It was going to be a relatively laid back day so we slept in and woke up at 9 am. After half an hour, we went for breakfast to the top floor of our hotel. There are some really nice views of Mount Vesuvius and Capri from the dining area and the breakfast was also quite fancy. They had quiches, pastries, tarts and cakes in addition to the standard croissant, eggs, coffee, muffins, bread and cereal. We were going to drive on the winding roads of the Amalfi coast so didn't want to overeat and stuck to cereal and yogurt with caffe latte. After breakfast, we came back to our and got ready. We left the hotel at around 12:15 pm.
The Amalfi coast is a stretch of coastline on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Southern Italy. The Gulf of Naples is to the north of the peninsula whereas the Gulf of Salerno is to its south. The coastline starts a few kilometers after Sorrento on the Gulf of Salerno side and goes on for about 40 kilometers. It's that stretch of the road that's famous as a tourist attraction for its gorgeous landscape and is known as the Amalfi coast. The region is famous for its lemons that are used to make virtually all kinds of things involving lemons, specially limoncello which is a liquor made from lemons. You can see lemon products shops all over Sorrento as well.
We walked to the train station and bought tickets to the town of Amalfi for the sightseeing bus. The bus left Sorrento at 1 pm. It's a 90 minute ride to Amalfi although the distance is less than 50 kilometers. The roads along the Amalfi coast are winding so speeds have to be relatively slow. It's a beautiful drive with mountains on your left and the sea on your right. You can see different coastal towns from afar because of the curving road. The sea water was a clear blue that sparkled in sunlight and the occasional towns with pastel colored buildings reminded us of the townscape of villages of Cinque Terre earlier in the trip. After the drive, we reached Amalfi at around 2:30 pm. Other notable tourist towns along the Amalfi coast are Positano and Ravello. During our drive, we had passed through Positano whereas Ravello is another half an hour from Amalfi. We could've tried to fit one or both of those towns in our itinerary but we felt that the touch-and-go would not be worth the effort so we decided to focus on one town - Amalfi.
We walked to the main square of the town and like all other towns of this region, we saw many lemon product shops, pizzerias, gelato shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. We picked a recommended restaurant that served pizza since you can't miss having pizza when in the greater Naples area. Naples makes a fair claim to inventing pizza and they did such a great job of exporting it globally that now there is probably nowhere in the world where you can't get pizza. We had marinara pizza and vegetable minestrone soup with a side of grilled vegetables. Fresh ingredients meant that the pizza was amazing and so were the grilled vegetables. The soup needed some help from Parmesan cheese but with some generous help, it tasted good too. We also tried the lemon cake that was probably one of the best we've had, the secret again being fresh ingredients.
After lunch, we strolled around the square doing window shopping and then sat at the steps of the square's church to rest. Then we went out of the town square to the harbor and walked on a long narrow pier into the sea to get a great vantage point of the townscape. We took some pictures and then walked back to the main square where we took a gelato break. I tried cheesecake and yogurt flavors and Samia got hazelnut and mint. We sat on the chairs outside the Gelateria and indulged in people watching while getting our daily gelato fix. At about 5:20 pm, we decided to head back to Sorrento so we got on the 5:40 pm bus and were back in Sorrento at about 7 pm.
On our way back through the lovely pedestrian street, we stopped at a tourism company's office and inquired about their tour package to Capri for the next day. After getting all the information, we came back to our hotel and rested for about an hour and a half. We researched the tour package and it appeared to offer good value for money by saving us time and organizational efforts. We went out for dinner at about 9:15 pm and first stopped at the tourism company office to buy the day tour to the island of Capri. We also bought the airport transfer service tickets from our hotel to the Naples airport for Friday morning. That's when we will be taking a flight from Naples to London's Gatwick airport. We will be in London for our final 4 days of this trip.
Dinner was at a burger joint a few steps away from the Kabab place that we had discovered yesterday. This burger joint was ranked just one below the Kabab place so we had a feeling that it would be good. We were right - the burgers were juicy and tasteful. We had read in the reviews for this place that the owners don't speak any English so communicating with them was a fun experience. But their service was impeccable. They even gave us free dessert - fresh strawberries topped with cream and chocolate flakes. After dinner, we came back to our hotel and went to bed. Till the next update about Capri, take care!
The Amalfi coast is a stretch of coastline on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Southern Italy. The Gulf of Naples is to the north of the peninsula whereas the Gulf of Salerno is to its south. The coastline starts a few kilometers after Sorrento on the Gulf of Salerno side and goes on for about 40 kilometers. It's that stretch of the road that's famous as a tourist attraction for its gorgeous landscape and is known as the Amalfi coast. The region is famous for its lemons that are used to make virtually all kinds of things involving lemons, specially limoncello which is a liquor made from lemons. You can see lemon products shops all over Sorrento as well.
We walked to the train station and bought tickets to the town of Amalfi for the sightseeing bus. The bus left Sorrento at 1 pm. It's a 90 minute ride to Amalfi although the distance is less than 50 kilometers. The roads along the Amalfi coast are winding so speeds have to be relatively slow. It's a beautiful drive with mountains on your left and the sea on your right. You can see different coastal towns from afar because of the curving road. The sea water was a clear blue that sparkled in sunlight and the occasional towns with pastel colored buildings reminded us of the townscape of villages of Cinque Terre earlier in the trip. After the drive, we reached Amalfi at around 2:30 pm. Other notable tourist towns along the Amalfi coast are Positano and Ravello. During our drive, we had passed through Positano whereas Ravello is another half an hour from Amalfi. We could've tried to fit one or both of those towns in our itinerary but we felt that the touch-and-go would not be worth the effort so we decided to focus on one town - Amalfi.
We walked to the main square of the town and like all other towns of this region, we saw many lemon product shops, pizzerias, gelato shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. We picked a recommended restaurant that served pizza since you can't miss having pizza when in the greater Naples area. Naples makes a fair claim to inventing pizza and they did such a great job of exporting it globally that now there is probably nowhere in the world where you can't get pizza. We had marinara pizza and vegetable minestrone soup with a side of grilled vegetables. Fresh ingredients meant that the pizza was amazing and so were the grilled vegetables. The soup needed some help from Parmesan cheese but with some generous help, it tasted good too. We also tried the lemon cake that was probably one of the best we've had, the secret again being fresh ingredients.
After lunch, we strolled around the square doing window shopping and then sat at the steps of the square's church to rest. Then we went out of the town square to the harbor and walked on a long narrow pier into the sea to get a great vantage point of the townscape. We took some pictures and then walked back to the main square where we took a gelato break. I tried cheesecake and yogurt flavors and Samia got hazelnut and mint. We sat on the chairs outside the Gelateria and indulged in people watching while getting our daily gelato fix. At about 5:20 pm, we decided to head back to Sorrento so we got on the 5:40 pm bus and were back in Sorrento at about 7 pm.
On our way back through the lovely pedestrian street, we stopped at a tourism company's office and inquired about their tour package to Capri for the next day. After getting all the information, we came back to our hotel and rested for about an hour and a half. We researched the tour package and it appeared to offer good value for money by saving us time and organizational efforts. We went out for dinner at about 9:15 pm and first stopped at the tourism company office to buy the day tour to the island of Capri. We also bought the airport transfer service tickets from our hotel to the Naples airport for Friday morning. That's when we will be taking a flight from Naples to London's Gatwick airport. We will be in London for our final 4 days of this trip.
Dinner was at a burger joint a few steps away from the Kabab place that we had discovered yesterday. This burger joint was ranked just one below the Kabab place so we had a feeling that it would be good. We were right - the burgers were juicy and tasteful. We had read in the reviews for this place that the owners don't speak any English so communicating with them was a fun experience. But their service was impeccable. They even gave us free dessert - fresh strawberries topped with cream and chocolate flakes. After dinner, we came back to our hotel and went to bed. Till the next update about Capri, take care!
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