The end of the summer called for one last beach weekend, and the Amalfi Coast was the perfect spot. The Amalfi Coast is a really beautiful coastline with small cliff-side villages tucked between the mountains and the sea in southern Italy. The closest major city is Naples, so we flew there before making our way to the coast, and then headed a bit further north afterward to visit Rome before flying out. It was an amazing trip!
Since we had to fly into Naples, we opted for a late flight in, spent the night, and planned on doing a little sightseeing before heading to the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain from the time we woke up to the time we left Naples; we tried to walk around for a while, but our umbrellas were up and our heads were down to avoid stepping in puddles. Naples is where pizza was first created, so we had to at least grab some ‘za for lunch before heading out. It was absolutely amazing pizza. This is the one and only photo I have from Naples, but it represents our happiest moment!
After lunch, we started the trek to Positano, the town in which we were staying in the Amalfi Coast. It is a stressful journey, consisting of both a train and a bus that winds along cliffside roads, but once you arrive, you forget about the stress as your jaw hits the floor – Positano is GORGEOUS! We stayed at a bed and breakfast just outside the main area of Positano, and our view of the town and the coast was unbelievable.
On our first full day, we got up early to do the “Path of the Gods” hike. It was another stressful journey to get to the start of the trail (about 2 hours of buses), but boy was it worth it. The views were incredible! The hike took about 3 hours, and afterward, we headed to a small beach by our hotel to relax.
On our second day, we took a full day boat trip to Capri, an island off the coast. We first spent a few hours cruising down the coast and around the island. There are caves and rock formations that the boat driver drove us up and in to. Once on the island, we went up to the town center which has a great view over the harbor, ate some lunch, and sampled lots of limoncello. There are lemon trees everywhere, and limoncello originated in this region, so… when in Rome!
Our last full day in Positano was a beach day (our favorite!). We lounged and soaked in the scenery for most of the day.
Our next stop was Rome. Steve had been to Rome already, so we only scheduled about half a day there. I regretted this, as Rome is huge and there is so much to see! I was most interested in visiting the Vatican, so we started there. We did a guided tour. The Vatican is so much larger and so much more crowded than I anticipated! Every corner of the place is absolutely stunning. But, I won’t lie, the crowds stressed me out. It took us a few hours to get through the museum, then the Sistine Chapel (so cool!), and finally St. Peter’s Basilica. My favorite part, though, was exiting the church and seeing St. Peter’s Square and the balcony on the front of the church that the Pope comes out of. It was just like I’d seen on TV, and was incredible to see in person!
After the Vatican, we wandered around Rome. We stopped at a few piazzas, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and Trevi Fountain. If we had more time, we would have loved to go inside the Colosseum, but that will have to wait until next time. Of course, we finished our trip to Italy with wine and pasta!
The Great Fekspedition 