Amalfi
Buongiorno and benvenuto to my post about Amalfi! This was a very special trip celebrating Chris’ birthday and we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend getaway. What made this trip especially exciting is that Chris knew we were going on a trip, but I kept the destination a secret until the day we left. Surprise! We were headed to the stunning Amalfi coast in Italy! I hope you enjoy this short post about our relaxing weekend in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Have you ever planned a surprise trip for someone? It’s SO hard keeping it a secret! It was also different making all of the arrangements without consulting Chris to see if he agreed with what I was thinking. But, it was also really fun knowing how amazing of a trip I had planned and getting to see how much Chris loved everything.
In the planning of this trip, I did something I hadn’t done before, and that was book flights and hotels through Expedia to get a bundled deal. I was really surprised with how many great deals were out there. I chose the Amalfi coast because the weather is consistently nice throughout the year, so it would have been one of the warmer places in Europe we could go at the end of October. I found a great deal for direct flights with Ryanair and a three-night stay at the Hotel Marina Riveria, a 4.5 star hotel, for €500 per person. That sounded like a great value to me and before I knew it, I had a suprise birthday weekend getaway planned for Chris!
Friday, October 26th - Chris’ Birthday
Friday morning was a hectic one as we enjoyed some birthday pancakes and readied our house to leave for the weekend; but as soon as we got to the airport, it was time to celebrate! To get to Amalfi, we had to fly into Naples, which was a three-hour flight, which pushes the boundary of comfort on a Ryanair flight. Haha. As soon as we got off the plane, we whisked through passport control, and found our driver to make the journey down to Amalfi.
After I had booked our flights and hotel, I did research on how we were going to get from Naples to Amalfi and it turned out that everyone recommended hiring a private car. I think there are buses and trains, but nothing was direct, and I did not want to deal with that when we were getting into Amalfi late Friday night and leaving early Monday morning. There are several different companies out there that provide private transfers from Naples to Amalfi, but I didn’t know who to trust, so I contacted our hotel and they arranged for everything. The transfer was €120 each way, so €240 in total, which was comparable to everything I had seen. It was spendy regardless, but since we had gotten such a good deal on flights and hotel, I figured it wasn’t the worst thing, especially since we were getting driven directly to our hotel with a trusted driver.
Unfortunately, because we got into Naples around 8:30 p.m., it was already dark, so we couldn’t see anything, including Mount Vesuvius, as we drove past it. The drive down took an interesting turn when we got off the highway and got to the coastline. If any of you have ever been on the Wild Atlantic Way between Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, imagine that, but 10x worse. The only way to describe the road was that it is a 35 minute long hairpin-turn-squiggle. Our driver must have thought he was auditioning for the Fast & Furious franchise because he was whipping around every corner as fast as he could. It didn’t take long for Chris and I to look at each other in complete agony. We both went into self-preservation mode so as to not spew our lovely [read with sarcasm] Ryanair dinners all over that Mercedes van. What was supposed to be a 1 hour and 25 minute ride was a 65 minute ride and right as I was telling myself, “just 20 more minutes”, we had arrived at our hotel. As soon as Chris got out of the car, he tossed his cookies, while I paid the driver. Happy Birthday, honey! I, at least, was able to make it to our room before seeing the car sickness through, if you catch my drift.
I want to give a proper plug to our hotel because it was such a nice place with excellent service. Like many of the hotels in the area, it is a smaller, boutique hotel, with the service of any Waldorf Astoria. The staff was exceptional in my correspondence beforehand and during our stay. I also think it has the best location in town because our view was unbeatable.
I had booked us a Deluxe Superior Room, which meant we were going to have a Queen-sized bed with a small balcony facing the sea. However, the day before we left, I looked at what the weather was going to be like and it was nothing but rain and storms forecasted the whole weekend. Because of that, I figured we were going to be spending more time in the hotel than originally planned, so I contacted the hotel and got us upgraded to their Junior Suite, which was probably the best decision I made that entire week. The Junior Suite had a full bathroom with a jacuzzi bathtub, a living room, King-sized bed, and an extra long balcony with two glass doors that we could open up to listen to the sound of the crashing waves. We were welcomed with a cold bottle of prosecco and all of a sudden, that horrible ride down from the airport was all worth it. This was going to be the perfect place to relax for the weekend.
Saturday, October 27th:
With no dogs and nowhere to be, Chris and I leisurely woke up Saturday morning feeling rested, no longer nauseous, and excited to check out our view in the daylight. The town of Amalfi looks like paintings you see or a postcard. We couldn’t believe this was what we would get to look at all weekend. I think we had the best view in the entire city.
We grabbed a light breakfast in the hotel, which was included with our reservation, and enjoyed views of the sea while we ate.
In the afternoon, we decided to check out the hotel’s rooftop pool and bar before heading to the beach. It was a gorgeous rooftop with great views. I wish it would have been sunnier because I would have spent a lot of time up there!
We collected our beach towels and made the five minute walk down to the beach.
There weren’t too many beach-goers as the skies were pretty overcast, but that didn’t stop us from making the most of it. Before hopping into the Mediterranean, Chris made a memento for his birthday and showed off with his signature handstand. #31andstilldoingfine [<— apparently I don’t know how to rhyme lol]
As soon as the birthday boy was finished with his photoshoot, we bravely jumped into the massive waves. This marked the beginning of a 10-minute giggle fest as Chris and I moved with the waves and tried not to get crushed by them. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!
After losing my breath in the sea, we went back to the hotel to freshen up, and then came back down to the boardwalk for lunch at Il Gran Caffe.
Chris and I had a nice spot on the patio to enjoy the waves, but the food was very mediocre. In fact, I was outright disappointed because I was expecting the food in Italy to be spectacular. We ordered a caprese salad, bruschetta, and a pizza. I think the best thing I ordered was the strawberry margarita. I think this restaurant is a classic tale of great tourist location with unimpressive food.
After lunch, we found the perfect cure to an unsatisifed tummy with some gelato. The Amalfi coast is known for growing lemons, so I had to try the limon flavor along with cookies ‘n cream. Yum!
Since it still hadn’t rained, Chris and I took advantage of the nice weather and walked through town. We found the Cathedral of Amalfi, where [most of] St. Andrew is buried, a lot of souvenir and shoe shops, and more restaurants. It was a very quaint town that seemed to have more locals moving about than tourists.
This was about as much as we wanted to do in a day on this trip and we had robes calling our names back at the hotel. We spent the next couple hours lounging in our robes, taking in the sunset, and drinking our bottle of prosecco.
For a special birthday dinner, I planned ahead and got us a reservation at the fancy, Ristorante Eolo. It was right next to our hotel, so we didn’t have far to go.
The restaurant is small with only a few tables. They have the tables set up so you can look out at the water. The food, this time, was pretty good, but the menu prices hurt the wallet a bit. Had the food blown me out of the water, the prices wouldn’t have bothered me as much, but it didn’t. We ordered a quinoa starter and Chris ordered homemade pasta stuffed with crab and cheese and I had the catch of the day. Don’t get me wrong, the food was very good, but it wasn’t the best meal we had all weekend. The best part of our meal was our bottle of wine that left us feeling buzzed up and happy for the rest of the night. :)
Sunday, October 28th:
When we woke up on Sunday, the weather had moved in. It was very windy and rainy and the waves were even bigger than the day before. When I booked this trip, I also booked us an all day small group boat cruise from Amalfi to the island of Capri. Chris and I love to get on the water anywhere we go and I thought this would have been the best way to see the entire Amalfi Coast — Positano, Sorrento, and then finish the day at the luxurious island of Capri. However, a couple days before we left, I got a call from the boat company saying they had cancelled all tours scheduled for Saturday and Sunday because the wind was going to be too dangerous. I was really bummed, but when I woke up on Sunday and saw how choppy the water was, I was relieved we didn’t go out because Chris and I would have probably had another round of sickness, this time of the sea variety. We’re still bummed about it to this day, but it’s just another reason to head back to the Amalfi Coast!
Because of the weather, Chris and I took it pretty easy Sunday morning. When the rain broke in the afternoon, we walked into town and back towards the Cathedral of Amalfi to eat lunch at Taverna degli Apostoli. This restaurant is tucked away, but find it if you are ever in Amalfi. This eccentric hole in the wall is a must. The menu was filled with family recipes and the staff seemed invested in providing a cozy dining experience. Like many of the restaurants in town, we could only order a bottle of wine, no by-the-glass, so we picked out a red that is made in the neighboring town of Ravello to pair with our pastas. Chris got “Grandma Amelia’s” bolognese and I got the gnocchi. Both were made in house from scratch and were dynamite. It was the perfect comfort food on a rainy afternoon. Because we had a bottle of wine to drink, we ended up spending a couple hours tucked away in this cozy restaurant enjoying every bite of food and quality time together.
Even though our stomachs were full, I followed my mom’s mantra, which is “there is always room for gelato!” We tried a different spot right in the square by the cathedral and walked along the pier as we enjoyed our cones.
With the wind picking up, Chris and I retreated back to our cozy room to take in the views from our balcony and relax until dinner. Does it seem like all we did was eat and relax? K, good, because that’s all we did and it was heaven.
For our last meal, we wanted to make sure it was a good one, so we did a little Googling, and Chris found a spot called Pizzeria Donna Stella. I don’t know why, but all I could think of was Mamma Mia. Probably because of “Donna” and it was up these old steps, next to people’s laundry hanging to dry, and located underneath lemon trees. There was literally no roof, just the canopies of lemon trees with the fruit hanging down. It was magical! We put in our order of pizza and pasta and all I could do was imagine Meryl Streep in the kitchen in her overalls whipping up our dinner while singing ABBA. #lol. Whoever did make our food deserves an award because this was the best meal we had in Amalfi. I couldn’t believe how good the pizza and pasta was. I wish we had eaten here every day. Do not miss Donna Stella if you ever make it to Amalfi.
Before heading back to the hotel, we walked up the stairs of the cathedral to check out the front of the church up close. It has a beautiful gold mosaic of St. Andrew above its massive bronze doors and there were beautiful archways. We never made it inside, but I’m sure it’s just as lovely as the outside.
That night was our last night and we packed our stuff up before heading to bed. Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 3:30 a.m. to take us back to the Naples Airport, so it was important that we got a few hours of sleep and could roll out of bed and go. We were so sad to say goodbye to our luxurious room and this gorgeous town.
Chris and I were pretty nervous for the drive back to the airport after how sick we got on the ride down, but we had a different driver and he took the roads much slower, thank gawd. We survived that trip with little nauseousness and plenty of time to relax in the airport lounge before our flight.
Overall Impressions:
We LOVED the Amalfi Coast and hope to go back some day.
The mediocre weather turned out to be just fine because we loved relaxing and enjoying the view from our hotel room.
Next time, we would love to get out on the water and explore the rest of the coastline.
If you are planning a trip, make sure to have lots of cash because cash is king and often the only form of currency accepted.
Hotel Marina Riveria is exceptional and we highly recommend!
Thanks for reading! Until next time…
Saluti! xo,
