30 things to do before I’m 30 – experience the #Amalfi Coast

Ciao a tutti, Another wonderful thing I got to experience while on my l’estate vacanze in Italy was the amalfi coast (another item I can cross off my 30 thing to do before I’m 30, only made possible once again thanks to my soon to be father in law Stefano! And to think we only spent 3 or 4 days just out of Avellino… we didn’t even really go back into town once Papà and Mariangela picked us up! Just stayed up in the beautiful mountain side where Mariangela’s mother lived.

View from the street, just outside the door of Mariangela’s mother’s house

View from the street again

That was the first morning, just before we were starting out trip to the Amalfi Coast. To be honest we did get a bit lost, and went through a toll both for no reason. OOPS. Went in and then back out, when Papà realised we had gone the wrong way. We took a wrong turn unfortunately (and we all know what men are like with directions…. they don’t want to follow mister tom tom navman! hehe) Finally we managed to find the right path and get on the road again! And gosh, was the view breathtaking! We then decided to stop at a little town just beside Cetara, which according to the google maps stamp on my phone is called Maiori, which was just literally breathtaking. We managed to get to the public carpark which was up a very narrow hill, and we had to pull over to the rather small side whenever a car was coming back down the hill. But we got there in the end and made our way to la spiaggia! 

Walking down the hill towards the beaches

Finally getting to the beach!

Lots of lovely italians with their beach chairs and umbrellas

As you can see, there is rather a large about of sun umbrellas with lovely italians under them, so we decided to walk a bit further along the beach and found a quieter side of the mare (or sea)… In New Zealand I’m so used to saying Ocean, because it literally is an ocean, but turns out in Italy they only have the sea. I think for kiwis, we say that the ocean and the sea are the same, but turns out that seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet… Some fun facts for you. 🙂 We had a beautiful day at la spiaggia di Maiori, I had plenty of dips in the ocean … oops I mean sea (or Matteo would say he was having a bath in the sea) , and got a nice sun tan. I loved the fact that you could hire the umbrellas and beach chairs. Unfortunately I think that they were rather expensive. Like €15 or €20 and we got 4 of them. oops! But I guess that is what happens when you go to a tourist destination in l’estate in Italy! (Even if we were at a less populated beach). But just looking out at the ocean… gosh wasn’t it the life. If I didn’t know Italy before, I surely felt I knew if better after that day. Just relaxing by the beach, going for swims in the sea, putting the goggles on and seeing the fishes swimming below your feet. Even feeling the horrible sea salt in your eyes. It was something I really missed, I mean my summer in Italy was the first time I had been to the beach in 2 years, other than the rather windy time I went there in febbraio! It was the first time that I got to literally swim in the open sea in a temperature that made it feel like I was in the bath! It was just such an amazing reality that I was getting to be present in the moment.

View from my beach chair

Going for one of many dips in the sea for the day!

Getting to ready to enjoy some lunch before going back in for another swim

After having a delicious Caprese panino, when then enjoyed another soak in the sun, and dip in the sea, and then made our way around 3pm back to the car to enjoy another trip along the Amalfi coast to Amalfi itself. I couldn’t stop looking out the window at the breathtaking views. I felt like, if I didn’t look, I was missing out on an opportunity to plant some beautiful memories into my brain. We finally got to Amalfi and stopped in the car park, and I ran straight out of the car to the Pier. I didn’t look back, I wanted to experience Amalfi in all it’s beauty and fullness. Words can’t really describe the feelings you get when you see a place so beautiful, I mean it looks like something out of a movie, or out of a fairytale, it doesn’t feel real! But gosh it was. Definitely a place I want to be able to go over and over again. Somewhere I would love to bring my family (If I could ever get mum to get a passport and finally leave New Zealand haha). It was literally like Heaven on Earth.

One very excited Anna on her arrival at Amalfi

Walking onto the Pier in Amalfi

More beautiful views

Beautiful Views

All those houses that you actually see on the films!

Going to Amalfi is literally like finding a corner of the world that is what I like to imagine that heaven would be like. After I had my running away onto the Pier experience, I think put on my tourist hat and had to buy some souvenirs. Which, if you know me, I am the worst person ever to go shopping, especially because I take about 30minutes to decide on one thing, and I don’t think to shop around, I end up paying twice as much for something, that I find in another shop 10 minutes later for half the price… this girl is not a savvy shopper while on holiday! haha. But I did buy an awesome navy sweater with a anchor on it that says Amalfi (I wear it everywhere in London, obviously because it’s super cold) and I bought 3 different sized bottles of limoncello which I still haven’t drank yet. I’m trying to think of how I can take them with me to Nuova Zelanda, because I’m only allowed to take 3 bottles of spirits into the Country before I get stung with duty tax! I might just have to hope my tax refund comes through and post them onto my mummy! But they are awesome little bottles. One is all colourful, in the shape of a shoe, and the other has amalfi art all over it! They are just so cute!

Afterwards we went to the Piazza del Duomo to enjoy an ice cream on the steps of the church, the piazza was absolutely buzzing with life. It was so beautiful to see all the different types of people, foreigners enjoying the new sights, Italians enjoying their august holidays, just the every day little things were all experiences in themselves.

Piazza del duomo!

the men relaxing on the steps, doing typical italian things — ehhhh smoking! 😦

I really hope to return to Amalfi soon. I don’t really think that will happen just yet, but never say never. I will get to see you again soon Amalfi! Just watch out! Anna will be back! haha (I’m sure there a lots of Anna’s there already, considering Anna is one of the most common female names in Italy haha)

Quick Selfie! 

Well I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to Amalfi as much as I enjoyed reminiscing about it. I wish I had of kept a diary or something while I was there. Definitely something I plan to do this next trip in exactly one month!

Ciao a tutti!

Anna x