It looks like I have already covered the major destinations we hit while in Italy last summer. Since we were with family and young kids there were some days that were not filled with much at all. Some down time was very necessary. We spent the whole second part of our trip in Amalfi staying in a small town Sant Agata on the mountain above Sorrento. Here are some photos from our time here around Amalfi and Sorrento.
Amalfi is an area of the coast line of Italy to the south across the bay of Naples from Naples. It is known for its beautiful views and places like the island of Capri. It is a playground for the rich and famous and a destination for yachting. None of those really apply to us but we found it to still be a very pleasant place to visit.
Our Airbnb was on a hillside just outside a small village on the top of the mountain. This guy was always sitting on top of this gate as we came and went each time just up the street from air Airbnb.
The hillsides were lush and green with amazing views everywhere you turned this is from the balcony outside of our room looking up at the village of Sant Agata.
As I mentioned before Napoli Football club had just finished there last championship match for the season and everywhere gave tribute to them. The main junction in Santa Agata also paid hommage. There was a little butcher shop here with an old man who owned the place. One day we walked by with Bjorn and he followed us down the street a little ways and came to smile and tease Bjorn. He then pointed to me and my wife asking if he was our child. He was very happy people everywhere in Italy just adore babies, "bambinos."
We had our first dinner in town at this little reastarant with an outdoor garden sitting area. After the sun went down there was some live music, Dzigbordi and my niece had some fun dancing on the grass.
The super markets were well stocked with some good beer, cheese, bread and salami. I made this my go to for lunches at home when we stayed in. This is my kind of spread.
There are old buildings and churches everywehre. We would often take afternoon walks and this was at another small village just down the road from our place. This was also the end of the road in this area and a taking of point for some beautiful walking trails, like the one to Crappola I showed earlier.
Sant Agata was a small town but there are two Michalin Star restaurants and a lot of other great restaurants. We went to this place called Il Fienile twice it had an amazing view and really good food and wine.
This was one of the deserts there it was a cream custard topped with wild berries in a cute little jar. You can see a nice glass of house wine in the background also.
I had a lovely sausage and mushroom past there once.
Dzigbordi always jumped for the seafood. Some pranws, squid and a tuna steak here I believe.
They also had a very tasty flaun like desert.
The meal is not complete without a few photos on the way home. These two are quite content after their dinner.
The light in the evening after our dinner was beautiful on the small village on the mountain side.
We got an amazing sunset that evening.
A couple of times we made out way down the winding road by bus to Sorento the biggest town in the area and transportation hub with the train station. I wanted to try a burger in the area so we went to this British style pub. The burger was not bad washed down with a glass of beer, nothing to write home about but it hit a spot. We had some nice conversation with some tourists at the next table also. Bjorn always knows how to attract people.
Sorrento is beautiful on the cliffs above the Medditereanian, there was old achitecture everywhere, and warm colors. There was a whole bunch of pedestrian streets linned with litle shops.
There are old Churges on and around every corner. This one had some beautiful art work.
Just below the train station is a green park that has a very clean fountain that was perfect to take little breaks at and snap a pic.
Bjorn was styling everywhere he went.
There is just something really beautiful and tasty about olive oil and balsalmic vinegerret. This one looks like an evil eye on the plate. This was at Lo Stuzzichino a Michelin two star restuarant which was very tasty and not very expensive.
When heading from Sant Agata to Sorrento there are some amazing views over the bay of Naples. Here you can see Mount Vesuveous in the distance, the volcano that laid waste to Pompeii.
Sorrento is a coastal city but strangely most of it is not on the water. It sits about 300 feet above the water atop some mighty cliffs as you can see in the photo above. Once again Mount Vesuvius looms in the distance.
There is a small harbor with a number of pleasure crafts and the ferry that goes to Napoli.
Sorrento is known for its large yellow lemons, and there is lemon everything in this city. Lemon candies, lemon cello, lemon liqueur, lemon chocolate and I could go on. This is a cool part of the city, there are places where there are just orchards of lemons built right into the city, some of them very old but still productive.
Always time for a quick selfie with my babe.
There is this deep ravine through the town and one road that makes it's way down to the water line. There are some stairs to take here, but there is also an elevator for 1 euro round trip at a park near by.
Below the park the shore is lined with beach clubs with a little bit of beach and space for swimming. These are quite popular on warm weekends.
This is another view over the harbor and water from the other side.
One morning we were at a little bit of a lose as to what to do. So we went to the bus station with plans of going to one village we had been passing through on the bus. But when the first bus arrived and it was not going there we just decided to jump on and see where it takes up. It took us down the peninsula and winded down a tight little road to a small fishing village called Marina Del Capon.
It was about lunch time so we chose a little restaurant at the waters edge. It was a little expensive for my liking and nothing exciting on the menu for me so I decided to hold off on eating and get a snack.
Dzigbrodi got a little bit of spaghetti. The others also decided to have a snack and try elsewhere. While they ate I found a little supermarket that makes sandwiches and got an awesome sandwich with deviola salami and some thick fresh mozzarella. A win for me. My sister was not so lucky and ended up getting sick from the fish she ate for lunch.
The views in this little town were breath taking and beautiful though.
This was our second to last day in Italy and with the family. We headed back to the Airbnb for some rest after that.
During our down time we tried to keep this guy occupied and not eating maps.
He was squirmy but he did do a little modeling on our balcony with his mother. He had a great little Afro Mohawk at this time.
I never got sick of this view.
On our last day in the area and with the fam we made our second attempt at getting to Positano a popular tourist beach community about 30 minutes away. The first time we tried the first bus was full, the second bus was almost full but a group of 5 decided to jump in front of us and take the last spots, and then there were no more buses. On this day we tried again but we were having a similar problem, the buses were also reduced because the country was having a day of morning for the prior prime minister dying. My sister was also not feeling well from the fish the day before so her and her husband went back. My father, Dzigbordi and I tried a little longer with no luck.
So when in Italy you can rarely go wrong eating. We went back to one of our favorite restaurants in Sant Agata and got lunch.
Bjorn got some more time with his Grandpa, and we got to drink some good house wine.
One of the reasons why we loved this restaurant was the owner was a very sweet old man. The first time we went there he asked us if the kids have any allergies. When we said no he came back with free gelato for them all. He once again treated Bjorn to some gelato.
Bjorn really loved causing trouble with his Grandpa. But this is the last photo. The next morning very early Dzigbordi and I headed down to Sorrento caught a train to Napoli, caught another to Verona, and then one that took us over the alps and back to Munich where we started. We will take off next time with our journey over the alps.
Thanks for joining us on this little tour of beautiful Amalfi.