Italy. Oh, Italy. You really are the destination of dreams. From your dramatic cliffs on the Amalfi Coast, to the ancient ruins of Rome and to the ever stylish streets of Capri or Milan. I adore everything about the country. However, I feel I have only scratched the surface. I’ve been blinded by its bright city lights or the crashing waves against the Neapolitan riviera and never gave the Italian countryside a second thought. Until now.
Travel has always been a huge part of my life, from the ages of 17 – 24 I was a travel agent which meant I had access to a lot of travel deals and amazing holiday bargains that sometimes I found a little too hard to ignore. I thought seen as I haven’t documented a lot of my travel pre this blog, that I would share 5 of my top experiences and travel destinations with you.
In the last of my honeymoon posts I feel a little sad. The Wedding Diary and Snapshot posts have been keeping things alive for me post-wedding. I hope you have been enjoying them as much as I have.
Lastly, but by no means least I bring you Capri Island. The millionaires paradise off the Coast of Napoli. Some of the most beautiful views can be found here, and after a very rough boat ride journey from Sorrento (yes, I was very nearly poorly sick!) I’m so glad we made it through the horrendous weather and got the Island in one piece.
Where we were dropped off by the boat was what can only be described as ‘’Paradise’’
We hopped on a local bus that took us to the top of Capri and to the main town centre which is where you start to see all the high rollers shopping in THOSE expensive shops. God, I wish I had had all the money in the world because there was some serious shopping to be had. I even found the real deal Moschino phone cases!
This is a soap shop? How ridiculously cute is that? It is a tea party heaven!
Once explored the main town we headed down to harbour on the Funicular to have an ice cream on the sea front and watch the boats come in.
The one thing Mr C & I loved about Sorrento was that there are so many beautiful places to discover, all offering completely different experiences. Whilst we didn’t jet off to some far flung destination like the Maldives or the Caribbean for our honeymoon, Italy was spot on for us. Romantic, terribly mystifying and beautiful. We could not have been any happier with our first Italian experience and I do hope that in the future we can head over there again to celebrate an anniversary in years to come.
Italy will now always have a special place in our heart.
Yours truly,
Mt & Mrs C xxx
We had obviously been bestowed with some absolutely glorious coastal sights so it was time for some real history.
If you live under a rock, the region of Napoli is home to Mount Vesuvius, the Volcano that spectacularly erupted and covered Pompeii & Herculaneum in molten lava. It left people running for their lives and sadly a lot of lives were lost.
Sounds horrendous? Yes.
Was I excited to see some dead bodies? Yes.
As disgusting/morbid/crazy/insert any other word here that describes something as positively scary as it sounds, I was so excited to see this and at every corner I was hoping to see a ‘’person’’ running for their lives.
Did I see that? No. Not until the end that is.
The site goes on for acres & acres, you forget you are walking around what was essentially a full blown City! I became terribly dense and got ever so bored of the ‘’peasants’’ houses, but what caught my eye was the amazing architecture of the ‘’wealthy’’ homes.
If you want to get to Pompeii you just need to head to Sorrento and hop on the train, the main line runs every 15 minutes or so, back & forth on the line to Naples. It cost us 4 euros each return and 12 euros per person to get in to Pompeii. MUCH cheaper than paying through your tour operator or hotel, it also gives you the flexibility to arrive and leave when you want to!
Yes. I finally found some gore to wet my appetite. I am aware I am very strange!
Aside from the beautiful art & architecture this is what I was waiting for..,
Yep, I traipsed around for hours to finally see these ash covered bodies right at the end. But, was it worth it? Yes. I feel like I got a snap shot of what life was like back then in beautiful Italia!
Did you enjoy Pompeii? What were your must see sights?
Rebecca xxx
So we set to it, finding a perfect spot. Italy is known for being notoriously expensive (however, on arrival it wasn’t quite as bad as we had been lead to believe!) and we managed to find a gem of a hotel that offered All Inclusive which is a rarity in Italy. We stayed at The Hotel Mar Alimuri & Spa located in Meta de Sorrento which was a few kilometres from the centre of Sorrento itself. We were discouraged from walking all the way there, however, never ones for following rules we laced up our new running trainers and did it. Boy, was it hot!
As the hotel offered a free shuttle service in to Sorrento we sampled a few of the lovely restaurants to get a taste of the ‘’Real Italy’’ which I can assure you was very tasty!
Amongst the beautiful hotel and Sorrento City Centre we ventured to the Amalfi Coast which is jaw droppingly beautiful and when I say ‘’jaw droppingly’’ make sure you don’t wobble and fall off that cliff when your jaw drops because it’s a long, long, longggggg way down! Positano & Amalfi are a must see and if you are privy to using local transport and aren’t shy of exploring I would suggest using the Sightseeing Red Bus that leaves from Sorrento’s Train Station every hour and exploring the Amalfi coast that way because it is only 8 euros each and each time you hop back on it is 4 euros. Much cheaper than the hotel or tour operator excursions. Did I mention you get free earphones to listen to the commentary too? If you only have a couple of days to explore, this handy guide of things to do in the Amalfi Coast will help!
(I did say this post would be laden with photos!)
I do hope you have enjoyed a few of my snaps from our honeymoon. Other hints, tips and guides to some of this regions hotspots are coming in my next blog posts so be sure to come back and check then out!
Have you been to Sorrento & did you fall in love with the area?
Rebecca xxx
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