Italy-Ischia

I realized that I never posted about the second half of my trip to Italy. After Positano and the Amalfi Coast we ventured out to Ischia Island for 3 nights. Ischia Island is known for it's natural hot springs and thermal baths which are said to have healing properties. They have a big hot springs garden there (called Citara)  but we didn't visit that. We took a ferry from Positano directly there. It left bright and early and we were a little hungover due to overindulgence in wine (weird) so we napped on the boat.

Napping on boats, Ischia bound. One of my favorite photos from the trip

The ferry took us to the main port (Ischia Porto) on the northeast side of the island.  After some searching online we decided to stay in Forio which is on the west side of the island. Forio has a sort of laid-back, village vibe.  There's some shopping and restaurants and bars but it's not a late night sort of place.  We found Hotel Providence online after a lot of TripAdvisor searching. It had good reviews and was across the street from the beach.  It had a wonderful outdoor pool with amazing views.  The rooms are nothing special but clean and we didn't spend any time in them except to sleep. The staff was friendly, it was definitely a very quiet hotel that seemed to cater to an older crowd. It's also slightly outside the center of Forio but it's a beautiful walk along the water to get into Forio, takes about 10-15 minutes.

The view from the pool deck at Hotel Providence

We only had 3 nights and two full days in Ischia so we didn't get to do as much as we wanted to. Looking back I am really disappointed that we didn't find the time to hike up to the peak of Mt. Epomeo.  When we arrived we relaxed at the pool at the hotel for a few hours and then walked into the town to eat and drink more.  There's a little row of restaurants across from the water, all of the ones we tried were delicious.

The next day we took the bus over to Ischia Ponte to check out Castello Aragonese, one of the main tourist attractions on Ischia.  It's an old medieval castle just of the northeast side of Ischia and connected to it by a foot bridge.  We spent hours wandering around and taking in the amazing views...and checking out torture chambers. We even went for a dip in the water off the foot bridge on our way out. 

Magnificent Castello Aragonese

The view down onto Ischia Ponte from Castello Aragonese

The beautiful gardens

Our last day on Ischia was spent at the beach across the street from our hotel, Cava dell'isola.  We were told by the bartender at our hotel that it was the "young beach" and he was right. It seemed like the "high school hangout" with many over-groomed dudes in speedos playing soccer. I can't say I'm a fan of the speedo look but the beach was beautiful.  The water was extremely calm and warm but still cool enough to be refreshing. We baked all day then ate a late lunch at the restaurant on the north end of the beach.

Cava dell'isola

Speedos!

That night we ate and drank as usual and accidentally went on a date with two Italian dudes who quickly fell in love with us. What an uncomfortable evening that was. We went to a small romantic town called Sant'Angelo and got gelato.  It was a beautiful and classy little place however we were under the impression that we were going dancing at a club and I think we were dressed a little too risqué for the crowd there.  We got quite a few disapproving looks and I'm fairly certain that the crowd there thought we were paid companions. By the end of the evening we couldn't wait to escape back to our little hotel room.

The next day we took a ferry back to Naples where we had to spend the night for our 6am flight home. We got a little hotel room near the airport and Naples is not a safe place for 2 chicas to be walking around at night so we settled in, got some takeout and attempted to sleep before the long flight home back to reality.

Italy - Amalfi Coast Boat Trip

Oh how the time flies by.  Life has been a whirlwind of travel, weddings and long workdays as of late which means very little time for scrapbooking and blogging. Since my last post I have been to China & Hong Kong, Mendocino & Yosemite. But before I get to those I must finish up my tales of Italy.

By far our very, very favorite part of our trip to Italy was the day long boat trip we took along the whole Amalfi Coast.  Our boat captain (Salvatore) was the BEST. Photos and words can't do justice to how pretty it was and how much fun we had. If you are ever in Positano take this trip, it was the best 80 Euros we spent on our trip.

Our day started at 11 when Salvatore picked us up from the little dock at Laurito Beach. Rosa, the owner of our rental, was able to call and have them pick us up there so we didn't have to take a cab into Positano. From the moment we got on the boat the group we were with felt like a little family.  Salvatore spoke great English, was a wealth of information, funny and kind.  He made the day incredible and the group we took the tour with was amazing as well, a mix of American, Australian and Italian. We headed south from Laurito along the rocky coastline.  It was picturesque and nice to see the coast from the water rather than the road.  It's even prettier from the water. As we motored down the coast Salvatore gave information and history the areas and buildings we were passing by. I apologize in advance for the ridiculous amount of photos, it was just such an incredible day.

Leaving Laurito

Salvatore, doing his thing

Amalfi Coast Road

Our first "stop" was to go swimming in a cave.  That small opening below opened into a huge cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling.  It smelled kinda funky but I really wish I had a GoPro to capture that moment.

Amazing old buildings along the coast

Next we went to Furore, if you've seen a travel board on Pinterest you've seen this bridge from the other side.  Beautiful little beach in a canyon.  Unfortunately boats are not allowed into this cove beach area so we couldn't stop here.

Bridge on the road over Furore

Furore Beach, this is as close as we could get

Next stop was the elephants kissing arch, it's good luck for couples to touch it.  Since everybody thought Hill & I were a couple we went for it.

Elephants Kissing

Good luck?

And then we jumped in the water again by another little sea cave that actually had a little beach in it.  Unfortunately no cameras made it in there.

Floating in the super salty sea

And then there was lunch, the most enjoyable lunch I've had in ages. The beachfront restaurant we stopped at prepared fish that Salvatore had caught that morning.  My vegetarian self didn't eat it of course but that right there is a meal with heart.  Lunch was filled with great conversation and bonding with the other people in our group.

Lunch by the sea

When Salvatore found out I'm a vegetarian he had a special dish made for me

After a lunch of copious wine and amazing conversation we boarded the boat again and Salvatore popped a bottle of champagne and we slowly motored back to Laurito.

Yep, he pulled the cork out with his teeth

Wowzers

Perfect Day

Italy - Positano

A little over a month ago I returned from my very first trip to Italy and it was epic.  I went with a girlfriend and left husband-face at home. Everybody was shocked at that but my belief is that he was OK with this girls trip because it will allow him to go on a boys heli-boarding trip to Alaska.

Since we only had 9 days there we had to focus on one area of Italy.  I had heard nothing but good things about the Amalfi Coast and we wanted to get some beach time in so that's where we decided on. We spent 4 days in Positano and it was not enough.  It was breathtakingly beautiful and there was so much more we wanted to see and do.

We rented a studio apartment about 3-4 miles outside of town. I think if we had known the area better we probably would have stayed in town at a hotel.  But we wanted a kitchenette for breakfasts and that breathtaking ocean view that we couldn't afford at the hotels in town. So I found this adorable little studio on Trip Advisor and we went for it.  If I were to visit Positano again I would definitely fork over the money for a hotel in town because the bus didn't run as frequently as we hoped and a taxi ride into town was expensive (20 Euros for 3-4 miles). However the owner of the house (Rosa) was wonderful and extremely helpful and the studio was perfect with a private terrace and an amazing view.

The road to Positano

The view north into Positano from our terrace

We managed to fit a lot into our 4 days in Positano.  The day we flew in we arrived at our rental and quickly showered and made our way down to the beach below our rental which was called Laurito.  Laurito Beach was 510 steps down from the road and the down is worse than the up.  By the time you get down there your legs are shaking.  The climb down is worth it. Laurito is a wonderful little rock beach with chairs you can rent and a great restaurant called Da Adolfo.  Our jet lagged selves quickly drank to much of the local peach wine and became friends with the awesome servers there. I also discovered my favorite local food, slabs of mozzarella grilled between 2 lemon leaves, yum. After we'd sufficiently pickled ourselves on wine (and Limoncello) we snoozed in the chairs for awhile.  We are far too cheap to pay 15 Euros to sit in a chair but luckily our favorite server also ran the beach and let us lounge in the chairs for free.

Down, down, down

Beautiful Laurito Beach

More peach wine please!  Steffano, our favorite waiter

After baking ourselves in the sun we decided it was time to get our act together and get some dinner.  Rosa recommended a restaurant about a 10 minute walk from our studio called La Taverna Del Leone.  It's kind of sketchy walking down the narrow, windy road hoping you don't get hit by a car but well worth the walk. I just wouldn't recommend walking home in the dark. When we arrived the restaurant was quiet and not very crowded. We sat outside on the patio and proceeded to gorge ourselves on delicious pizza, pasta and wine, this quickly became the theme of the trip along with the hashtag #fatkidsforlife.  We had an awesome waiter, I wish we remembered his name.  After dinner we bought a bottle of wine to go and he drove us back to our studio so we wouldn't have to walk down the windy road in the dark, now that's service.

Down the windy road in a gown

#notdating at La Taverna del Leone

Somehow we woke up without hangovers or jet lad and decided we needed another beach day but also wanted to go into town to see Positano.  We grabbed a cab into town and wandered through the alleys of shops and down to Spiaggia Grande.  Spiaggia Grande is the main beach in Positano that you see all the photos of with the picturesque town rising up behind it.  It was crowded and rocky and we honestly liked Laurito a lot better but we were there and we wanted to get a tan so we laid our towels out on the rocks and baked.  If you're staying in Positano you can take a boat from Spiaggia Grande to the myriad of beaches along the coast, they're all outlined here. It was HOT, hotter than usual for June I think.  We had to jump in the water every 15 minutes to cool down. the ocean in Italy (Adriatic Sea) is SO calm, none of the waves we have at home in California.  It's kind of more like a lake than an ocean. It is also extremely salty and it makes you very bouyant.  I don't think you could sink in this water if you tried.

Spiaggia Grande

Sweaty beasts

After cooking ourselves once again we headed to the side bar at one of the beachfront hotels, Hotel Buca di Bacco. 2 bellinis in and we started making friends, first with a Canadian named Pete and then with an Australian couple, Marty & Ana, the English speakers flock together.  Day turned into evening and we moved into the restaurant to eat.  What we didn't realize that in that time period we were drinking, the rest of Positano got dressed up and everything went from beachy to swanky in the blink of an eye. On top of that there happened to be a fashion show on the beach that night along with a performance by some famous Italian singer that we watched get brought in surrounded by security. Since we were staying outside of town we did not want to cab it back to our studio to change and make ourselves presentable.  Another reason to stay in town.

The fashion show happened, too much wine happened, limoncello shots happened.  And then the best thing of all: fireworks.  Right after the fashion show was over there was a spectacular fireworks show on the beach. It was close and loud and an amazing end to an incredibly fun day.