Italy 2019 - Amalfi

We got to Amalfi and repeated our newly acquired ritual: beach, dip in the ocean, laying in the sun for a hot sec., another dip, wandering around town, another dip, next place.

Amalfi didn't make an impression on me at first and Positano had seemed much more special. But it all changed by the end of the day and all it took was a sunset!

The town has a beautiful church and two public beaches, one at each end of the town. Very close by is Atrani, which is smaller but equally beautiful. 

Next up was Ravello where we spent what was left of the afternoon. That was supposed to be our final destination of the day, before heading home in Piano. 

We left Ravello as the sun was going down - you know that beautiful golden hour - but not yet completely down, and stopped once more in Amalfi where we should switch buses. 

We had plenty of time as the next bus wasn't leaving until 8pm. By 7:56 we got to the place where we were supposed to take the bus only to find that the driver had left literally the minute before. Practicing patience, you see? 

But, once again, it was the best thing we could have asked for because we got to watch the sunset in Amalfi and that's when I fell in love with it! I grabbed that chance to snap a whole lot of pictures and I can't advise you enough to watch the sunset in one of these places. I imagine Positano must be fairly beautiful at dawn too.

Italy 2019 - Positano

Let it be know: this was my favourite day. Maybe ever.

This whole trip I've practised patience and it felt proper good. But this day - jeez, it sure was a test to my nerves! - Not to mention the delayed flight, but I must say I managed to stay incredibly chill (and if you know me, you know how mush these things can stress me out).

As I was saying, on this very specific day we had woken up at 6:30 am, had a quick breakfast bought at the supermarket the day before (because there was no coffee shops open that early in the morning) and were supposed to get in the bus to Sorrento by 7:30 am. By then we still didn't know we could walk all the way from Piano to Sorrento in under 3o minutes, so we waited. And waited. And waited some more... for 3 hours. The plan was to go to Sorrento first and from there take another bus to Positano (there are no buses departing from Piano and going directly to Positano).

By 10:30 am I decided to text our host asking if it was a normal situation. By then there were other people waiting with us, including locals. She said it was super strange and promptly offered to give us a ride not to Sorrento but straight to Positano!! It was the nicest thing ever, seriously! Her husband was the one driving us and took the opportunity to show us some hidden gems along the way!

After all, all the waiting turned out to pay off!

Positano was probably the place with more people per square metre we've been to. It is a small town and the views are incredible from pretty much any corner. We walked right from the top down to the centre through all the cute alleys and narrow streets. On the way down we bought some paninis and had lunch at the beach in between dips in the ocean. We spent maybe an hour / an hour and a half at the beach. We managed to find a spot to lay down with no problem, which was nice! Then we walked all the way up again in order to take yet another bus that would take us to Amalfi this time!

Italy 2019 - Sorrento

I remember around 5 years ago, when the Amalfi Coast first made an impression on me. It had probably been a famous holiday destination since ages before, but that was the moment I thought to myself how nice it would be to just lay in the sun without a care in the world, sipping on Aperol Spritz (well, back then this wasn't a priority), and munching on everything italian food.  

I also remember thinking how expensive it would be, so it was never really a priority. And then I kind of forgot about it. Until this year!

This was my first year working as well, which obviously gave me a little more freedom and flexibility when choosing what to do and where to go on vacation. Even so, apart from maybe the flights (which could have been a little bit cheaper) I can't say it was an expensive destination.

I can't recall exactly when did I book my flights - somewhere around March, I think - which isn't super late, but isn't early as well. A round ticket Lisbon - Naples/Naples - Lisbon, in early July has cost me around 120 EUR. Don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but I think the EU is the best thing ever - no Visas, no passports, no unnecessary bureaucracy. You book a ticket and you're ready to go. Politics aside, all this makes traveling within the Schengen area a breeze and obviously, less expensive. The point I was trying to make is that I could have easily found cheaper tickets if I would have booked them earlier. But 120EUR is still acceptable, considering it's high season.

Naples is the closest airport to the Amalfi Coast (which was our main destination), only 30 minutes away from Sorrento by train. During the months that led to the trip, me and Matei - who was flying from Romania - would often video chat and decide which places to visit, where we should stay, how long we should spend in every place and what things each one of us would like to see or do. 

We were staying for 8 days and soon decided that Sorrento would be our base, considering it was so close from the place we where both landing and how easy access it would give us to all the small towns along the coast.

We actually stayed in Piano di Sorrento, which we later found to be only a 30 minute walk away from Sorrento, straight ahead. 

The plan was to spend the first afternoon and night in Naples and then head to Piano on the following day around lunch time. Matei would be arriving before me, but unfortunately my flight was so delayed it was already past 9pm when I stepped in Italian soil, and almost 10pm when I got to our airbnb. That day was gone but we sticked to the remaining plan.

We wandered a bit around Naples in the morning (more on that soon) and by noon we caught the train to Piano. The ticket was 3,60 EUR and it takes around 1hour. That day was so hot and humid that by the time we got there we rushed to our airbnb, dropped our bags and went straight to the  local beach for a swim. This is the beach pictured above and were we would go almost everyday by the end of the day as the sun would set.

The following day was pretty much the first official day of the whole trip. Until then I felt like we were just transitioning and even though that dip in the ocean on the previous evening felt like heaven, we still hadn't ticked any of our main locations.

So, early morning and we took the bus to Sorrento where we spent the whole day. It is quite touristic and not so calm or relaxed as I would have imagined. The town is relatively big (considering the ones we've visited on the following days) and it's easy to spend an entire day there. We walked down the main street, then went down the stairs that lead to the port and spent about an hour there just staring into the ocean. 

Walked some more along the water and I went for yet another dip. All those sun guards you see on Instagram and whatnot - those are private beaches. But fear not - there is always a public beach around in every little town you visit. Luckily, we could always find a spot to sit and lay our towels, but I must say the one in Sorrento was probably the most crowded of all.

After that we went up the hill, only to find this beautiful belvedere where you could sit and enjoy the view, including Vesuvius. By then we were starving and had lunch at Osteria Buonconvento. To me, this was the best pizza I had in Italy, but honestly, it's hard to choose just one. Thick edges and full of flavor - absolutely mouth-watering. I advise you to sit outside and enjoy the bustle of a small, coastal town in a week day. 

After the copious amount of food we had consumed all I could think of was a nap but I resisted the temptation and spent the afternoon wandering along all the alleys and narrow streets, bought some souvenirs, tried limoncello and a couple of local treats. 

Our goal wasn't to spend the whole day at the beach, so we managed to see every town and still stop for a swim a couple of times during the day, which felt like the perfect balance.

Sorrento has a lot of nightlife too, which we enjoyed but not on this day. Anyways, it sure is a touristic place but I was expecting something much worse on that regard. It was easy to walk about and still with a good ratio of Italians. 

Down the road...

...that leads to 2011, when this picture was taken. 

2019 has been a very introspective year so far. 

I won't shock anyone by saying that so much has changed since 2011 (it's been 8 years! Eight!! You're welcome!). Obviously, a few things have remained the same, but strangely, a few other have come back to me in weird ways. 

Early this year I had planned to take a week off work around Easter to just come home and spend some time with my family, as well as to have some alone time and do some thinking. I had ended 2018 feeling a bit blue and had to rethink a few things about my life - where I was and most importantly, where I was headed. 

Meanwhile I learnt to not stand still. To look for opportunities, to make decisions and to take risks, and not to depend on others or on faith. 

George Bernard Shaw once said that "the people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find it, they make them.".

And it reasoned to me for so many reasons. Because of course some of us are given opportunities others aren't, because we don't choose the social context we're born in, or because there are always strikes of luck we can't control. Perhaps my starting point is different from yours, but for better or for worse, it's up to me to define my ending point. 

All of this because this week, the week I took off work, someone close to one of my best friends has passed away. On the most foolish of circumstances. Nevertheless, that person is gone.  

When I said I was feeling blue it was mainly because I didn't like what I was doing professionally. I was working long hours, weekends included sometimes, doing something I didn't enjoy. I've missed on big milestones of friends, such as birthdays or projects. Love comes into play too, friends do as well. And family. I guess we've all missed on opportunities in life but I am committed to grab every single one of them that crosses my path from now on.