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Amalfi Coast Guide: Towns, Beaches and How to Plan Your Trip

• the getAwayZ – European Travel Podcast • Season 1 • Episode 23

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The Amalfi Coast is one of the world’s most famous stretches of coastline and after three trips, we still find new reasons to love it. In this episode, we are sharing what worked and what did not, where we stayed, our favorite boat days and beaches and the meals we keep going back for. We will take you from Capri to Positano to Massa Lubrense, with plenty of practical tips along the way. If you are planning an Amalfi Coast trip or dreaming about one, this episode is for you.

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SPEAKER_01:

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa and I'm Erin. And this is the Getaways Podcast. And today we're going to talk about the Amalfi Coast. Yay! So I think everyone kind of has this vision of grandeur of the Amalfi Coast, don't they?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but deservingly so.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's true. Well, and I think that there's an air of it being like super fancy, but the fancy part is really capri, not the coast, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree. Positano's fancy. Yeah. And as we know, hard to get to.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. We drove around for what, like half an hour and couldn't find a place to park, and so we left. Um, all right. So let's start at the beginning. So you went before I don't remember my first trip.

SPEAKER_00:

I went in in 2010, one of my friends turned 30 and she brought like 12 of us to Capri to celebrate her birthday. And if you're gonna go to Capri, that's the way to go. You want to go with you wanna you you want to go where you can like stay at the nice places, eat at the nice restaurants, which is something that I wouldn't have been able to do if it was just us going. But um, so we stayed at a hotel called the JK Place, and it was kind of up a hill in Capri, and it was really beautiful, had a pool, it has like may not very many rooms, so we felt it was very private and it was really nice. It was a little walk down to the main part of Capri.

SPEAKER_01:

But but not not for the um not for the kids, not for the dogs.

SPEAKER_00:

Is that what you're gonna say?

SPEAKER_01:

I was also gonna say, not for the average Joe.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's what I was saying. That like the person who obviously, if you're taking 12 friends to Capri from Los Angeles, you can afford to do that. You got a privilege. You're yeah, it was like a bucketless dream because it was the best hotels, the best restaurants, like I said, stuff that I would never be able to afford on my own. So it was a it was a very nice vacation. So now I'm gonna stop talking about the splurge because it's not something we'll ever do, and probably a lot of stuff that you guys will never do. So let's talk about how real people vacation in the Amalfi Coast.

SPEAKER_01:

Which was even still the places that we stayed in Amalfi, we had people with us, so but they were probably much nicer because they were our first year in the first one was the right like a week after we moved to Florence.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and we thought we could just spend as much money as we want. So, yes, they were very they were much nicer Airbnbs than we stay in now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But um, so the first one we stayed, we went with people from LA who came to visit us like immediately after we moved, and we drove down there. We drove from Florence. From Florence, yeah. Um, which I have to say, in driving through Italy in July, like driving south through Italy in July, there are sunflowers everywhere. Like there will be big, huge, ginormous fields of sunflowers that are just incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, especially going through like Tuscany and Umbria.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And there's also the speed drops.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So coming from America, we're used to cops on the side of the road, right? Or sometimes in Oklahoma, they have airplanes that will track your speed. But here, there's just cameras. So there's no, you don't know. And so you just get tickets all the time. But what I did realize is there's always signs before it because it's illegal to have a speed camera without a sign warning you of that speed camera. So, what I would say two things. Keep your eye out for signs and just follow the Italian drivers because they always know when and you'll see them slow down and speed up and slow down. So I did not do that my first trip, and we got quite a few tickets. Yeah, because you can just get repeatedly. Yeah. Camera after camera after camera.

SPEAKER_01:

Crazy. Makes for an expensive drive. Um, okay, so we stayed at a really cool house. The I think the best thing about that house was there was a pool um down in the rocks. Built into the yeah, yeah, which was pretty crazily extraordinary. Cash was with us.

SPEAKER_00:

Cash Cash was with us.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, because I remember him being by the pool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the house was just south of Sorrento in a town called like a commune commune called Massa Lubrense, which funnily enough, our second time we stayed in the same area. Same area, yeah. Um, but yeah, Cash was with us. The house was the house was great. The air conditioner was not so great.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but we had an amazing view. The terrace looked right out on Capri.

SPEAKER_00:

There was a foosball table, lounging areas, outside eating areas. Yeah.

unknown:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

There was ants, lots and lots of ants.

SPEAKER_01:

Which I think is just normal for normal for that area because uh the other house we see didn't have them too.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, one of the things, I don't know if you remember this about our drive there on our way into Sorrento. We were like up on a cliff that overlooked like the sea. It was beautiful. And it was us, you, me, and our friend, and then our two kids, and we had just moved to Italy. So we we've relaxed into different culture now, but we hadn't, and we start seeing scooters with like two-year-olds just holding on for dear life in front of like behind their dad or in front of their dad or their mom.

SPEAKER_01:

A two-year-old would be in front of a two-year-old kid, hold on.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but like, and little kids, were they wearing helmets with no helmets on this cliff, zooming past us, and we were all like, oh my god, oh my I mean, like, we did just not understand this at all.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and because coming from an area where when a kid's learning how to ride a bike, it is not unusual to see a helmet and elbow pads and knee pads and wrist guards, and like basically the kid is in bubble wrap and on a bike in a parking lot, and here they're on a cliff going around, and it was like serious culture shock, and then it was like, Oh, okay, well, you know, it's it's a completely different experience.

SPEAKER_00:

Which I I feel like we've now more adapted into that, and it's not a hair there for either culture, but it's there's less fear on stuff here, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, um, like here in the Netherlands, they don't wear helmets when they buy and it's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, well, it's a it's a choice, right? Because it's it's yeah, I mean, there's just not as much fear, and it's sort of like, okay, well, am I going to prepare for the worst to happen all the time, or am I gonna enjoy myself and just kind of hope it doesn't happen? It's just a different perspective of of approaching something.

SPEAKER_00:

So, yeah, so but it it was hard to like see at first.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, all right. So then we did we did quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00:

We packed a lot into what were we there, four nights? We packed a lot into four days, I think. We did uh we rented a boat just on on the fly, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I don't maybe a day or two in advance.

SPEAKER_00:

But how did we get that boat? Did the house help us with that or did we just go to the marina? I don't know. You did it because Okay, the house must have helped us, but what I will say is it you can rent boats in it was like in Sorrento, off of Sorrento. You can rent boats for like a half day. I think we paid what 300 euro?

SPEAKER_01:

300 euro, yeah. And then that was several years ago now.

SPEAKER_00:

It was yeah, it was 2017. Um, and we rented it for a half day. We were out for probably five hours, don't you think? Um, so we left from just south of Sorrento, boated all the way to Capri, boated around Capri, had lunch, and then came back and had many stops for swimming, and we went to the Blue Grotto.

SPEAKER_01:

But we came the boat came with a skipper and everything, so that we had we were totally taken care of. And he also had like snorkeling gear and noodles and stuff, so that when you jumped out, you could have support and um it was definitely a good way to kick off moving to Italy because we felt so lucky and spoiled on that trip because that was that boat ride, that day was so amazing. Yeah, and he took us into all of these the blue grotto, but he took us into a lot of different grottos, and we could just jump up and swim through caves, and he'd pick us up on the other side of a cave.

SPEAKER_00:

It was so magical. And I would say that there's two things about the amalfi coast, and we'll get to the other thing, but that is one of the things that I think everybody should do if they go. Yeah, whether you're yeah, whether you're staying on Capri or on the mainland, you got to get a boat and get out there.

SPEAKER_01:

Didn't something swim after me when I was when I jumped off one time. Wasn't didn't you guys like not want to tell me? Wasn't there like a jellyfish, a huge jellyfish?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh well, now I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, I have a picture and like and you're like, oh, there it is. I don't remember what I think it was a big jellyfish. You have to be aware of them, but there's no otherwise, there's no like dangerous things. There's no predator at all.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's why I'm so comfortable in the Mediterranean, all around Italy and Croatia, because there's no sharks and I'm terrified of sharks. Okay, so blue grotto. Okay, so the blue grotto, that was my second time to go. You can access through the island of Capri. There's a staircase that goes down, and there's a very long line for people trying to get into it. Or you can go through a boat and you pull up on a boat, and I'll let you tell the story.

SPEAKER_01:

So we were obviously on a on our boat ride, and then we switched boats onto one that was like a glorified canoe, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's like a kayak, a big yeah, it was a glorified canoe. And you have to wait in line, like the boats are prioritized in line.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so then you switch and then you after you switch onto the canoe-like boat, you get in line, and there's people. I mean, there's you know, probably 20 or 30 boats that are waiting to go in. You wait your turn, and then you, as you're entering, you hit the deck. Like you have to crouch down into to be as low as the boat sides, and you go through this tiny little low entrance to the grotto, and then when you get in, the water is you can sit up. Then you can sit up, yeah. And the water is I don't even know what if what a word is to describe that color.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like liquid aquamarine. That's all I can say. Like the the gemstone aquamarine, because sapphire is too dark. It is weird, yeah. It's like the bluest water, and it looks like somebody put a big spotlight underneath it. Yeah, but it's not, it's just the sun coming from the little hole.

SPEAKER_01:

It's just it's crazy. I mean, it's it's the most perfect blue you could possibly ever see.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's so peaceful in there, and there's only three, three little boats in there at a time. So it you still feel like you've got the place. It is just it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

You don't swim or anything in there, it's all about just going in with the boat and getting in and out. Um, but yeah, I mean, I it's it's uh crowded, it's it takes a long time, but it's that moment and then when you first see it is unforgettable.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, it's a bucket list thing to do, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, so then after that, he took us to eat, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, he took us. What was that restaurant called? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01:

That was La Fontanella, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, La Fontanella. La Fontenina, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Lena, Lena, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, it is he said it was only accessible by boat, but I think people can walk. Yeah, well, there's houses right around.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. In fact, isn't Versace's old house?

SPEAKER_00:

Versace's old house is right next door. So I I believe that you can get to it from the island, but I think it's I think it's a boat destination for most people. It's not cheap. It's not cheap.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't remember. I just remember that somebody wanted to order lobster and didn't understand that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because it's like$35 per gram. Yeah. And they were like, I'm gonna order lobster for my daughter. And I was like, You're gonna what? Do you know how much that's gonna cost?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, we're not splitting the tip the check equally on that circumstance, right?

SPEAKER_00:

But it if you look on the website, I I just um I've been pulling up pictures and the oysters there are beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, you have to eat seafood there because like what the hell else would you do?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they do have kids' pastas because Dylan didn't eat seafood.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. But I just mean like it's you're on the sea and it's the freshest and the best. And yeah, you know, it's an experience.

SPEAKER_00:

It's yeah, so they'll bring a basket of whole fish and you pick your fish or lobster. I think I got calamari probably. Um, but we ate there twice. We ate there when we did the boat with my brother in 2019. So it it's I think it's the stop for those boats, and I think that it is a must-do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean it's a bit of a racket because that's that's your only option to go to eat.

SPEAKER_00:

It's definitely they make it seem like, oh, I'm gonna take you to this secret exclusive place. And so the first time we were like, oh, this is amazing, and then the same thing with a different boat with my brother. I was like, oh different company, different boat. I feel like I feel like maybe the boat drivers get a kickback or something.

SPEAKER_01:

No, they totally do, but but that doesn't take away from a great meal and a great destination.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, and then the next day we did something that we all loved.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, which I think was my favorite day. And that was we did a tour which we went through lemon groves and saw a demonstration of making lemon cello and a tasting. Then we went to another location and did a burrata and ricotta making at the actual farm. At the actual farm. It was an outdoor, and they literally made it in front of us, and then we did a tasting. And we met the cows. And we met the cows, and then we went down the hill a bit and we had a went to our little restaurant and made our own pizza and had our pizza for lunch.

SPEAKER_00:

And they drove us all in this little tiny appe.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is the same thing we talked about at the last episode in Sicily, because we took a tour on an appy there. This was a little bit crazier though in the Appy.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Yeah. The town where the cheese was was the so the Appy's tiny, and we were going through streets that I mean, if you stuck your finger outside of the cart, you were gonna hit the walls. Yeah. I don't know how cars do it. But cars do it because we'd have to watch for cars.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But I mean, they also weren't going slow.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

And so we would like kind of zoom around these corners, and I mean, you literally had to like it the the appy is just big enough for two, I would say, average sized, average to small sized people to sit next to each other.

SPEAKER_00:

And one person can sit in front.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but I mean like that's how wide it is, is it just fits two people. And you would have to like squeeze together because if when you turned a corner, if you went out of the like poked your head out, you'd lose your head.

SPEAKER_00:

Lose your head. Lose your head. So yes, it was but it was fun and it was so surprising. Yeah. We learned to make lemon cello, cheese, and pizza all in one trip.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a half day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they picked us up, or they were supposed to pick us up.

SPEAKER_00:

They were late picking up, but they ended up getting us, but they were late getting us.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's nice too because they'll pick you up and then do the whole tour and bring you back so you don't have to worry about like navigating your own self on those roads.

SPEAKER_00:

Like right at the house. They picked us up right at the house.

SPEAKER_01:

And yeah, and I don't I think it was maybe like 80 euro a person.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think I looked it up yesterday. I think it's 85. It's on the site, so you can check it out and check out pictures. But we loved it so much we did it again with my brother.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and it is a little pricey, but it's half a day and it's a lot of information. It's a lot to eat, and it's it's an experience that you won't forget.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. What's what was your favorite part of it?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I love the pizza just because I like doing stuff, you know, because the rest of it was watching demonstrations, which tastings were great and everything, but I like actually doing stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

What was your favorite part of the pizza? When he threw it at me. Yes, he throws, you make your dough, and then he takes your dough, you make it into your disc, and then he'll go. For Dylan, he was closer to the table because Dylan was just he was nine when we did this, but the first time. But for Lisa, it's I'm gonna put the video up, so look for it. He went outside the restaurant and threw it, like probably a good 50 feet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I wasn't even sure he was throwing it. I didn't know what he was doing.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and you'll see Lisa's face. She was not sure what was happening. And I did close my eyes just in case I got the old pizza slap. She did catch it though, you caught it. So yeah, that was so much fun. That was so much fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Other restaurants there.

SPEAKER_00:

Which we also ate at with my brother. Like, I don't know what we're gonna say talk about other than Sorrento with my brother, because we did everything else that we've done. Yeah. But a restaurant we ate then and with my brother was called Domichele. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Domichele. Um, but that is like right on you have a lovely view. It's a little bit of a step down to the restaurant, and then you have a full sea view. Um really nice, really good food. Nice, worth worth going.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, then we went again in 2019 with my brother, and that time we stayed in a fancy house.

SPEAKER_01:

A fancy house.

SPEAKER_00:

That was such a nice house.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was a really nice house. I remember playing Dylan, uh, Cash and I playing hide and seek because there were so many like different little areas of the house. And the best picture I think I've ever taken was of your brother looking out the front door with the arch in front of him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I'll put all these pictures up because this house was to die for, and it was pricey, but it wasn't like crazy pricey, and especially because it had three bedrooms downstairs where we all stayed, me, Dylan, and my brother. Right. And then there were two up on your level, right? I think just yours. Yeah. But so there was the big master, which my brother stayed in. There was another like second master, there was another one with two beds, and then yours had one bed. It was with a master as well. So each with its own bathroom. And yeah, so you could fit eight people easily in this house. And the kitchen was huge and lovely, and a big outdoor patio in the back without a view without a pizza with a pizza oven. With a pizza oven and a barbecue, and a then a huge terrace that just overlooked the sea. And it was so beautiful. And there was you could walk down to the beach, it was a rock beach, but you could walk all the way down to the road, and then um it had a little parking spot, which I scratched the poop out of my car.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was gonna say we talked about the appy and the roads being skinny there, but if you do rent a car, do not go big.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, and I had this I had a smaller SUV, but it was a big it was still pretty. It wasn't like a fiat SUV, but it was a smaller, and I still scratched the poop out of my car in that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But I mean all the streets, it's you know, parking will be easier, just getting around will be easier. Like get the smallest car that will support the space that you need because big, big is not better.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll give you an example. I'm gonna give you an example. We were gonna go to Positano, me, my brother, Lisa, and Dylan. And so we got in my car and we were it was taking us kind of inland and then kicking us out at Positano, and we got to this spot on this drive that my car would not fit between two walls. But it was between two walls and then a cliff. And so we had to figure out. I don't know if you guys have seen that picture on Instagram and TikTok with the car that's stuck and up. It's not even the wheels aren't even on the ground anymore. That was literally almost us, and it took us a good, thank God nobody came in their car and had to wait for us, but it took us a good 40 minutes to maneuver around to get out of that position.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and remember that man came out and he was like, What are you doing? I don't know. Yeah, he can't, he was, he must have seen us drive up, but he lived at like one of the houses that was, you know, right next to where we couldn't get through. And he came out and he was helping to try to direct.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I have no I was so stressed.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't remember much except how stressful it was. It was a little bananas.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, but yeah, and that's the same day then we went back and then we went coastal to get to Pazitano, and then we just couldn't find parking. We couldn't figure it all out, so we kept driving past Positano and found a great little restaurant on the cliff.

SPEAKER_01:

Really great restaurant on the cliff, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But we didn't get to go to Pausitano.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00:

Anything else you have for well, we spent a lot of time in Sorrento when my brother was there. There.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Which was we went to the in Sorrento. I'm not sure if there's a beach in Sorrento, but in Sorrento it has that whole those like I don't even docks? They're not docks. The you know the words like the cementos? No, where we got chairs and spent the day in the ocean that the sea that day. Um, it was like the wood planks out over the ocean.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, and then there's well, and then we had lunch there too. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00:

What I mean, no, not what the place called. What are those what's that platform called?

SPEAKER_01:

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it's kind of like a dock.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So it's kind of like a dock. It's like a wood structure just built over the sea, and then they've got lounge chairs on it. There's a restaurant.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It was packed.

SPEAKER_01:

It was packed. But yeah, I don't know what it was called. But was that the same air? Okay, so if you remember where Dylan got his haircut? Yeah. So there's you can get to the water from there. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Is that the same? It's the same vibe, right? I mean, where it's like it's not like a sandy or rocky beach. It's just kind of like there's no beach. Yeah, it's just kind of water, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's like a drop-off. It's kind of a drop-off, and then you walk on this platform, and then there's chairs over the thing, and you climb down the ladder into the so it's like a little, it's they almost make the sea into a little pool. But yeah, so Sorrento is also super cute. Like we shopped up and down the streets. They have lots of like the dress stores that you liked and souvenir places. We ate at a couple really good restaurants there. We had great aperativo there. Well, Dylan got a terrible haircut in Sorrento.

SPEAKER_01:

Terrible haircut.

SPEAKER_00:

Like he looks like um Robert De Niro and taxi driver. Is that the one where he had the Mohawk?

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I will never forget. He walked up and Ron and I were sitting there, and you guys walk up and we're like, oh, that's a choice. That was a choice.

SPEAKER_00:

He was trying to explain to an older Italian man what he wanted, and it was just like, uh, just whatever. And that's what he got.

SPEAKER_01:

So But he didn't mind it as much as everybody else did.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh but I you'll notice in some of the pictures on the boat, because I guess he got his hair cut before the boat. He's wearing a hat. And remember the one night we went to Da McKelly, we made friends with the waiter, and they said, We want to take you to a private beach that we have another restaurant on. Did we did that, didn't we? Didn't they come pick us up and took us to this other beach and we spent a couple hours there? I remember that conversation, but I don't remember meeting him. Did he do that? Yeah, because I I vaguely remember the beach and the restaurant. Yeah. That must have been good times. It was. We're getting older and our brains are too many experiences packed in.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and we decided to do this a lot later than we the original trips. Yeah, so we're we're kind of deep diving in our pictures and we're trying to remember everything because um, you know, it's not so fresh in our brains, but we wanted to share the things that we loved and the places that we've loved so that you know you guys can you guys can too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So yeah, so there's plenty of little towns, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, um Capri to go to in that area. So if you're coming in not from the south of Italy, you'll probably come into the Naples airport.

SPEAKER_01:

Probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So we've spent a couple different trips in Naples. We haven't explored it very much. Our first time we went, um I guess both times we've been were on my brother's trip to Naples because we took my niece to the airport and spent a night there, which was not we stayed right at the train station, which I will just say that's that's not the best place to stay in Naples.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think that's the best place to stay in any city.

SPEAKER_00:

No, nothing.

SPEAKER_01:

I would I would avoid anything that's like right at the airport or right at the train station because it's not gonna be the best experience.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and it's definitely not the authentic experience of the town. So we got a we got a bad first taste, and having a pit bull right by the train station in Naples was just it was a stressful evening. It was so we didn't really even we didn't eat outside the hotel, like we were that wasn't the best trip.

SPEAKER_01:

No, our dinner was good in the hotel though.

SPEAKER_00:

It was oh, it was very good. Yeah, Naples has great food, yeah. And so then when it was time for my brother to come, we rented an Airbnb in Salerno for the night. Remember, it's like an 89-year-old woman had lived there.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_00:

It was it's like we were staying at Nona's house.

SPEAKER_01:

It was weird. It was like we were in a like a museum of like a 90-year-old woman.

SPEAKER_00:

It worked fine, it had an air conditioning, it was a big apartment.

SPEAKER_01:

It was big, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And there was lots of amenities around us, but it was like it was seriously like being at your grandma's.

SPEAKER_01:

It was like plastic on the couch at Nona's house.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it there was plastic on the couch.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I'm saying.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, so Lisa and Dylan stayed there. They didn't want to go into the Naples airport. So I went in and picked up my brother, and then we picked them up and then we headed too. But then on the way out for my brother to fly home, we stayed at a really nice hotel on the sea in Naples.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I I looked and looked, and I cannot figure out what hotel it was. So I don't, I can't help you.

SPEAKER_01:

But that was that was a nice like 24 hours. We were right on the sea. We um rented a four-person bike.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and um and which Dylan did not contribute to at all.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and Rod got mad at me.

SPEAKER_00:

We made my brother do all the work.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, no, I was pedaling, he was in front of me, and I was pedaling, and he stopped and I didn't know it, so I kept going. And so the pedal whacked him. Whacked him, and I felt so bad. And he was like, It's okay. Like, I was like, You don't mean that at all, do you?

SPEAKER_00:

You can feel it brewing in him. He was done. Sorry, Ron. And the sea's nice there. Yeah. Um, and we walked from the hotel to uh do you remember what that restaurant was called?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Antica La Antica was it?

SPEAKER_01:

It's not Pizzeria della Regina d'Italia.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but is it not Antica something?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, you're looking that up.

SPEAKER_00:

It's here, Antica Pizzeria della Regina di Italia. Isn't that what I just said?

SPEAKER_01:

You didn't put the antica, but I knew that that was so that was the um the first place that Margarita Pizza was invented. And so the um queen was coming to visit, and the restaurant wanted to welcome her with a pizza with the colors of the Italian flag.

SPEAKER_00:

Wasn't it the Queen of France, though? Wasn't it from another country?

SPEAKER_01:

I just knew it was a queen. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll look up that story and put it on there.

SPEAKER_01:

But so you had the red for the marinara, the white for the mozzarella, and the green for the basil. And so that is where the margarita pizza was invented and where they still serve it just like they did on the day that the queen arrived.

SPEAKER_00:

So which we all got margarita pizza.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and it's delicious and it's you know, it's a little piece of history.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's right in the center of like a really cool life.

SPEAKER_01:

Very authentically, like when you think of Naples, like that's the street this is on. Like it's there's laundry hanging on the on the lines, there's you know, stacked apartments and people talking to each other back and forth, like it's well.

SPEAKER_00:

But then we get on the street that's like the shopping street, and then the big square that was right out to the left.

SPEAKER_01:

So it is it is very quintessential, Napoli.

SPEAKER_00:

It is, it was it was really cool. It was a really it felt like a walk through history.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And fun fact, that's where Rexy's from.

SPEAKER_00:

Rex is from Naples. You wouldn't have been born then. But yes, so Naples we need to explore more. I hear there's lots of great things to see. We just haven't really made it back there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then one other thing that we've done, I did the first time when I went, and then we did with my brother, is we went to Pompeii. So if you're in the Amalfi Coast or Naples, Pompeii's right there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You need some means of transportation to get there, though, whether it's a train or you have get a driver or you take a boat and then and then a car somewhere.

SPEAKER_00:

It's but it's um there's great parking, so if you do have a car, it's easy to park.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I would highly recommend going to Pompeii in the morning, though, because it can get center of the sun. Not in the summer. Yeah, but it can get center of the sun hot and you are inland a bit, and there's no, I mean it's the ruins give you no protection. It's it's just cement all around you, and it just reflects really nicely and makes you even hotter.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you don't know what Pompeii is, it's an ancient Roman city that was destroyed in I think 79 A.D. by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

SPEAKER_01:

And it is it's a World Heritage Site, but it is, you know, you can see where the baths were, you can see where the homes were, you can see where they kept the animals.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, they're preserved. Yeah. Like you walk in these people's baths and homes, and there's actually some bodies that were recovered.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Mummified bodies.

SPEAKER_01:

Um But yeah, no, it's it's an interesting thing to sort of step back in time and also to just think of how crazy it must have been for these people to literally run from their lives from this like hot lava coming in. Like it's yeah, it's inconceivable.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's not like you look, you look around and it's not like Mount Massevius is right there. Like you're not like on the volcano.

SPEAKER_01:

We were way closer to Ana. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Which have you seen the news that people running for their lives at Mount Aetna? That could have been us.

SPEAKER_01:

It's just it's a it's a crazy thing to think about. But there's there's definitely stories to be told that in the etching is on the in the stone. There's, I mean, there's just so much you could spend easily half a day to a day there of just wandering around and looking at everything. Um, like I said, I would go early or not in the summer. I would bring water. There is a cafe on the outside. No, we left and went and ate somewhere else. Um, but there is a cafe near the parking and there's water and stuff inside, like in the gift shop, but uh the gift shop, but just be prepared.

SPEAKER_00:

Wear tennis shoes, yeah, like sturdy tennis shoes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because you're you're stepping over ruins, you're you know and you're walking a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And for some reason, I don't remember in two two thousand I don't remember when I went in 2010. But when we went with my brother, it wasn't super crowded, I don't feel like.

SPEAKER_01:

It wasn't, but we did go early.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, we did, yeah. Okay. Yeah, so go early, wear walking shoes, dress for the weather, take water, and take a camera because there's lots, so much to see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, so that's that's all I can think of. Can you think of anything else?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think that covers it, but um, I mean, for me the highlights are the blue grotto and the um Lemoncello mozzarella pizza tour.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Me is is that and the boat.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. No, the boat. Well, I mean, yeah, like the boat grotto. So that whole situation. Um and the food.

SPEAKER_00:

Like the food is I mean, it's really close to being some of the best food in Italy, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Especially for seafood. And cheese. And cheese and lemon cello. I mean, it's where lemon cello is from. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. Well, that's that kind of wraps up that area for us, I think. So don't forget to like, subscribe, and review. Also, if you're looking for spooky, don't forget to check out the haunted getaways for little bite-sized haunted stories that happen in Europe.

SPEAKER_00:

And you can check out the website at www.thetawayswithaze.com.

SPEAKER_01:

And we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening. Bye.