Up early as today we are leaving Florence to go to Amalfi. I'm looking forward to a less hectic schedule and more "down" time. Last breakfast. We're here at 7:30 am which is early for us. I'm a very light breakfast eater. Give me some fruit, toast or a pastry, and coffee or tea and I'm good to go. Richard embraces the European style breakfast. On trips he's always making breakfast sandwiches. At home he usually has oatmeal or a bagel for breakfast.
 |
| Hotel elevator |
 |
| Computer for guests |
Since we have all our luggage we take a taxi to SM Novella train station. Cost ?? I have pre booked our train tickets from Florence to Salerno with Trenitalia. Me & You fare 92.40/$102.95. Our train is Frecciarossa 9515. It departs Florence at 9:14 am and is expected to arrive in Salerno at 1:02 pm. We are in coach 10, seats 9D and 10D. We arrive at the train station with plenty of time to spare. At least 30 minutes. I just don't want to take any chances on missing our train. Soon our platform is up on the departures board. This usually happens I'm told around 15 minutes before departure time. I really wish it would be up sooner as I don't like having to rush to get to the right platform. At 9:05 am the platform information is posted. Ugh. 10 minutes to get to the platform with our luggage, find the right coach, get our seats, store our luggage. Storing the medium size suitcases is a challenge for my husband. They're too big to go in the overhead. I tell him there's got to be a place on the coach where larger luggage can be stored. Some other passengers as well as a train staff person help him shove the cases behind the seats. I do notice others boarding with even bigger cases than ours so I know there's got to be a place for them. Our seats are nice and comfortable. Not much in the way of scenery.
 |
| Our luggage with the new blue carry on we bought |
 |
| Train seating |
 |
| Coach 10 |
Before we know it we've arrived to Salerno. Now we have to catch a ferry to Amalfi. It's a pain in the butt but we have to lug our luggage to where we catch the ferry. Evidently we have to walk. Good thing we have rolling luggage. It takes around 20 minutes to get to the ferry point. I have also prebooked our ferry tickets with TravelMar. We will leave Salerno at 2:10 pm and arrive in Amalfi at 2:50 pm. Cost for our 2 tickets with extra fees for our luggage 26€/$28.97. Smooth going. We arrive in Amalfi without incident. Amalfi. Dramatic natural setting-steep cliffs. Beautiful location. Serviced by the ferry system. Paper has been made here for centuries. Between the 9th and 11th centuries it was the seat of a powerful maritime republic. Arab-Norman Sant'Andrea cathedral.
 |
| Our ferry |
 |
| Arriving to Amalfi |
 |
Our ferry docked in Amalfi before heading to its next stop
|
Amalfi Resort aka Amalfi Holiday Resort. I have booked this place through booking.com We will stay here from 9/10-9/16/2023. A total of 6 nights. King room. Breakfast included. I chose this place because it has a pool for my husband and also good reviews on Trip Advisor. There is no elevator but it appears that there are only a few floors so hoping this will be ok for us. The hotel has sent us information as to how to get there with our luggage. The manager Andrea has sent us a message stating that a taxi is not possible. Instead he is advising us to take the Amalfi Porter Service to take us and our luggage to the hotel. I spot a vehicle with the sign Amalfi Porters on it. I talk to a guy who tells me the cost will be 40€ cash to take us and our luggage to the hotel. I agree as I don't know where exactly this hotel is-how far from port it is. It's not far but it takes about 8 minutes. This is mostly due to the narrow road and the masses of tourists with plenty of them walking in the middle of the road! Our room is number 5 right by the pool but on the second floor so stairs.......... It's spacious and nicely appointed. Andrea, the manager, gives us a paper where we select which items we want for breakfast the next morning and we'll get a new one each day. We also can chose the time we want for breakfast We're to leave it the night before on the reception desk. It should be noted that for the first day or so getting really hot water to shower was a challenge. I mentioned this to Andrea and he said he'd take care of it which did happen.
 |
|
 |
| Entrance to Amalfi Resort |
 |
| Our room is #5 |
 |
| Supplies for coffee/tea |
 |
| Desk and TV |
 |
Shower
|
 |
| Toiletries |
 |
| Hair dryer |
 |
| To be filled out for breakfast |
Pool time. We decide it's time to relax after a long day of traveling. The pool is nice with graduated steps leading into the deeper part. It's small but big enough.
 |
|
Donna Stella Pizzeria. It's a shortish walk from our hotel. We have no reservation and arrive to a packed place at 7:00 pm. Fortunately there's a table for 2 that is available. This place is utterly charming. Set in a lemon grove! DonnaStella started this place in the 80s. Her daughters-sisters Lorenza and Germana-currently manage the place. Inside the menu is the story of the place. Tables have tile tops. Lemons hanging down. Lights among the branches. It has plenty of atmosphere. Pizza appears to be the most popular item. Looking around at other tables we see lots of pizza so it's pizza for us. We can compare it to the ones we had in Venice and Florence. Drinks-limoncello spritz for me and Peroni Gran Reserva for my husband. I really, really like this spritz and Richard loves Peroni beer so he's happy. Side salad to share and margherita pizza. OMG! This pizza is fantastic. Best one in Italy. Maybe a tad better that pizza at home! Thin crust with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. There's a diavola pizza on the menu that is like the margherita with the addition of spicy salami. Part of me was wanting to try this to see if the spicy salami would be like the cup pepperoni we get at home but I was not adventurous enough. Great service and even better food. That pizza was WOW!! Cost 41€/$44.06.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
| Limoncello spritz |
 |
| Beer |
 |
| Side salad |
 |
| Margherita pizza |
 |
| Even the pizza bottom is perfect |
 |
| Tile tables |
We leisurely walk back to our hotel. Not a fan of having to climb stairs to the door of the property and then many more stairs to get to our room. Italy is proving to be a physical challenge for us for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment