The Amalfi Coast, Italy - September 23 - October 3, 2018

Greeting form the Amalfi coast. We are staying in a small town not far from Salerno called Maiori. Our "home" for the next week and a half is conveniently located across the street from a beautiful pebbled beach.

Might I also add that the base of our building is a bar, where we get coffee every morning and an adult beverage some evenings. The boys have taken a liking to cappuccino foam, so we have to divert their attention with croissants. We've taken a liking to the ever satisfying Aperol Spritz.

Meet the Aperol Spritz

Our first full day here we decided to take the boys to the beach. We have now replaced eating sand with eating rocks....

 

For those not aware, the Amalfi Coast is a 50 mile stretch of coastline in the region of Campania. It's made up of 13 Municipalities, one of which is the ever popular "town" of Amalfi. The entire region is renown for it's lemon trees, which produce it's famous post meal digestif, limocello.

After having a bit of a hectic travel schedule since arriving in Italy, combined with the fact that we had no wheels (not that you'd ever want to rent a car in the Amalfi), we decided to sit back and actually relax here. We got into a bit of a daily routine, cooked dinner, took the boys to the playground along the sea walk and even got back into running a bit.

We managed to get out for a few day trips. One of our very first was to Minori, the neighbouring town about 2kms away. It was on this first visit that Isabel discovered the Pasticceria Sal De Riso, which is what we imagine Wonka's bakery would look like. We formulated a plan to return, but more on that later. Minori was small and quiet, but cute and picturesque. Not much beach space though.

On the walk to Minori

Minori

One of our next adventures was a trip on the ferry to Positano and Amalfi, which are the two "must see" spots on the Amalfi Coast. The ferry is probably your best bet for travelling in this area. The roads on the coast are narrow and there are quite a few buses. I wouldn't recommend driving here unless you do some research. The locals and buses seem to have a system of honking set up so that if a bus is approaching a turn on the windy road, traffic will come to a standstill to allow the bus to pass. Also, vehicles come very, very close of one another at regular interchanges, so make sure you have coverage. The buses are great, but packed to the rafters and you might wait a long, long time to step foot on one, since no one understands how to line up. You also might want to bring a diaper because some of the turns and spots they squeeze thought are nerve wreaking. 

Both Amalfi and Positano are very beautiful, but I was happy in the end that we chose Maiori. It was way more our pace. It was much cheaper than the other two and it still retains the "not overrun by tourists" appeal. Plus it doesn't have all of the stairs that Positano has. Which, when travelling with strollers is a huge plus.

Luke and Arch on the ferry

Amalfi

Positano

The morning we set out to explore via ferry, a few forest fires has ignited in the hills around us. We watched the relief efforts, along with the rest of the town. The locals seemed apathetic to what was going on, so we can only guess that this is a regular occurrence around here. We later got a good view of things from the boat.

Fucco

Towards the end of our time here, Luke and I decided to hike Ill Sentiero degli Dei (The path of the Gods). It's a trail that starts in the north between Amalfi and Positano in the small town of Bomerano. Most people will tell you that it is easier to find the trail with a tour guide, that's not true. We easily took a bus to the town from Maiori, found the trail and hiked it. It was phenomenal and I highly encourage anyone visiting the Amalfi coast to take it on. If you start in Bomerano, you will finish in Positano and this direction is much easier and picturesque than taking it in reverse.

Almost to Positano

Closer

Sooo many stairs. At least we're going down

Made it all the way to Positano

  On some of our last few nights here, the wind was insane. It really didn't help the fire situation, which seemed to be a daily battle after that first one. Luckily, it never gave us any problems. 

On our last day on the coast, we decided it was time to pay a certain bakery a little visit. Isabel and I got up and went glass bottom kayaking in Minori in the morning. We didn't do too bad, until we returned to shore and our boat capsized in a wave onto the beach. Happy to report that we both survived. 

Glass bottom kayak fish sightings : 0 Shoe sightings : 1

Then it rained, and we feared we would never make it to the bakery. We were wrong. The clouds parted just in time for us to make the trek to Minori one last time. This bakery is unreal and unlike anything I have ever seen. It is display case after display case of some of the most decadent desserts imaginable. This man has earned pastry chef of the year more than once. After perusing the counter a number of times, we each settled on 2 creations each to be shared.

  

Sugar overload

My choices : Paris Brest

Pear and ricotta

Not an actual apple

It was spectacular, although none of us moved very much after getting back home and we all felt a little sugar high.

On our last night here, the old man running the bar let us drink beers on an IOU. We actually achieved local status. It might be a small thing, but it's a part of travelling not usually seem when you are jumping from place to place like we usually do. 

Oh, we've also managed to get Isabel in the sea....and drinking coffee

She's mostly in

From here we have a quick stop in Naples before heading to Rome...

Ciao!!!