Amalfi Coast Day One

The Duomo in Amalfi

Amalfi Day One- Saturday March 6^th 2010

Today I woke up early and of course packed everything at the last minute.. but that’s okay. I went to the train station where I boarded a train to Salerno, which took about 4 hours. I slept most of the way on the train, like always, and read my book ‘The Lost Symbol’ which im almost done with. At Salerno we took a bus, which lasted just over an hour, to Amalfi Coast, which was where our hotel was. The bus ride to Amalfi Coast was amazing. We winded around the edge of the mountain, around curves and up and down the mountain, nearly hitting the edge of the mountain or passing cars at times. The views out to the sea were stunning. We were on the bus with a group of Italian students, probably in 5^th-6^th grade, thinking… is this what they see everyday?! When we arrived to Amalfi we found our hotel, which was just past the Duomo. It was located literally in the center of town, and we had to climb 84 steps to get up to our hotel, Residenza del Duca, which was the best hotel ive ever been in in my life. Well, it’s up there at least. The staff was very friendly and the room was so clean! I think the best part about the room (besides the super comfortable double bed) was the hydro-shower. The shower had 8 jets lined along the wall and 2 overhead faucets (one which was on a line) for washing your body. There was even a faucet below for washing your feet- totally unnecessary for a shower! The bathroom was fully equipped with everything you could need (even 2 sets of slippers and shoe polish haha) and a walk out terrace that looked out into a great view below (hence the many stairs we had to climb). There was even a TV, 2 closets, and a mini-fridge in the room! After we checked-in, we walked around the coast and took pictures and hiked up the mountain side. We found a hotel up in the mountain that was still being constructed.. and it looked really cool. The way that it was situated on the mountain and built to accommodate for the topography had to be a challenge for the architect and engineer.. either way though.. it worked out perfectly. We found lemon trees everywhere.. just like in Cinque Terre. But here we were walking through the trees.. and they were much easier to get. We also found orange trees on the terraces as well. We watched the sunset from the mountain side.. and it was perfect.

For lunch we went to a pizzeria by our hotel called Guiseppes. I ordered a salad and spaghetti with meat sauce and some red wine. It was very good! After dinner we bought local wine from a small shop in the center of town and went went to the beach to drink it. We watched the waves hit the shore and sat in a small cave next to the beach. After we finished drinking we went back to the room and passed out.