Tag: Salerno

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La Dolce Vita – day five

Agropoli

Having spent our first few days of the trip exploring the Amalfi coast, we decided to have a bit of an interlude and head south to the seaside town of Agropoli, the start of the Cilentan coast and a town, we were told, frequent by the Italian tourist, but not many foreign tourists. A cheap 40 minute journey by train, we looked forward to a pleasant trip south, making the mental note to get a seat on the right hand side of the train to secure the best views of the coast. What we hadn’t reckoned on was it being Easter Monday, a bank holiday in Italy like the UK and, just like in the UK, on a warm, pleasant bank holiday everyone wants to head to the coast. The train was rammed – standing room only on the delayed (by 10 minutes) service from Napoli Centrali.

On arrival, we found a pleasant town that mixed the old and the new and we probably were the only inglese in town. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and the coffee was strong.

We ambled along, looked down at the shimmering sea and spotted the most Italian bench …

We bought a big slice of traditional Easter pie, and a smaller slice of traditional Easter cake and took ourselves to the town beach to eat and chill. The food was probably better than the beach – a little crowded, the sand a grey/brownish colour, not the best, but not the worst place to sit and eat your lunch either,

before taking an early passeggiata along the promenade, which was decorated with flowers. One of the (many) pleasures of travelling to Italy at this time of year as it provides a short cut to summer. It’s like May in the UK, vibrant with flowers and fresh green on the trees and shrubs.

After our stroll along the sea front, we headed back to the station to catch a much less busy (but still delayed by 15 minutes) train back to Salerno.

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La Dolce Vita – day four

Vietri sul mare

We rose to blue skies and peeling bells – it being Easter Sunday – and in following the bells to find where they were coming from, we stumbled upon a zone of street art a stone’s throw from where we were staying. We then went hunting for breakfast, many places were shut with it being Easter Sunday, but we discovered a lovely cafe where barely a word of English was spoken and we feasted on coffee, croissant and a local Pasqua (Easter) cake.

Then it was onto the Amalfi bus, but only for a short ride today to the neighbouring town of Vietri sul mare. It was a very arty (but not pretentious) town and first stop for us was a “garden” with colourful ceramics snaking their way throughout.

The town itself was pretty, and busy with Italians emerging from Easter morning services. It was lovely to wander the streets, take in the sights, listen to the lingo and stop for the occasional coffee.

We then stocked up on local pizza and sandwiches before heading down to the beach where we spent a chilled few hours, eating said lunch, paddling, reading, soaking up the sun (the bottom of my legs may have got a little sunburnt!) and just having the best of times.

Amazingly, the hike back up the hill into town didn’t seem as long as the way down and after the first gelato of the holiday, we hopped back on the bus back to Salerno. Later that evening, we went out to eat in Trattoria aRoma – the food was fine, but it deserves a mention for the comedy/drama we were treated to as the hapless waiting staff struggled to match dish with table. Our food came out (about) the right time, and the right dishes, but not all dinners were so lucky. An amusing and entertaining end to a fantastic day.

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La Docle Vita – day three

And the sun shone

After a couple of days of grey skies and brisk wind, we woke today to sunshine and blue sky, and everything looks better against a backdrop of blue. We’d got up early to catch the 0840 am ferry to Amalfi – a 35 minute journey

Straight off the boat and into a cafe for coffee and cakes for breakfast in the ever warming sun – delicious – before heading into the town to see the basilica and amble up the pretty, narrow street, taking in the ambience of the the town.

We then wondered along the road to the neighbouring town of Artrani, and this was a real gem. Chilled, beautiful, and largely devoid of tourists, we had a good explore,

and discovered that Escher had lived here in his twenties, and you could see how the town, and the staircases in particular, had inspired his work.

We then sat basking in the sunshine, looking out to sea. I could resist its pull no longer, hitched up my trousers and headed for a paddle. The sea was cold, but oh so refreshing on my poor feet.

We walked the 10 minutes back to Amalfi to get some fried vegatables for lunch (delicious)

but by now Amalfi had become a seething throng of humanity – overcrowded and any charm hidden beneath the swarms of tourists (of which, I admit, we were part) so we decided to escape, first by getting a bus up to Ravello, but the longer we waited for the bus, the more people joined us in the queue and it became obvious we would be swapping one over crowded tourist trap for another, so we cut our losses and headed back to Salerno and joined the townsfolk sat at the beach, enjoying relative calm, each others company and a couple of beers.

That evening we headed back out to eat, town was much busier, it being Saturday night – and Easter Saturday at that – we settled on an Osteria in the old town, the food was delicious, this starter of cheese and bacon wrapped in cabbage leaves being a particular treat.

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La Dolce Vita – day two

Processions

We woke to more grey skies and wet cobbled streets – it had been raining heavily but had stopped by the time we ventured out from our abode. After breakfast we ambled through the streets of Salerno and I was beginning to warm to it (although the weather was still refusing to warm me!) but we had already determined to head out of time and begin to explore the Amalfi coast. This had always been the plan, Salerno was meant as a base to explore from, and we fought our way onto a very full bus heading for Amalfi, although we would be getting off just short of this town, in Minori.

The journey (about an hour) was picturesque and exciting as the driver skilfully negotiated the switchbacks and hairpin bends, I definitely wouldn’t want to be driving this road myself!

Although taking about 50 minutes, it never felt a chore, the journey itself was an adventure, before stepping off the excitement of the bus into the calm of the pretty seaside town of Minori.

We began to explore the town, sucking in the sea air, before rounding a corner to see some sort of procession gathering at the top of the hill.

It was a treat and a privilege to watch and listen to the Good Friday procession as hooded men and children escorted the cross through the town and to the Basilica where, after 40 minutes of processing and singing, they entered for a service, leaving us to continue to explore the town.

Having lunched well on pizza slices and other treats bought from a delicatessen and eaten on a bench looking out to see, we decided to walk back along the road for ten minutes or so to the neighbouring town of Maiori.

We ambled along the seafront, stopping to examine a range of sculptures

I particularly liked the pink spaceman, with a face of flowers …

Before sitting and chilling in a cafe, watching the world go by,and feeling the weather beginning to warm up.

We wandered some more, taking in the essence of Italy (for me, well dressed men and battered old vehicles)

… before getting the bus back to Salerno, now bathed in sunlight, and beginning to capture my heart.

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La Dolce Vita – day one

Buongiorno

We were up with (before) the larks to head to Bristol airport at early o’clock to catch a 6 am flight to Naples, and by 9 am UK time, 10 am in Italy, we were off the aeroplane and in a queue, expecting to have our faces scanned and fingerprints taken as part of the EU’s EES system but despite queuing past a row of machines, we did not give up our bio-metrics, instead 15 minutes later we had cleared customs and found the Alibus to take us into central Naples. Barely pausing to cross the road (I am getting brave!) we headed straight into the train station, bought tickets (on our trainline app) and headed south for an hour and a half to our base for the next few day, Salerno.

Our host kindly met us of the train, and drove us the 5 minutes to our apartment, a pleasant room in the old town. On the way, he did tell us that it was unseasonably cold, normally by now he would have swum in the sea, and taken his boat out, instead he was wearing a wooly hat against the cold!

Dropping off our bags, we headed out for a quick explore and my, the wind was strong and cold! The sky was grey and threatening rain (that mercifully never manifested itself) and, if I’m honest, against this backdrop, Salerno did not really sell itself. It lacked the charm of a rustic Italian town, and couldn’t make this up with the characterful chaos of, say, Naples. But coffee and cake makes everything better, and being away is better than being bored at home.

We returned to our apartment where I enjoyed a late afternoon snooze – not only had we been up uber-early, it was the first day of my Easter holiday, having only just broken up the day before from a long and gruelling Spring term. Revitalised by sleep, and bundled up against the weather, we headed back out into town to eat, enjoying pizza and tiramsu.

… before heading home for yet more much needed sleep!