The breakfast buffet at our hotel in Sant'Agnello offered a wide selection of foods, definitely the most diverse selection we found on the trip. If I could have taken my camera over to the huge display without feeling like a total goon I would have. From traditional foods like fruit, eggs, rolls, pastries, and the common vegetables and cheeses you see all over Europe, this hotel also offered multiple different types of rice with veggies, grilled vegetables, grain and veggie salads, and tons of sweet cakes, breads, and croissants. Below is my main plate: Italian salami and cheese (for protein), artichokes and tomatoes (for veggies), crusty Italian bread with sweet real butter (always!), sweet cake (why not?), and an unpictured huge side bowl of fresh fruit. Delicious! Plus strong Italian coffee with frothed milk.
I didn't snap a photo of the kids' plates but they would have shown a half dozen different types of sweet breads, croissants, etc. Our rule was that this was OK (vacation!) so long as you had something healthy like a bowl of fresh fruit to go along with the sugar.
We enjoyed a quick breakfast because we wanted to get to Sorrento on time to purchase tickets on the only morning ferry heading east on the Amalfi Coast. Our driver recommended that we take the ferry (versus the bus) to Amalfi because he thought it provided more pleasant views. After breakfast we quickly walked the distance of 2+ miles into Sorrento and made it to the ferry terminal in time to purchase tickets.
Sorrento was perched high on the cliffs above the ocean, so we walked down several steep paths and stairs to reach the harbor. The photo below was taken at the marina looking back towards Sorrento.
The overcast skies didn't make for beautiful photos but the cloud cover was nice because it wasn't too hot!
Once we were on the ferry and moving, we started seeing amazing scenery of the Amalfi coast. While we thought we had seen the best views from our hotel the day before (of course they were outstanding), it was another experience altogether to view the rock formations, cliffs and small towns on the coast from the water. The first few photos below don't pay justice to how pretty it was.
About every 5 minutes we would round a corner and there would be sharper cliffs and more striking scenery. I struck up conversation with a family from the U.S. that was sitting behind me because I would tell from the conversation between them that they were quite familiar with the coast. It turns out they had family in the area so they visited every summer. One of the women kept telling me, "Enjoy this, but it gets better, don't wear out your camera at the beginning!"
After about 45 minutes we arrived at Positano, the first ferry stop. What a photographic coastal town!
The pastel colors of the buildings were striking against the coastline! Realistically we could only visit one of the towns on the coast, so we chose to stay on the ferry all the way to Amalfi. Turns out, Amalfi was gorgeous too!
This impressive church was just a short walk from the harbor area. We did not go inside because the detailed mosaic exterior and steep staircase were fun enough to experience.
We stood at the top of the steps for a few minutes taking photos, people watching and enjoying the bustling view below. Then all of a sudden seemingly out of nowhere, we heard a dozen loud crackles and pops. It took my breath away because of the surprise, and the atmosphere felt charged in an instant. Many tourists were looking at each other wondering what was going on, rushing towards the rail at the top of the church to look for activity below. With the multiple terrorist acts that had occurred in the recent weeks (the tragic airport attack in Turkey occurred a few days prior), it certainly crossed my mind that perhaps something bad had happened.
But it turns out that we happened to be in Amalfi on a day of celebration and the loud cracks were fireworks that had just been set off at 12:00 noon. This made sense because we had just heard the church bells ring for the hour. I personally calmed down in just a few minutes once I realized that no one was shouting because of emergency, and then we were walking the main street and we found this banner hanging:
We inferred that perhaps the town was celebrating their patron saint on this day, as you can see the date for the day of our visit to Amalfi marked on the bottom of the banner. In retrospect, looking down from the steps of the church we could see a wooden stage set up and later we saw a few people in band costumes.
After a delicious pizza lunch we spent the afternoon exploring Amalfi. We kept coming across this band (in the photo below), which was quite entertaining.
The main street was so narrow and crowded with people, but still cars went up and down.
We found this stoplight at the top of the street. Apparently the stoplight controls the flow of traffic so that cars are only traveling one direction at a time.
We spent several hours lazily going in some of the shops, enjoying the street musicians, stopping for gelato (of course) and climbing steps for magnificent views of the harbor.
The Amalfi coast is known for their production of lemons so there were an abundance of lemon shops, selling everything from lemon candy, limoncello, lemon jam, lemon soap...you get the idea.
Notice John perched on the ledge to the right in the photo below.
Scott took this cool panoramic shot looking between two buildings out towards the ocean. Notice John on the left.
We returned back to Sorrento on the late afternoon ferry from Amalfi. The sun was out for the return trip, which provided more opportunities for pictures. It was so gorgeous!
In the photo below you can see the coastal road in the center just above the arches. After seeing the tight twists and turns of the road from the ferry, I was very glad that we decided to travel on water out to Amalfi.
After freshening up and enjoying drinks for happy hour, we returned to our favorite restaurant from the night before, Restaurant Moonlight. I think the second evening's dinner was even better! I ordered gnocchi, one of my favorites. This dish was so delicious!
I took this last photo after dinner. Though the photo is blurry, it still depicts some happy people feeling satisfied after a wonderful day on the Amalfi coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment