Positano

Well, what more can I say .......

(View of Positano coming in from Via G Marconi)

The town perched high up on the hill ....... it's fun walking down ..... but even the fittest will find it hard going back up!

A little bit of shopping, oh, who can resist........

And then its off to the beach, for a serious sun tan.......

Oh, and dont forget to drop into the famous ceramic domed, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, gleaming under the sun .....

xx

Ravello

Ravello, (as guide books describe it) was the former playground of Jackie Kennedy, home for the German composer Richard Wagner and even used as a hideaway by the actress Greta Garbo.

For me, Ravello is the most beautiful and romantic of towns on the Amalfi coastline. The feeling you get as you drive the 7 kms from the town centre of Amalfi, passing through the soaring mountains and deep ravines is indescribable. At the top, it sits like a natural balcony overhanging Amalfi and the nearby towns of Minori and Maiori and the views below .... are spectacular!

The town is also known for its impressive program of classical music, which is set in the beautiful gardens of Villa Rufolo. This inspirational setting features international orchestras and special guests play repertoires that always feature Wagner. The Festivale Musicale runs from March to late October, but always book well ahead as it does get very busy during the summer.

(Villa Rufolo)

(Spectacular view from Villa Rufolo)

(Nicola on stage - can you imagine performing with that back drop!)

What I love about the Piazza in Ravello is that no cars are allowed into the town centre and it just has this peacefulness when you walk around, compared to the other hectic towns on the Amalfi coast.

The Church is dedicated to San Pantaleone and was built in the XI century, by the Bishop Orso Pavico. The entrance doors are similar to those of Amalfi, in bronze, made in Constantinopoli in the XII century. The church also features a museum, where several historic details of the past are kept. At the end of every July, fireworks light up the sky to celebrate the patron saint, which we were lucky to hear and see from our villa.

(Piazza Duomo)

(Town centre piazza)

And if you're after exquisite handmade ceramic pieces, this is the place to shop (be warned, they are not cheap!)

Tomorrow we are off to Positano!

Ciao.

xx

Weekend bliss!

The journey continues next week.

This is where I'd like to be this weekend ....... under a beach umbrella ... but no such luck!

(Image from Getty Images)

Have a good one!

xx

Villa Principessa

Villa Principessa is owned by the Camera Family and run by Alessandro and Beatrice Camera.

Their mother is also part owner (her sister is the other owner) of the truly magnificent, Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi (it is also a member of The Leading Small Hotels of the World).

(Postcard from Hotel)

We were also fortunate to use the private beach club facilities at Hotel Santa Catarina, as we were renting the villa

(Image - www.hotelsantacaterina.it)

Not to mention the best meal I've every had at their Restaurant Al Mare

(Evening view from Restaurant Al Mare - Hotel Santa Caterina)

And the "Amalfi Gold" Lemon massage (specialty of the area) I had .... which was heavenly

Just thought you'd like to see some photos of the villa ...

These photos are only some of the views from rooms in the villa (every room had a view!)

The master bedroom has a spectacular fresco painted throughout

Then, 120 steps down, through the gardens .....

...... and you end up on your own private ocean platform

                                                                   (Image- Villa Principessa website, click below, All other images - mine)

For more information on the villa click here.

xx

Buon giorno bella Amalfi Coast

Todays the day! Todays the day!

We were all up fairly early and eager to get back on that autostrada again (I cant believe I just said that). We were half way down Italy's "boot" and only a few hours away from that magnificent coastline, where thousands of Italians and tourists from around the world frequent every summer..... the Costiera Amalfitana.

This breathtaking coastline stretches 50km east from Sorrento to Salerno.

From highway A1, we decided not to take the exit towards Sorrento, which then passes through Positano, Praiano, Conca, Amalfi, Ravello, Minori and Maiori, but decided to follow directions for motorway A3 in the direction of Salerno and take the exit "Vietri sul Mare" and wind our way down in the opposite direction ... we had plenty of time to discover that famous feat in itself, narrow, asphalt road.

The view was gob smacking, but I was hanging on for dear life every time we went around another bend (don't forget we were driving a right hand drive car on the right hand side of the road and I, the passenger, was the first one to see the on coming cars as we turned those bends).
Mr N thought it was fantastic navigating those corners and actually a lot easier as he could hug the corners closer to the mountainside. I, on the other hand, kept thinking, we're not going to get to enjoy this paradise because that SITA bus coming up, is going to slam us right onto that mountainside! Plus we didn't have one of those small cars, we had a BMW 4x4!

We made it to Villa Principessa on Via Marmorata Ravello (the part of Ravello nearest the sea) and were greeted by the staff, Norma and Franco. They were expecting us.

This is our villa in the forefront (Photo from www.amalfivacation.it)

"La villa e bella", I said ..........

xx

A little lean to the right.....

Do, do do do... do,do,do,do, dooo. Do, do do do.... do, do do do dooooo....

So no one told you life was gonna be this way · (clap clap clap clap) .....

The DVD was back in and off we set again, not really wanting to leave this little bit of paradise (Lake Como),

But the Amalfi coast was beckoning us .....

(just a little taste -Amalfi coast)

As you all know, Lake Como is high up in the northern part of Italy and the Amalfi coast is on the south western coastline ..... so today was going to be a long drive.

But, we decided to take a little detour to Pisa (we had never taken the girls before)

A little lunch (or should I say a longgggg lunch later- how can anyone have a short lunch in Italy!) and numerous photos of trying to hold up the leaning tower , we were off again.

We set the navigator and realised we could be on the Amalfi coast by evening, but we were not getting the keys to our villa until the next day!

A few more hours of driving, we exited the autostrada into a little medieval town called Anagni.

The area is known as the Ciociara and is about 40 minutes southeast of Rome and is the birthplace of several medieval popes. You don't find many tourists here!

After a simply delicious meal at a very cute restaurant, that seated us across the road, under the stars with candle lit tables, we asked the waitress, "Dove un albergo nelle vicianze? (Where is a hotel nearby?), in our very bad Italian and she was off with her Italian and a little English thrown in, explaining about the one that wasn't very clean, but the owner of the restaurant was already on the phone trying to find us somewhere to sleep. A half an hour later, after numerous calls (god knows who he was calling), the very kind gentleman jumped up and announced, "... he was taking us there!" (in Italian). We kind of understood what he was suggesting, but shook our heads, insisting we were fine and that we would drive further south and find a place somewhere and thanked him for all his help and trouble we had caused him. A few more of his friends arrived and by the time we knew it, we were following them (we assumed) to a hotel... somewhere!

This was only one small example of the generosity of the Italian people we encountered on our trip. They are the warmest, most friendliest people you can come across. Always taking time out of theirs to help... with a lot of hand action in between!

We knew tomorrow we would be on the beautiful Amalfi coast....

xx

Are we there yet?

I had a feeling this was going to turn out to be a bad idea.

The girls had armed themselves with numerous DVD's (well, they can recite all the lines from Friends... all 10 seasons!). We were already hours into our trip and they were already asking, "How long before we get there".... "Why didn't we fly, like we normally do?"

This was going to be a long trip.....

Meanwhile, the French country side was looking magnificent,

Sunflowers, in all their glory....

We decided to stop in Strasbourg - northeastern France, close to the border of Germany, overnight (nothing had been planned or booked, except for our Villa on the Amalfi coast. This is how we have always travelled, even when the children were very young and everyone thought we were crazy), but we enjoy the excitement of arriving in a new city and deciding to stay longer than anticipated.

(Strasbourg France)

Our only desire was to spend day 2 at Lake Como in Italy, but we had to get through the Alps and the numerous tunnels of Switzerland first! So off we went again ...

Switzerland is visually stunning and so green (at this time of the year). Our next stop for lunch was Luzern, Switzerland. Even though we would have loved to have spent more time in Switzerland, we were all really keen to get to Lake Como before evening and maybe drop in to see George (Clooney! - hehehe)

(Switzerland)

We stayed at the charming Hotel Du Lac in Bellagio, which is a family owned and run hotel, with fantastic, friendly service and magnificent views of the Lake and surrounding mountains.

(Bellagio)

I thought it was going to be a really long day, full of complaining, but the girls were starting to enjoy the trip and I was beginning to relax and enjoy it also.

Bellagio was absolutely magical, as the sun began to disappear behind the mountains and the Lake started to glisten ....

xx

The fun continues tomorrow ...

(All Photos - Mine)