chronicles of my europe trip: italy

Oh man. This post is going to be mostly pictures because… well, because I want to share so many pictures and words cannot properly describe how amazing it was to spend a week in Italy.  

We started at the Amalfi Coast- stayed in Positano with a day trip to Capri and spent 1 night in Naples.

Positano was amazing and charming and beautiful and warm! We stayed at a B&B just above the town so we had an incredible view of the coast. We hiked and went to the beach, bought some shoes and fedoras, drank lemoncello, ate pizza, etc.  Our host at the B&B was hilarious and entertained us for hours.  

{view of positano from the beach}

{view of positano from our b&b}

{watching the sunset from our balcony}

{i lost count of how many buses and trains we missed in italy,
but this specific time led to us taking a cab which then  followed
the bus we missed the whole way up the hill to our b&b}

Capri was touristy but gorgeous. We spent most of the day there, but my favorite parts were on the boat before we even docked at Capri. We got to swim at Faraglioni, the iconic rocks that look like Mermaid Lagoon, and took a tiny boat into the Blue Grotto. 

{our guide for the blue grotto was good at multi-tasking}

{the beautiful blue grotto... people warned us it wasn't worth it, but i love it}

{our boat passed through that tiny tunnel}

{window shopping in capri}

{view of capri on our boat to naples}

Naples was a big mistake. I was pretty sure we were going to be murdered, but we stayed locked in our rental the whole time- behind 5 dead bolts and windows with locked cages, and just in case anything bad happened, our host provided us with about 7 local police numbers. Comforting. 

{funny now, but we were legit terrified}

Then we rented a car and drove through Tuscany- where we stayed on a working dairy farm in Pienza. We got a tour of the whole Pecorino cheese making process and bought some sweet leather goodies.  This was probably my favorite thing we did in Italy. We almost breezed by it because we wanted to see some more towns throughout Tuscany, but I’m so glad we didn't.  Our host didn't speak much English and we don’t know Italian, so we were passing the iPhone with Google translator back and forth, and used a lot of gestures to communicate as best as we could. Our host was a sheep farmer, and the milk from his sheep went across the street to his brother’s farm where they make Pecorino cheese, yogurt, and olive oil. Another brother had a farm nearby, and we got tours of all three. It was so charming and a real glimpse into the family’s day to day life. I felt like we got to participate in something that wasn't super touristy and really appreciated spending time there to soak it in and appreciate the area and people.  And pet horses and play with the dogs, eat cheese, and drink wine. I mean, what could be better?

{i believe this was orvieto... if not, just another adorable tuscan town}

{view}

{this was the house and the archway on the left was the entrance to our room}

{screenshot of our convo with our host}

{the lookouts in the sheep}

{learning how cheese is made}

{so yummy}

{typical tuscan view}

Then made our way to Cinque Terre where we stayed in Manarola. The main hike between all 5 towns was closed because tourists were injured in a mudslide the day before, so we did some other hikes, and explored tre of the cinque terres.  Since the main hike was closed, we didn’t get the typical Cinque Terre experience but I was super soar from our Positano hike, so truth be told, I was ok taking the train.  

{view from our room}

{unbelievable view of manarola}

{this was the one and only trail open for our hike... so narrow!!}

{happy umbrellas}