the traveling pear: 06/28/13

the plan:
Leave for Rome Friday evening. Stay one night near the airport. Pick up the rental car early morning and make our way south to the Amalfi Coast via pizza in Napoli and a quick tour in Pompeii. Arrive to our hotel just in time for a sunset dinner.

reality:
Stood in line at the ridiculously crowded airport for 1.5 hours only to be told our flight was cancelled. Stood in another line for another 1.5 hours only to be told all flights were booked until the following morning. Stayed the night near the Oslo airport, compliments of the airline. Set the alarm to wake up for our 6:30am flight. Closed the blackout curtains and cranked up the AC, something we have not been able to do since summer began resulting in a very deep sleep. And then ...

"$@*! Matt! It's 5:48!" "What? What time is our flight?" "RIGHT NOW" We flew out of the hotel. I'm talking bed head, morning breath, and pajama top. We got to the check-in counter with 4 minutes to spare. FOUR minutes. Raced our way through security and down the terminal. I'm barefoot and on the verge of throwing up at this point. And then...

"We're sorry. The flight is overbooked. Please see our service counter." What. the. mess.

Since we didn't technically check out of the hotel yet and I still had the room key, we were able to go back and properly get dressed for an 11:30am flight via London to Rome. After just a one our delay in London, we are finally making our way down to the Amalfi Coast. Or so we thought.

Thank you to whoever used our rented GPS before us and turned the satellite data off. What is the use of a GPS with the satellite data turned off!? Apparently there is a simulator mode on the stupid thing and somehow the distances between turns and exits matched exactly what we were doing even if we were going northwest instead of southeast. "The signs don't match," I said at each turn and exit. "There should be very big and obvious signs to Napoli." Yeah, we went thirty minutes in the wrong direction. This added an hour on to an already long drive. At night. In Italy. Do you know what the roads are like in the small towns of Italy? They're like sidewalks with mopeds swarming the car like bumble bees.

Matt handled the drive like a boss.

At 1am on Sunday, we are finally just 30 minutes away from our final destination. But then ... the police had closed the only road to our hotel until 2am. Seriously.

Atrani:

Welcome to Atrani - a much welcomed site after all of the above.

The view from our hotel room made it all worth it.

Buongiorno!

This beach is where we spent the first day, surrounded by locals. We loved listening to Italian all around us. Our hotel is the pink building on the right.

While the Amalfi Coast is not the place to go if you are looking for stretches of white sandy beaches, it is the place to go for breathtaking beauty.

Home made pasta on the left. Best pizza I've ever had on the right.

This is one of my favorite pictures taken from the rooftop balcony of the hotel. Believe it or not, there are streets between these buildings.

Should you ever want to visit this part of Italy, we recommend getting away from all of the other tourists by staying outside of Amalfi. We stayed one town to the east, just a short walk down the road.

Staying outside of the hullabaloo allows you time to explore.

Looking at Amalfi from Atrani.

These beautiful small towns along the coast are very close in distance.

Looking at Atrani from Amalfi.

We walked past the tourist nonsense to a small restaurant that served the best seafood pasta. Accompanied by the house wine that came from a giant jug pulled out of the cupboard under the stairs.

The 70 steps up to our hotel was a good excuse to eat more pasta, pizza, and pastries.

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One of the things Matt was most excited about on this trip was Sentiero degli Dei - The Walk of the Gods. It is about a 4 hour hike at least 600 meters above sea level. A supposed 'must do' to complete a holiday on the Amalfi Coast. So, we tried.

We were first headed to Bomerano.

From the beginning of the hike, one could understand why it is referred to as the Walk of the Gods. The views were amazing and I imagine only got better with higher elevation.

However, we wouldn't know because I have a fear of heights. I don't think it is a psychological fear because I can usually push myself to do the task at hand so as to not miss out on amazing experiences such as this. It is apparently a fear that is purely physical because this time I pushed myself until my body literally froze and I involuntarily cried.

Poor Matt was just taking a minute to enjoy the view and snap a few photos, until he heard... "I'm crying over here."

Do you see the narrow path without a railing? Do you see the drop off? Do you see me clinging to a rock for dear life?

I was seriously stuck and couldn't go on any further. All I wanted to do was get on all fours and crawl to safety. My loving husband came to the rescue and patiently guided my down the mountain. Albeit, with a chuckle here and there because I still had a few fandom bursts of tears in me. I was just really emotional and felt bad about making him miss out on the hike! In the end, I was laughing too.

We started where this picture was taken and made it up to the speck of orange roof in the top right. As a self proclaimed overachieving perfectionist, it really bothers me that I couldn't complete this stupid hike. I will redeem myself.

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Sorrento:

After a coffee for Matt and a beer for myself (at 10am. I needed to calm my nerves), we made our way over to Sorrento.

There is an amazing view to be captured after each hairpin turn.

the town of Positano

A view of Mount Vesuvius from Sorrento

This is the only picture we have from Sorrento. We stayed here one night before taking the ferry to the Island of Capri. When we go back, we will go straight to Capri.

Sorrento seemed to be the dumping ground for tour busses. Souvenir shops and tourist trap restaurants filled with English speaking travelers were all we could find.

We had dinner at what I read was a restaurant patronized by locals. Come to find out it was a Michelin star restaurant that one should probably dress up for. Or at least go back to the hotel and shower up after starting the day with a sweaty hike and an hour or so in the car. Our bad.

The waiter didn't seem to like us until we ordered the pre fixe menu with a bottle of wine. I didn't feel too comfortable walking past the other tables in what I was wearing. Matt said, "You rock those denim cut-offs through this Michelin star restaurant."

Whatev. If your restaurant is so fancy, maybe the fish shouldn't be served with a side of bones.

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Capri and Anacapri

Capri is a slice of heaven on the east side of the island filled with tourists who have come from Sorrento for the day. Anacapri is a more peaceful slice of heaven on the west side of the island away from the hullabaloo. Guess where we stayed?

We took a DIY convertible cab to our hotel.

Faro di Punta Carena

Try to look beyond the turquoise speedo to the specks of people jumping off the rocks.

Refreshingly cold

We stayed to watch the sunset.

And had the place all to ourselves.

The sky was still glowing when we got back to our hotel.

Arco Naturale

Arco Naturale from behind

Water so blue I was sure it would taste like a blue flavored lollipop.

The famous Faraglioni rocks from behind.

Dinner with a view of Mount Vesuvius to end our stay in paradise.

And of course, homemade limoncello.

Napoli:

Sitting in traffic isn't so bad with this view.

I had to have a slice of pizza from Napoli. Matt reluctantly obliged even though he was the one driving amongst the crazy Italians. We escaped without a scratch thanks to his mad driving skills!