Italy: Amalfi Coast

When doing research about places to go in Italy, we came across some breathtaking photos of small fishing villages with colorful housing that was hanging over the edge of cliffs overlooking crystal clear blue water.  We were sold that we had to check it out for ourselves.  The Amalfi coast is made up of the cities of Positano, Amalfi, Maiori, Minori, Ravello (and a couple other smaller towns).   After the city grime, we were happy to put the trashy city of Naples in the rearview and head to somewhere a little more relaxing.  Yes, we would have to bid farewell to the amazing pizza- but we were ready for some beachin’.   When we arrived in the small town of Maiori, we readied ourselves for an adventure to find our Airbnb at Casa Palomba. Casa Palomba describes itself as a retreat for nature lovers and hikers who enjoy simple and rural atmospheres.  Perfect. We didn’t have wifi for the previous few days in Naples so we didn’t have a chance to research how to get there as much as we would have liked.  We took a train to Salerno, then a regional bus to the Amalfi region.  Once we arrived in Maiori it was a walk through the town, 2 miles up a mountain canyon road, then up 330 stairs (but who was counting anyway?).  It just so happened that the day we arrived it was hot and humid and of course we had arrived at the heat of the day.  Needless to say with our 20lb+ packs on, this proved to be quite a workout.  We were proud of ourselves that we had figured out how to find Casa Palomba with the few directions we pulled off the google translate app.  When we arrived I’m pretty sure we looked like we were beaten, dragged behind a car then went for a swim with our clothes on.   Once we saw the amazing view, we knew the trek was worth the pain.  Despite our disheveled appearance upon arrival our hosts greeted us with warm hospitality.   We were promptly poured cold water with fresh squeezed lemon.  Lemons and grapes are the two staple products of this part of the country.  We would indulge on limoncello, lemon bars, lemon water and of course some good wines made with local grapes throughout our stay.

The day we arrived, we quickly discovered that storms were coming the next couple days and we wanted to enjoy what we could of the beach.  After showering and ditching our packs in our room, we descended the stairs, walked the couple of miles back into town and hit the beach.  Swimming in the ocean here was a slice of heaven.  The scene from that beach is as close to heaven as I can imagine.  The water was crystal clear and perfect temperature, wasn’t too rough and the little cove was surrounded by lush green mountains that rose dramatically from the sea to a height of several thousand feet.  I could have stayed in that water forever.  After the swim, we decided to have a sunset happy hour overlooking the beach then have a nice dinner to celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary.  Yes, we were 1 day early but we knew that the following day it was suppose to storm so we didn’t know what would be in store for us that day.  The dinner and wine was fantastic.  It was a perfect end to a perfect day, and a great place to celebrate 2 years together.  The only minor issue was walking back to our place in the dark after a glass (or several) of wine.  That proved to be quite the task but alas, with the help of our headlamps, we made it back through the trail and to our bed.  Exhausted and a little intoxicated; with life, the Almafi coast and maybe a little from the wine… Day 2 turned out to be rainy and stormy all day.  We didn’t mind because even a storm on this coast is beautiful, and it allowed us to relax and catch up on life.   We slept in, took our time eating breakfast, did research for our trip, spent a LOT of time on the blog and caught up on some personal emails.  It was much needed.  We will need these types of days along the way because a trip as long as ours isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.  We capped the day with a fantastic meal cooked by our Italian mama, Rosanna, who ran the joint.  She didn’t speak much English but proved to be a very generous and gracious host, and man could she cook!  The meal was one of the best ones I’ve ever had. Using organic produce and locally grown spices, everything was homemade, everything from scratch.  She must have spent hours on this one meal.  Our favorite dish was a fried egg and bread mix, topped with fresh melted mozzarella. It was amazing. The language barrier proved to be quite a challenge at the meal.  There were 5 of us total.  The host and her friend, neither of which spoke English, Vanessa who was a Canadian staying in another room at the Casa Palomba and ourselves.  Somehow, French became the go between language of conversation since Rosanna knew Italian and French.  Vanessa acted as a translator since she spoke French and English. Ironically for her profession, Vanessa is also a translator.  So here we are in the mountains in Italy breaking bread with Italian, English and French being spoken along with lots of hand motions and gestures. It was confusing, though provoking, and incredibly fun to learn more about these people who were strangers just a day ago. This, my friends, is what we love about Airbnb.  These are the kind of experiences that fuel our thirst for travel.

Day 3 we were back in business.  After a great breakfast of fresh fruits picked on the grounds, some toast with homemade jam and homemade yogurt (previously didn’t know this existed) we decided to tackle a local hike.  The hike started from our Airbnb high in the mountains and continued through the mountains up and down until we ended in the town of Ravello.  It started pretty rough as the trail wasn’t well marked and was a bit overgrown.  This was compounded by the fact that our hiking directions we received from our hosts were poorly translated from Italian to English.  A lot was lost in translation, which made it quite a puzzle and often perplexed us.  In addition, we made the poor choice of sandals and shorts due to the warm temps but quickly regretted it.  I’m not sure how we didn’t get some sort of poison ivy on our legs but we got pretty torn up because of how overgrown the trail was.  It really was an act of God that we made it to the end of the trail.  Even though it was a little tough going, the views along made this hike worth it.  At every turn there was just spectacular views of small fishing villages on the ocean.  This was one of the most rewarding hikes that we’ve ever done.  It had the right mix of difficulty, uncertainty and breathtaking scenery.  All in all, this day we hiked north of 10 miles with lots of elevation change.  Definably got our workout in this day.  Not to worry, we rewarded ourselves with another amazing meal cooked by our Italian mama when we arrived back at Casa Palomba.  Nice way to end the day.

The next morning, we got up early (for us on the trip – 6 am), ate another amazing breakfast and vowed that we would be back again. We felt that Maiori really was the perfect town for us.  It was small, laid back and not overly touristy like some of the other larger towns.  Casa Palomba and our Italian mama proved to be a breathe of fresh air.