Italy: Part Due

Picking up where we left off, the next stop on our Italian tour was Sorrento. Adam loves to drive in other counties (he feels it's a part of true culture immersion) so we rented a car in Rome and headed south. Two things to note about this road trip - 1) we'd heard nightmares about driving in Naples - things like how gang members ride on motorbikes and attack others based on the color of their helmets or lack thereof; also, lanes were more of a suggestion rather than literal guidelines of where to be on the roads; 2) once you get to the Amalfi region, you're truly on the Italian coast and the Italian coast is a long and winding cliff.  That's what it is.  You can't see the massive tourist bus coming around the corner ready to hit you head on or run you off the road. I'm not the best passenger (sorry, Adam) and it's likely we were charged by Enterprise for the claw, I mean nail, marks I left in the car. Thankfully, we survived and I walked away only feeling moderately nauseous which was immediately eradicated upon entering our hotel - the Hilton Sorrento Palace.

Our hotel was a resort type lodging up the hill in Sorrento away from the busiest tourist section. Thanks to our upgrade (holla Hilton Honors points!), we had an amazing view of the city, ocean and Mount Vesuvius from our window and an even better view from the rooftop pool and breakfast area. Heaven. Though this portion of the trip was intended to be the ''relaxing'' bit, we still had a few things we wanted to see and do down South.

The first night we went into Positano on the Amalfi Coast for dinner - mainly because we still had the car and Adam could have some more fun driving. This is a very small and quiet town. While charming, with a beach and some great seafood options, it didn't look to have many hotel options and shuts down a bit in the off season (we were hitting the tail end of the off season, so businesses were just starting to open back up). Our favorite thing about Positano was the hike we took the next day. We took the bus from Sorrrento (which is long, slow and has several stops, but the easiest form of transportation) and hopped off right before getting into town centre. We'd googled options, found a trail and happened upon what we believed to be the starting point.  Turns out, it was the ending point. We didn't figure that out until we'd completed the full hike up to Montepertuso - all 85 flights of stairs. I'm talking literal stairs, built for mules to take things up and down the hills, which they still do. In addition to my burning thighs, I was breathless - partly because I'm crazy out of shape, but mostly because of the views from the top. It amazes me that homes are standing. I'm no engineer, but looking out upon the dozens of terraces of homes and streets and out to the water, it made no sense and I'd never feel secure living in one of those houses, but it sure was cool to admire. 

The following day we decided to take it easy and lounged on our hotel's rooftop all day.  It was a bit cloudy, but was exactly what we both needed. We ventured into Sorrento that night for pizza, which contrary to popular belief, isn't the most popular dish.

The next day was hands down our favorite part of our entire trip. Our friends had recommended it to us and we're SO glad we did it - the Amalfi Lemon Experience. Amalfi is also a pretty small town, so for our day there, we signed up for a tour of a lemon farm (southern Italy specialty) and a cooking class. The lemons are so fresh and sweet you can pull one from a tree, cut it like an apple and eat it, rind and all. Lemons are in everything - gelato, liquor and a surprising amount of Italian dishes. We got lucky and only shared the class with one other couple who were visiting their wedding venue to plan final details. The grandmother led the cooking while her granddaughter translated for us. It was a full family affair as everyone joined us for lunch - Sunday lunches are days for resting and eating... my kind of life.  We made everything from scratch - bread, lasagna, tiramisu and some other tasty sides and starters sipping wine and limoncello as we went along. I learned so much that day about southern Italian culture and cooking. Truly, the best!

Our last full day happened to be the warmest which worked perfectly for a ferry trip to Capri. As soon as we got to Capri we realized the coast was a tourist trap so we quickly (as far as we could uphill) headed towards Anacapri where we took chair lifts to the top of the island. There we discovered the bluest water I've ever seen.  We opted to hike back down stopping through little shopping areas and grabbing snacks. At the bottom, we found a small beach (beaches over here are often more rocky than sandy) and soaked up the view and sunshine for a bit.

I'm not sure we'd ever have our fill of gelato (seriously, it's the best thing ever), but eventually we had to head back to reality. I know lots of people go to Greece for honeymoons and the like, but I would highly recommend you consider Italy for your next Euro adventure. There's so much to see and do and you'll be welcomed with open arms and a glass of limoncello... life doesn't get much sweeter.