Painting My Spirit Gold

The Amalfi Coast is every bit as beautiful as you have heard or seen in pictures.  And I mean, the entire coast and every town I saw looked like a postcard.  There are no shortage of spectacular views, dramatic cliffs dropping down into the blue green sea, and colorful towns perched atop these dramatic cliff sides.  It’s paradise. I felt as though I was in a love sick trance the entire week we spent there.  This place would have definitely made the cut for my list of cities I’ve fallen in love with.

Many well-known towns in the Amalfi Coast, while breathtakingly worth it, are really expensive.  Therefore, Dan and I choose an Airbnb in a small town called Meta, which is only located 4 stops on the train line from Sorrento and easily accessible on the same train line from Naples.  Staying in Meta was much more affordable than Sorrento or Positano, for example, and there were no tourists.  It was extremely curious to Dan and I why no one chooses to stay there.  It’s smaller, more local, and less crowded.  It is a little less glamorous without all of the expensive shopping and restaurants, but we thought it just as beautiful.

View of the cliffs and the beach in Meta. 

For being a small town, we actually found some really delicious fresh, homemade Italian food.  We were very pleasantly surprised and excited since we didn’t have the most top notch food experience previously in Rome.

Orecchiette eli noodles with fresh zucchini and arugula from Annare.  

As I mentioned, staying in Meta was an excellent jumping off point to explore the rest of the Amalfi Coast, as there is a train line that connects most of the cities, and was really easy to use (minus never knowing which platform we had to be on).

The first town we decided to explore was Sorrento.  And by explore, I basically mean walk around a bit, seeking out the best view of the water and cliffs, and best spot to have a drink while doing so.  Thankfully, it really wasn’t difficult to find fantastic views.  My two favorites were:

Marina Piccola

Marina Grande 

The streets and plazas of Sorrento are lined with bars, restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shopping galore, so it really isn’t a challenge to find somewhere to eat or have a drink.  But like I said, we were looking for that perfect spot.  A spot we didn’t want to leave, not because the drinks were great, but because the view was.  We decided to head down into Marina Grande which was an excellent choice.  Their are plenty of spots to grab a drink, food or snacks with tables right along the water.

Sea side drinks of choice.  My first Spritz. 

The following day after Sorrento, we were pining for another similar experience full of gorgeous Amalfi views.  We opted to head to the island of Capri on the ferry via Sorrento. We should have bought our tickets much earlier because the latest ferry available coming back from Capri only gave us a few hours on the island.  Because we didn’t have as much time as we hoped for, we decided to rent a scooter and putz around the island to see as much as possible and skip the touristy Blue Grotto.

Homer, our trusty scooter. 

Riding around on the scooter was really nerve racking at first.  The roads on Capri are extremely narrow and winding up and down hills with huge buses chugging up behind you and other scooters zipping past.   However, Dan proved to be a great driver and after we both started feeling comfortable, it was an amazing experience.  We were able to see the most incredible views of the city and the beautiful water below.

We were able to stop whenever, wherever we wanted, and take in the views instead of standing in lines with hoards of tourists.

Capri is an absolutely beautiful island and I’m so glad that we explored it in the fashion that we did.  I wish we would have had a little more time with Homer as we didn’t quite make it all the way around the island but I still think we got to see the best parts.

The colorful Capri bay.

As great as Meta, Sorrento, and Capri were, the day we spent in Positano was my favorite in the Amalfi Coast.  Before arrival, Dan had scoped out a hotel restaurant called Villa Gabrisa and made a reservation because again, we wanted that perfect spot with a view.  But this time, we wanted the food and wine to match the view as well.

The bus ride from Sorrento to Positano was out of this world.  We circled along this winding road literally on the sides of the cliffs.  We had fantastic views of the water and all of the towns below.  I wish I hadn’t felt so motion sick because it was really breathtaking.  Once the bus finally dropped us off in Positano, Dan and I couldn’t stop taking pictures (also see cover photo).

Positano is the most perfectly charming, colorful village, nestled into the cliffside.  It was impossible to take a bad picture of this place because the village did all of the work for me. Dan and I immediately regretted that we didn’t splurge to stay in a nice hotel for a night or two here and honestly, not many places make me feel that way.  Positano has that draw.

In addition to the incredible perfectness of Positano, we had one of the best meals of my life at Villa Gabrisa.  As I mentioned, it is a hotel that has a gorgeous restaurant with tables overlooking the water.  The prices were high but we were willing to pay a premium for the experience.  I have to say, it was the best 117 Euro I’ve ever spent.  We stayed for 3 hours and enjoyed two fabulous bottles of wine, a cheese plate, delicious food (2 courses for Dan), and desert.  I don’t think you can come to this part of Italy and not do this at least once.

After this amazing day in Positano, I became really sick with a tonsil and ear infection the next day and for the following week.  It was like the universe was telling me that my fabulous meter was way too high and needed to knock me down a little.   I had to visit the hospital in Sorrento, take antibiotics for a week (which meant minimal amounts of wine and delicious food which was obviously torture), and was in a ton of pain for 4 days.  However, this isn’t even what I remember about the Amalfi Coast.  I don’t associate any of my memories there with this horrible experience.  Now that, is a true testament to how much I loved it and how great it really is.

So with that, the list of places in the world that I’ve fallen in love with continues.