Salerno, Campania, Italy
May 10, 2014 – We started out the day with breakfast prepared for us by Vincenzo. He made us some delicious cappuccinos and we chatted with him about our adventures from the night before. Breakfast consisted of fresh croissants, brioche, juice and preserves….we are going to get so fat…..after breakfast Vincenzo made espresso for Caitlin and Wayne…OMG it was the strongest I have ever tasted…..
We chose to see the Amalfi coast by private driver. I had pre arranged the tour and had been in contact with the driver. Wayne and Caitlin had a bet going about whether our driver would be an Old-Fat-Greasy-Guido-Type-Italian or a Young-Strapping-Cute-Italian driver. We got the young cute Italian, so Wayne has to buy the next round of cappuccinos. His name was Tony and he was very fun and passionate about the areas surrounding the Amalfi Coast. He was born here and lives in the areas still.
Tony picked us up at our hotel in Salerno at 830 am and we set out for Sorrento along the bay of Napoli on the Tirreno Sea. The coastline is beautiful and we stopped a few times to get some pics. The weather wasn’t the best along the coast (due to marine layer) so our pictures aren’t great.
Next we cut across the peninsula to the Amalfi side of the coastline. The areas along the way were so lush and green and the homes were cute…like a postcard. Next we stopped in Positano for a stroll down a cute path lined with shops this path worked its way down the cliffs to the shore. We strolled for about 90 minutes and bought some souvenirs and met Tony back at the car to move along to Amalfi.
Amalfi is very pretty. However this is the main tourist area of the Amalfi Coast due to the fact that it is the only area that allows tour bus parking. Because of this the area is wall to wall tourist shops and people. We didn’t stay long…only about 45 minutes. Enough time to capture a few photos and quickly tour the basilica there.
Tony picked us up at our meeting point and we continued on to the Emerald Grotto, which is in the small town of Concha de Marini. The Emerald Grotto is a cave that was found by a fisherman. It has an opening under the water that lets sunlight in. It gives the water a really pretty emerald color that fills the cave. Our boatman that rowed us around the cave had a crush on Sharon and was flirting with her the whole time. He maintained eye contact with her the whole time….like she was the only one on the boat… Pervert! Wayne was not amused.
Tony took us to a restaurant where his cousin worked in Ravello for lunch. We sat on the balcony that had amazing views of the coastline and water. We started the meal with a bottle of Chianti and broccoli flowers, which were essentially fried dough balls with little bits of vegetables in them. They were so good Caitlin and Sharon ate most of them while dad was taking pictures of the view…whoops. We also got an appetizer that was an assortment of marinated local fish. For the main course, Sharon had paccari noodles with shrimp, Caitlin had spaghetti with clams and Wayne had another type of pasta that probable had anchovy…haha… It was all delicious. We ended with some lemon and chocolate cake. Sharon REALLY liked the lemon cake. They ended the meal with a free shot of limoncello for each of us. Caitlin didn’t like it very much. We were stuffed.
After lunch we went into the town of Ravello and walked around the piazza and went into the gardens at the Villa Rufolo, a huge villa built in 1270. The grounds were beautiful with the old buildings and lush plants.
By this time our tour was almost over and Tony took us back to our hotel in Salerno. We decided that we needed a nap before we went out to dinner, but we ended up sleeping for longer than planned and we decided to stay in…. What a great day.
Comments
Gramps on May 16, 2014
Hey check out the pisanos!!! Great pics, very beautiful area. Checking on the map you sent, that is the general area Grandpa Vovola grew up in and we supposedly had some remaining relatives there back in the 1960’s. Keep sending the blogs, I really enjoy them. Love you all and travel safe. Gramps
Gramps on May 16, 2014
Forgot to ask, who is that handsome dago in the cupoline?????
Janna on May 17, 2014
This looks so beautiful it’s almost unreal! Seems like perfection to me!
Debbie on May 15, 2014
Love the pictures of Almafi … truly regret not seeing it when we were there … there’s soooo much to see, huh! Loving your posts, however, reading about all the tasty food you guys are enjoying is making me hungry! Totes jelly …