Amalfi Coast
May 2018
It was my dream for so many years to spend my 25th birthday in a coastal location. I narrowed it down years ago that if I was in the U.S. I would go to San Diego (I have never been!) and if I was in Europe I would go to Italy. This was all dreams of a young girl. When I married Andrew I told him my dreams. Andrew is the best. He always pushing me toward my dreams. Without him I would have never worked at a flight school or even started this website. He determined he was going to make my entry into my mid twenties one to remember for a lifetime. Now that we live in the UK, it was a 2 hour 20 minute flight and we were in the country of my dreams, Italy.
When we went: End of May 2018
Where we stayed: Amalfi
Where we visited: Flew into Naples, Amalfi, Positano, and Capri
The weather was absolutely perfect. We really got so lucky. Also May is before the super touristy season so we enjoyed bustling streets but no crowds. We are coastal people to the max so we did not plan any guided tours or anything like that. We explored and swam and climbed on lots of rocks jutting out of the Mediterranean (Tip: bring lake or ocean shoes, the rocks on the beaches are sharp!).
View from bus ride into Amalfi
Getting there: We flew into Naples and took a train (around 5 Euro) to Sorrento. From Sorrento we took a bus (2 Euro 20 cents) on the craziest and most gorgeous bus ride ever. It was about an hour and a half of driving on a cliff road over looking the most beautiful cliff towns and turquoise water. The transportation in Italy is so cheap. It is so wonderful because it makes traveling around so much more possible.
My top three parts of the trip:
Number 3
My birthday dinner was in ruins jutting out of the edge of the coast. From our outdoor seats we had the perfect view back on the city of Amalfi and the beach. It was a fancy dinner (we usually go for casual) so it felt very special. The service was unreal. I ordered pasta with seafood and a lemony sauce. It was very good. We had tiramisu for dessert! Andrew order seafood wrapped in lemon leaves and it was probably the best seafood we both have had. The Amalfi coast is known for it’s lemons and limoncello.
(Ristorante Luna Convento)
Number 2
We explored Positano which is a beautiful, slightly larger neighboring city. I am very glad we stayed in Amalfi because we really enjoy the smaller, cozier feel but I had to check out Positano. We ordered lemon sorbetti in a gigantic, real lemon! The lemons are the size of small watermelons there. It was so refreshing and delicious. We ate it sitting outside with the picturesque town behind us and the gorgeous water in front of us. It was such a moment that people walking by stopped to take pictures. It is just one of those times when we were sharing the most delicious treat, in this unbelievable town, on the perfect summer day, that you know this moment will carry you through a lot to come in life.
Number 1
My number one moment (Andrew and I shared the same number one moment) was walking to the port in Amalfi and finding an adorable little boat with Restaurante S. Croce written on it. We took the free boat ride along the most picturesque coast to a restaurant on our favorite beach that could only be reached by boat because it was surrounded by cliffs. The restaurant had unbelievably fair pricing and I had my favorite meal there. I ordered pasta with every type of seafood in it with a light sauce. After lunch we spent the rest of our time swimming, and climbing rocks, and exploring the beach and turquoise water. Few things in life may top this day with Andrew. The last boat back to shore comes at 6:00 p.m. and we were not even ready to leave yet. In that day, in that turquoise water, everything was perfect.
More tips:
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Sunscreen is around 20 Euro there so I suggest buying a travel sized one before you go.
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There is an amazing pizzeria with lemon trees as the roof! (Donna Stella Pizzeria)
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You can take a ferry from coastal town to coastal town. It is a bit pricier than the bus but you have the added view of being on the water.
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For street food they have the most delicious fried seafood in a cone with lemon squeezed on it.
Italy is truly one of the best places in the world. I am always counting down the days until I make it back.