Italy

Around the time I was heading to Ireland Norwegian was having a crazy European sale! I know that I tend to impulse buy and then when the time comes to travel I don’t want to go, so I held off! I didn’t buy! I kept saying if the ticket is there next week I will buy. If the price is still the same I will buy. Well, I missed out on Spain…and I was OK with that. Well maybe a week later there was a sale from NYC to Rome. Immediately I emailed my uncle and asked what he thought as he lives in Naples. He said book it and that was all I needed to hear! And just like that my hubby and I were booked.

I decided this trip that I did not want an itinerary! I just wanted to go with the flow I didn’t want to be on a time crunch trying to fit so many things in at once. I knew that I would not be able to see and do everything in 5 days so there was no point of trying. I decided to allow my aunt & uncle to be our tour guides & show us as much of southern Italy that we could see in 5 days, and they did just that! We stayed at their home which was so much better than any hotel or air bnb we could ever afford.

Napoli: click here for video of Naples, Italy

Beautiful chaos! There is so much going on it’s pretty hard to describe! There’s almost 4 million people, historic churches, castles, palaces, narrow streets & tons of modern day shopping options! There’s houses literally on top of houses & apartment buildings bigger than I’ve ever seen! We walked almost 22k steps and seen all Naples has to offer! We indulged in wine, cappuccino & pastries! We fine dined at Il Barrottgo and we shopped til we dropped!

Amalfi Coast: click here for video of Amalfi

Positanto, Sorrento and Amalfi were a different kind a beautiful! It was more serene, peaceful and romantic. We strolled the cobble stone streets, we walked in and out of churches, we dined ocean front at Le Tre Sorelle, and had homemade gelato from Il Pianeta Del Gelato. The views were stunning and because it wasn’t busy season there was less of a crowd.

Ischia, a large island off the coast of Naples, was quiet as well. We took a large hour long ferry over filled with people, cars and scooters. There was a large castle off the coast with a beautiful surrounding beach. We spent the day here but it was cloudy and misty. There wasn’t much to do as it is generally open Easter- the end of September for their summer. Most of the shops were closed during the mid day and opened at 4 when people got off work. We dined at a sunken restaurant for pizza & coke.

Rome: Rome was a different kind of beast. Crowded like Naples but less hectic as the roads are more established. Traffic was still hectic but once we found parking in the Vatican City we were able to walk to all the popular sites. We went to the Roman Forum, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Castel Sant’Angelo, St. Peters Square and so much more. The only thing we didn’t get to see were the Spanish Steps.