This is my third time in Italy and the former two times I always left Italy with the strange feeling that this country owes me something. It was always a good visit, but there was always something missing from the equation that left me yearning for an undefined satisfaction…that is until I hit the coast. If I were to really simplify Italian cities that I have travelled in the past, to be about 1 thing only: Rome is about the Colosseum, Vatican is about St. Peter’s, Milan is about Fashion, Venice is about Canals, Florence is about Art, Pompeii is about Roman Ruins, Naples is about Food….then the Amalfi Coast is finally the place where I have discovered the sweet life.
A magical place that is so breathtakingly beautiful and effortlessly charming that it the sweetest nectar for your eyes, you just can’t drink it in enough. The trinity of architecture, cliffs, and sea enhanced one another and somehow made the place that my poor excuses for knees didn’t mind that we were constantly travelling up hill. We did the Amalfi coast via a day boat trip from Naples and that is likely where we went wrong. Staying in town of Amalfi would have been excellent, but alas at least we saw it and Positano. If we ever come back to Italy, I know where I am headed (with a swimsuit this time).
In Amalfi we visited the Paper museum as this region was known for paper production. They would take old cotton clothes, mulch them up with a series of large (bigger than a man), old (13th century), mallets (wood with spikes on them), into a slurry fed by the river (which runs under the main road). The entire thing was hydro-powered which works really well when you are on such a steep slope. The paper is then placed onto a screen, peeled off, dried, and covered with a coating to make sure ink doesn’t seep into the cotton. It is still used by the Vatican today as it is better quality than traditional paper from trees.
We ended off our trip to Italy by heading to the beach town adjacent to the airport. After Amalfi we were super keen to get back to the Ocean and the town of Ostia did not disappoint. Mike, Laura, and I spent over 3 hrs frolicking in the water before hitting up the pedestrian only central district that featured a night market, eating on patios, a carnival, and a DJ. It was the perfect ending to the Italian leg of the trip.
Goodbye Italia, London is Calling.
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