La nostra avventura Italiana: Seconda parte ~La Costiera Amalfitana~

Our second week in Naples we got out a little more to enjoy the beauty and culture that the city had to offer, and also spent some time with our awesome friends John and Gillia. We spent some time during the week making plans for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. We all agreed that there was no better way to celebrate our independence than to spend our long weekend enjoying the beautiful views and beaches of the Amalfi coast! We set out bright but not too early on our way toward the coast.

Once we reached the coastal road the views were nothing short of mind blowing! Between the excitement of navigating the treacherous cliff side bends, and trying to take in all the beautiful sites we were all more than happy to put away a bottle of wine with our first amazing meal in Amalfi.
We made our way into the Piazza del Duomo, and up the grand staircase to the iconic Cattedrale di Sant' Andrea.
After touring the Duomo, we headed back to the car so we could try to find our hotel for the night. Luckily we brought the GPS with us, or we may have never found it! The booking site we used said it was in Amalfi, and when all was said and done we were a few kilometers up the mountain in quiet little Agerola. We spent part our evening getting a private tour of Agerola from a friend of our friends. Our guide only spoke Italian, but luckily we had Gillia to translate. It was great to experience the cultural immersion while strolling through town and listening to our guide.


The next day we drove to Ravello to take in the beauty of the 19th century gardens and the epic coastal views. We also decided to take a hike down into Amalfi to have lunch. The sights, as usual, were to die for, but so was heat in combination with the trail! Halfway through our hour long trek the trail turned into steps! And not just your average regulation cookie cutter steps. These were old stone and concrete steps that ranged in size from regular to Shaq sized strides. The varying widths, depths, and condition of each step, made this trek the quad workout of the week! We were more than happy to take the bus back to Ravello after we enjoyed yet another amazing meal in Amalfi.
With our destination in sight we came upon section of the trail that had been blocked off! Refusing to turn back, we carefully surveyed the area for danger and finding it perfectly sound enough for us, we crawled through the blockade and made our way on down the trail. It would have taken a black hole or grand canyon sized crevice to convince us to turn back up all those stairs!
We had had plenty of excitement for one afternoon, so after returning to Ravello by BUS, we headed out to Sorrento to find our next "hotel", explore the city a bit and of course have yet another meal. We stayed at a camp ground that had small personal cabin's, not the Ritz but the price was right.


The next morning came with an early sunrise, sore muscles and the intent of a nice easy day at the beach in Nerano. We decided to take a little hike before we headed to the beach. The hike turned out to be a little more intense than we had intended but the views were worth the sweat.
We managed to find a well positioned rock, so we could catch a group photo.
We took a break in town upon returning from our "little" hike, picking up some provisions for an Italian style beach picnic lunch. We made our way through town and hiked around the bend to a gorgeous little cove where we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, lunching, and lounging. It was a nice contrast to our extra intense morning hike.

The last day of our weekend get away was spent on the island of Capri. The world famous Blue Grotto was our first destination. We took the tram to top of the island, and then a bus to the other side. We thought when we saw the sign "Blue Grotto this way" we were close by, so we didn't bother catching the bus. As underestimating our physical activities had been a sort of running theme throughout the trip, we should have known that skipping the bus was going to result in another long stretch of walking! About an hour or so later, we finally arrived at the grotto. From the outside it was quite a mad house! Boats full of tour groups competing with a stairwell full of tourist who came by bus for the attention of the small group of boatmen who would ferry us through the very unassuming cave mouth of the Grotta Azzurra.
Inside the grotto was the most breath taking natural blue glow in the water, and all the boatmen sang an Italian love song at the top of their lungs as they rowed us around. It really was an unforgettable experience.
To finish off a once in a lifetime weekend we rented a small motor boat and cruised around Capri, taking in the awe inspiring cliff face views, lunching on the boat, and swimming in the gorgeous waters.
We motored back to port to catch our ferry back to the mainland. We could have spent many more hours exploring all the cliffs and coves along the coast.
Back in Sorrento we enjoyed our last meal of the trip, and reflected at the epic weekend that was coming to a close. It sounded much more like a week long trip while we talked about all we had done over the past few days. We returned to Naples that night with refreshed souls and tired bodies, and enough wonderful memories to last a life time!