A Lovely Day on the Amalfi Coast

​Today found us back in Italy, which felt like being welcomed home by an old friend. We arrived in Naples bright and early, ready for our day on the Amalfi Coast.  Our driver, Adriano, met us at the port and whisked us away for an unforgettable day. We immediately liked Adriano. He was very animated and funny as he shared with us the history of the area. With a great sense of humor,  the more we reacted to his stories the more he opened up and shared.

Serene Sorrento

We left the city of Naples and drove up the Amalfi Coast toward the town of Sorrento. I sat in the very front, hoping to stave off car sickness from the windy roads. It worked well, and every time I’d start to feel a bit queasy we’d pull over to look down from the cliffs at the beautiful scenery.

I fell in love immediately with Sorrento,  a charming town with beautiful buildings and shops beckoning to be explored. In fact, in some ways it felt much like Venice.  Unfortunately, we only had about 45 minutes to explore the town, but we made the most of it. Strolling down some narrow streets to peruse the windows, we found our way to a charming shop that features limoncello, lemon candy, lemon cookies, etc. We tried a free sample of lemon cream, but my palette just doesn’t appreciate  the taste of alcohol. It was an incredibly charming store, though, and we took some fun pictures there. Before we knew it, our time was up and we had to regroup to move on to Positano.  I’d love to get back to Sorrento someday, as it would be a great place to explore for a few days.

​Picture Perfect Positano

Next stop was Positano, a beautiful city built up the mountain right off the coast. There is a very narrow, windy road that leads into town, on which Adriano proved his worth. He guided us carefully though the pedestrian and vehicle obstacles, dropping us about half way down the mountain.  From there, we had an hour to explore the city, browsing the shops while meandering down to the beach below. There were many beautiful shops, and I could have spent a large sum of money, but I refrained. (Okay, I did buy one dress, but it was only 15 Euros) When we reached the bottom of the hill, our reward was a spectacular view from the beach up to the mountains. The buildings look like they are just hanging off of the mountain, their varying colors creating a beautiful scene.

After walking back up the hill, we were hungry for lunch. Good thing, as Adriano took us to an out of the way family restaurant, up on the hill overlooking Positano.  We had tables  by the window, allowing us to look out  and enjoy the beautiful buildings and water below. The food was absolutely amazing, served family style with complimentary wine. Pepino brought out 4 different  appetizers, which we thought was great. However, he kept bringing more and more, until we had 12 different items to try. Some examples are fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, roasted eggplant, marinated pumpkin, and bean salad. Everything was delicious! Next came the pasta, with 4 different types being served:  ravioli, gnocchi, pasta with pumpkin, and “Mama’s pasta”. The final course was small glasses of limoncello, and a dessert sampler plate to pass around. Wow! We had quite the feast, along with excellent service!

Preserved Pompeii

Bellies full of yummy food, we started our drive back toward Pompeii. Here, we met up with Donato, our guide for the ruins.  Donato was rather quirky (envision a large man in red pants, a printed turquoise shirt, and a blue patterned scarf), but he had a great passion for the history of Pompeii.  He offered valuable insight into the culture that ended so dramatically.  All of us were surprised at how large the city of Pompeii was, as the site seemed to stretch on forever. We didn’t get to see it all, as were on a strict schedule for getting back to the port in time. However, Donato did a nice job with the time we did have, explaining to us many details of the city that we never would have known to appreciate if we were touring on our own.

​We headed back to our ship with time to spare. Our day on the Amalfi Coast will be treasured in our hearts and memories for years to come!