We made it to Amalfi!

 Buongiorno from Amalfi! Nikita, back again!

We've made it!! Chester and I made a list of places that we had to go to on our trip, and coming to the Amalfi Coast was one of my non-negotiables. As many of us, I have had this romantic notion of Amalfi for years, and I just had to have it included on our itinerary. I'll say the views lived up to it 100%. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to by far. How are they able to build whole towns on cliffs? Big Sur could never (and realistically probably shouldn't). 

Positano

We stayed in a small fishing town 20 minutes away from Amalfi called Conca dei Marini in this absolutely lovely B&B called B&B Il Pavone. If you're looking for a comfortable stay, this is the place. The host picked us up from the ferry, we've had a fantastic homemade breakfast everyday, and epic views of the sea from our window. It's incredibly quiet and peaceful here. I'm writing this blog from the rooftop terrace with their kitty demanding pets every few minutes and the adorable nonna playing with her granddaughter on the hammocks. This is what it's all about.

Breakfast with a view every morning

Terrace vibes

Our very friendly kitty friend

Views from the balcony of our room

As I'm writing this, we're on day 12 of our journey, and I'm on the other side of a cold. Not surprising my immune system is shocked from being in so many places. Because of that, my overall energy for doing all the things may be less than usual.

Here's a recap of the last few days.

Day One

On the first full day, we explored Amalfi, starting with a limoncello tour. It was super interesting to see how they were able to build a lemon farm on the side of a mountain. Want to know another reason why women are amazing? Generations ago, women carried up to 40 kg of lemons up and down the side of these mountains daily. The tour guide's grandmother had 12 kids and did this grueling work. Incredible. After the tour, we walked the streets of Amalfi and checked out the duomo. The town is already pretty crowded this time of year, but it felt manageable navigating around and never too overwhelming.

Lemon tour

Really cool old cars on the property

Duomo di Amalfi

Day Two

Day two we went to the beach in the town. Where we are situated is on top of the cliff, and we made our way down a series of stairs to get to the beach. Sounds silly, but how I envisioned enjoying the Mediterranean was on a beach chair with an umbrella and an Aperol spritz, and I was able to do just that. We enjoyed a relaxing day reading, swimming, and people watching the locals. We were next to a group of kids that were running and playing with abandon. They brought out a fishing rod at one point with an anchovy as bait, and it was quite possibly the cutest thing to see a couple of four year olds pretending to fish. A perfect first beach day on the Mediterranean. What comes up must come down, and making way our back to the B&B was 990 steps uphill 😫

Day Three

Day three we decided to check out Ravello, a town up in the hills north of Amalfi. There's a convenient shuttle that leaves from Amalfi that you can book in advance to guarantee your seat. We had a really lovely few hours there. We explored the Villa, saw some epic views from above, and walked around the town. We noticed a couple weddings happening in the town, and the brides we saw looked so radiant in the midst of the Italian scenery. We found this town to be less chaotic than Amalfi if you want to explore without being in the midst of heavy crowds. There are a ton of ceramic and jewelry shops here if you're looking for something to take home. The one struggle I'm starting to find is my inability to buy all the knick knacks I want. It's taking a lot of self-control as I'm oohing and aahing at everything to not sneak something back.

Day Four

As I mentioned earlier, I'm recovering from a cold, and we're adjusting to the constant moving coming with long-term travel. The weather is much cooler than expected so we've been enjoying the B&B and essentially wherever we can get to by foot. Chester wanted to scale the mountain to the town above, and I opted out. He claims he had a good time. Our next few days are going to be much more active so taking in the quiet before the chaos begins again. 

Bar Cermaiche for some drinks and great views

Made it to the top!

Last sunset before dinner

While the Amalfi Coast has been absolutely stunning and our B&B has been so dreamy, I want to be honest and say that traveling around here has been logistically difficult and has taken away some of our energy to explore the whole coast. We were forewarned how crazy being on the coast is with its rise in popularity, and it lived up to that. Many have told us "at least you're not here in July," which I couldn't even imagine. Based on our last few days here, these would be my few tips on getting around:

• Don't rely on the public SITA bus. It's often packed, and you'll be waiting for multiple buses before you can get on. Also, there is no sense of order on embarking the bus, and it's mob-like with people pushing and shoving to make it. The buses also run hourly, so missing one is more of a bummer than missing a bus in the city.
• After missing the public SITA bus because it wouldn't stop for us (a common occurrence), we got picked up by a private bus headed to Amalfi, which was an infinitely better experience. We have been relying on those a bit more to get around, but they don't run on any regular schedule, so you're at the mercy of their online booking schedule. The service we used was cmsamalficoast.com.
• Renting a scooter or car is also an option, but seeing how the buses get around on some of these narrow roads, we were too uncomfortable to explore that option.
• Private transportation is probably the most flexible and safest route but also the priciest. If you have the budget to do it, it's probably your best bet. 
• Taxis have set pricing that are pretty inflated. To give you a sense, we were only a few kilometers away from Amalfi, and that would be 50 euros.
• We had a pleasant experience taking the ferry into Amalfi and have taken one to our next destination, but I have heard that depending on the weather it may be tough to dock, so just keep that in mind.
• In an ideal world, we would have loved to find an accommodation that was a 20-30 min walk away from a larger town to get some of that quietness but also not be so dependent on a bus transfer to explore the coast.

Would I go to the Amalfi Coast again? Probably. But not for a long time, and definitely with a larger budget for a more comfortable experience.