by Bradley

Key Words
Good Seafood, Good Views
                 
Would We Come Back?
Absolutely, their seafood salad was the best in Italy and the views might be the best ever for a restaurant!!         

          Le Grotelle is an amazing spot to eat. The view from the outdoor seating is spectacular. You can watch the boats in the water, see the sorrentine peninsula and the landscape of Capri. So just as we sat down to lunch it started to rain...and then pour! Luckily they had a canopy that kept us dry. If we hadn't sat down to lunch and kept walking the trails we would've been soaked! We sat at the perfect time because the rain ended up stopping just as we finished, well we finished eating and then got a bottle of wine to wait out the rain...but as soon as we finished the bottle the rain stopped.

by Katherine

          Ever since going to the castle in St. Goar last year in Germany, I have been obsessed with ruinous castles! They are generally less crowded and super fun to explore. Italy isn't known for its castles like Germany or England, but I managed to find a few fortress remnants in my research. The journey to Villa Jovis, a palace where Roman Emperor Tiberius once ruled toward the end of his life, began in Capri town and continued up a decent ascent. Once we got out of Capri town the crowds died down, the views grew more impressive, and it felt like we were really wandering around the tiny back roads of Italy. On the way, we passed beautiful flowers, lemon groves, and even a few wild goats that we got friendly with. For the most part, there were signs indicating which direction to head toward the villa, but a map helped us further.

by Katherine

          So let me start by saying that the Amalfi Coast has been in my 'top 5 places I wanna go ever' since I was in Italy last (in Spring 2011). I had seen someone's pictures of the Blue Grotto on Capri (a sea cave that reflects the light in such a way that it creates the beautiful blue color it's known for) and I instantly fell in love; I had to go. And then I did more research and found the 'Walk of the Gods', an amazingly beautiful hike along the Amalfi Coast. I love hiking and this hike sounded like the granddaddy of them all! So I had TWO things that I desperately wanted to do while here: 1. Go inside the Blue Grotto and 2. Hike the Walk of the Gods. And then I went 0 for 2 :( I didn't get to do either!!

by Katherine

Key Words
Reasonably Priced, Large Variety, Good Pastas, Good Wine
                 
Would We Come Back?
 Yes, great pasta selections and very affordable!!         

          We finally arrived in Italy - Napoli to be exact- but then we had to go all the way to Sorrento. Instead of changing trains, I found a bus that goes directly from the airport to the train station in Sorrento. Only problem, there was a lot of traffic and half the ride is in tunnels; we didn't end up getting to the hotel til about 9 at night. Luckily, I had done my research and found a restaurant with great, cheap pastas, La Fenice, which was directly below our hotel. We were able to check-in and then finally get some of the food we had been waiting for!

by Katherine

          We decided to make Sorrento our base of operations for the Amalfi Coast.  Technically speaking, Sorrento (as well as Capri) isn't actually part of the Amalfi Coast, but it's close enough and far more convenient. I looked into staying in Positano or Amalfi, or even Capri, and the hotels there are far more expensive anyway. Sorrento allowed for easy access to Capri (ferries ran throughout the day) and to Positano/Amalfi (by bus). We ended up staying at The Night, a sort of bed and breakfast. It is close enough to the heart of Sorrento as well as the train station so that it was convenient, yet far enough away that it was pretty quiet and away from all of the people. And seriously, this place was such a steal!!! Clean, fairly modern, and cheap!!! Good luck finding a better deal!

by Bradley

          So if anyone remembers, we had posted about Malaga airport being the worst ever, well it's been beat! It's bad for similar reasons....except worse! They supposedly wont tell you your gate time until like 20 minutes before the flight is supposed to leave. So then everyone is standing staring at the electronic board waiting to figure out where to go. As soon as they post the gate everyone sprints to the gate, it's at least a 10 minute walk to get to any given gate so you gotta move. For us they finally announced our gate after the gate was supposed to be closed...No airport staff is helpful, apparently no one knows the gate. How could you not? They have to know by then where the plane will be parked...Anyway, this is where it gets even worse. We rush to the gate and when we get there we end up sitting waiting for another 30 minutes or so while no airline staff thinks to mention or make an announcement that the flight has been delayed. We only found out because the person sitting next to us went to the desk to figure out why the airport is so terrible. Once we were on the plane we made friends with a British guy next to us and he says that he always tries to avoid Gatwick at all costs! I will take that advice in the future and only fly through Heathrow when possible!

by Katherine

         So when we bought our tickets to Italy, there was a 4 hour layover in London. Ok, cool, a little long, but whatever. Then 20 minutes after we bought our tickets, I noticed that the layover airports were different! We flew into Heathrow and out of Gatwick!!! What the hell man!! You'd think there would be giant bold faced colored lettering warning you of the different airports, but no-nothing. Seriously hard to notice this difference when both airport codes start with 'L' and because this is not a problem you ever come to expect. Luckily, I called American Airlines, and they were happy to change our flight out of DC 2 hours earlier free of charge. Now we had 6 hours between airports and although we might have been able to make it between airports in 4 hours, 6 hours gave us some breathing room.

by Katherine

So we just got back from an amazing trip to Italy!!! Usually after a couple of weeks, it's nice to get back to your own bed and stop walking everywhere (which is basically all you do in Europe), but I think I could have stayed in Italy for a couple more weeks!! We will of course start posting about Italy once we get all our pictures uploaded and organized, but to start I wanted to give a new list of things I'll miss most and least about our trip to Europe.