Day One

When I started planning our European road trip, I knew that I wanted to start in Pompeii. I wasn't planning on seeing anything else in the area, until my good friend and real life trip advisor, Roz, warned me not to stay in Naples, but rather to stay in Sorrento. Great advice! Sorrento is at the top of the Amalfi Coast, an area that I wasn't planning on visiting, but am so glad we did!

After our lost bag fiasco, we didn't arrive until after midnight. When we awoke the next morning, we realized that we were staying in the most charming bed and breakfast! Villa Concetta is set in a small orange garden, with an outdoor kitchen, an authentic brick oven for pizza and four comfortable rooms for our family. I loved the arched doorways and windows. Raffaelle, our host, squeezed fresh orange juice from his trees for us each morning while he advised us on where to explore.

On our first day of our adventure, we set out to explore our charming city. We fell in love with it's fresh markets, narrow passageways, pastel buildings, street cafes and beautiful harbor.

Driving south, we hugged the coast line, on a road that clung to the cliffs, zig zagging from one tiny Mediterranen village to another. Steve had been preparing our children for gelato ever since we booked our airline tickets. Their first experience was in the town of Amalfi. We walked into a little piazza and found a shop that had heaps of brightly colored ice cream in it's display windows. The kids still say that this was their favorite gelato stop. We also stopped into a church that is said to hold the scull of Andrew the Apostle. According to legend, the Crusaders brought it back from Jerusalem.

Driving south, we found the village of Ravello. This town that is said to be closer to the sky than the sea, is full of enchanting gardens, medieval villas, quite lanes and stunning views. We met an Irish man, who made the Amalfi Coast his home. Upon mentioning that we were looking for a hike, he pointed us in the direction of a path that circled the outer ridge of Ravello and then he wandered along with us. We wandered through gardens, past tiny churches and along sweeping views of the sea.

This was a highlight for me. At night we drove back to Sorrento for dinner in a local restaurant that Raffaello suggested. This was the perfect introduction of Italy!