around the streets of Florence while she took pictures of us.  The city that early in the morning was peaceful and quiet.  There are so many tourists here so it was a wonderful morning seeing the city without the chaos of the crowds.  Emma was a lot of fun and so easy to work with.  We probably walked about 2 miles during our time with her without even realizing it.  Our last for photos was at a cozy cafe where she left is to enjoy an amazing cappuccino and breakfast.  We’re excited to see the pictures she took and should have them by the time we get home.  We went back to the hotel and rested a bit as the rest of the day was unplanned.  Our hotel was near the Central Market so we wandered over there and found an amazing market that held st...
1 comment
Read more