Amalfi Coast Part 2

More Amalfi Coast!!  

Day 2 was amazing!  We rented our own boat to take out in the big blue ocean.  It was pricey, but so worth it and so much fun!  

We were a little nervous about taking Mr. Sully Pants out on the boat, but it was great!  He loved it!

Our handsome captain

We had fun gathering sea glass the whole time we were there.  

The views were amazing!  We were able to see all the towns from the boat.  

We rode out about 2 hours to the island of Capri so that we could see The Blue Grotto.  Here's a description:  

The Blue Grotto (Italian: Grotta Azzurra) is a sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, southern Italy. Sunlight, passing through an underwater cavity and shining through the seawater, creates a blue reflection that illuminates the cavern. The cave extends some 50 metres into the cliff at the surface, and is about 150 metres deep, with a sandy bottom.^[1]

The line to get in was crazy long and the entrance to the cave looked a little treacherous.  As the tide comes in, the entry gets harder and harder to get into.  Men in big row boats come and pick you up from your motorboat.  Then they make their way to the line that goes into the cave.  

As we got closer to the front of the line, we were told to lay down flat on the bottom of the boat.  I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but Jason was on one side of the boat and I had all the kiddos on the other side.  Now, imagine me trying to get them all to lay flat so that their heads don't get bashed against the top of the rocky entrance to the cave.  Sullivan was not a fan.  

I'm smiling in the picture, but I was crying on the inside.  All of the people waiting in the line were looking at us like we were crazy.  First off....four kids and second, a screaming baby.  

We made it in!  That little white light is the entrance.  The reflection was beautiful!  Once in a lifetime.  We didn't stay in too long because Sullivan started getting upset and we didn't want to ruin other visitors experience with a bawling baby in the background.  

Jason tried to get a good picture of us all, but Benny looked drunk in all of them.  This is the one that he looked the least dazed in.  Sullivan was NOT happy.  So.....we made our way to the same place we came in and lay down flat on the back.  Imagine me pressing Sully's head into my chest as he fights me.  It was kinda scary.  

Once we got out he was a happy camper.  We set out for the long ride back to Maiori.  

The kiddos wanted to stop for a swim after a while.  

Benny got a fat lip just moments before we got on the boat.  He and Graham were playing and he hit his mouth.  He kept asking, "can we please just go back to our beach?"  

I took over captain duties for a short time while Jason fed Sullivan.  

Finally, Benny fell asleep and the world was a little less whiney, for a time.  Poor guy!

We decided to dock the boat and go into the town of Positano.  We brought our boat close to the marina and some men came and picked us up and took us to shore.  We, of course, had to pay for this service, but it was very convenient.  

I LOVE Positano!  What a beautiful town!  It was quite crowded with summer vacationers, but it was lovely!

Benny agreed to pose for a couple shots.  

We walked around for a bit and got some gelato.  Then we were back on the boat to make our way to our home away from home.  

Sullivan finally gave in and took a nap.  

We got back to Maiori and showered up.  Then we headed back to one of our favorite pizza shops to eat.  Graham LOVED the arancini (pronounced AR-AN-CHEE-NEE).  

The next day we loaded up and made our way back to Naples.  We stayed one more night with Jason there on the base and then the kids and I loaded up and made our way home.  Here's Graham on the ferry from mainland Italy to our beloved Sicily.  

Quite the adventurous trip!  I hope we make it back there before we leave.  

Amalfi Coast Vacay Part 1

Amalfi Coast!  We loved you!  But before we went to see you, we had to stay in Naples for a day or two.  

Please don't judge the quality of this vacation by the quality of this first picture.  Jason had to work in Naples, so he left a few days before us and then we joined him.  He still had to work while we were there, so I attempted to entertain the kiddos with a trip to the bowling alley.  I asked a nice cashier there to take our picture.....this is what I got.  The creepy lighting in there wasn't ideal for a family photo.  

Let's back up a bit, shall we?  So, the Navy paid for Jason to FLY up to Naples.  Me and my kidtastic crew DROVE our way up there.  I only mention this because anytime we told friends and coworkers our plan, they were amazed by my superhuman abilities.  One hour drive + 20 minute ferry to mainland Italy + 7 hours up to Naples = bravest mom in the world.  I've done the roadtripping thing more than a few times by my lonesome, just not in Italy.  It was very uneventful and I wasn't nervous about it.  But, I did enjoy the "cool points" I got from people that heard I was going or found out I did it. (I drove home alone, too......I'm amazing.)

Here's a couple more funny pictures we caught at the little restaurant they had at the bowling alley.  

Sullivan learned he LOVES fries.  Who doesn't, right?  I was hoping to get him to the year mark before introducing them, but survival mode is survival mode.  Fries, coming right up!

No, survival mode did not include letting Sullivan drink some Coke.  Lucy just thought it would be a funny picture.  

Action shot.  It got a little crazy, but we had a great time.  

A couple of days later we made our way to the Amalfi coast.  It was only about one hour from Naples.  We stayed in a sweet little town called Maiori.  The drive was incredible!  Small roads on that wove in and out, making it's way through the small towns on the hillside and down by the ocean coast.  We had a partial view of the ocean from our apartment that we rented.  

We really enjoyed the outdoor living space that we had.  We could listen to the waves as we ate our breakfast.  

A couple of our days were spent at the beach, of course.  We LOVE the beach.  Italian beaches are definitely more crowded (especially in the summer), but we still had a great time.  

This picture of Sullivan cracks me up.  One evening, while we were driving around, he WOULD NOT stop crying and screaming.  Finally, I handed him a piece of licorice and he stopped.  I'm not sure he would have survived the evening if it hadn't been for a few Twizzler sticks.  Fries and licorice at 9 months.  Yikes.  

Maiori has this beautiful street of shopping and restaurants.  Everything in the town is walking distance from where we stayed.  We walked up and down this street a few times as we looked for places to eat for dinner and gelato to sweeten our evenings.  

Down the center of this street there was a canal.  It was mostly dried up this time of year, but we thought the vines growing around it were beautiful.  The girl in the picture is pretty sweet, too!

We went exploring the first evening we were there.  We found this spot for a photo op.  

Sand angel!!

One of the many reasons I love Italy is the food.  There are "bars" everywhere with great calzones, pastries, arancini, gelato.  Good stuff!  Side note:  here they are called "bars", but they are more like what we Americans would call cafes.  We were impressed with the shape and size of Graham's calzone/pizza thing.  At one point it was a hat, as well.  

In our exploring, we also found this little tots play area.  3 euro for the whole evening!  

More exciting pics to come!

Blaine, Lindsay, Caltigirone, Motta, and Ortygia

We, of course, had to take them to Caltigirone!  One of our favorite spots.  It was so fun to see the plants placed on the steps this time around.  

As you can see, Blaine enjoyed his first arancini and granita.

Later in the week we took them to our favorite biscotteria for gelato and cookies.  It's in the nearest little town, Motta.  Benny wanted to go home :)

Blaine and Lindsay flew to Rome and stayed a few days before riding the train to Catania.  Lucy and I waited at the train station for them.  Love my stylish girl!

On the way to Agrigento we got a flat tire.  I love how quickly and fabulously Lindsay posed when she saw I was taking a picture.  So funny!!!

Fuzzy picture inside the Ear of Dionysis in Siracusa.  It's a big cave at one of the Archeological Parks.  I think I've blogged about it before.  

On this particular day, Jason stayed home with Sullivan and Benny and I took them to Ortigia.  It's a cute little town right near Siracusa.  We found a cozy little place to have lunch before heading home.

We were so sad to see our visitors go home!  We missed their littles, George and Fred, but we are so grateful that they made the trip!  

Blaine, Lindsay, and Agrigento

Blaine and Lindsay came to see us!!  We absolutely LOVED having them here.  We went to see some new places during their visit.  Agrigento was the first on our short list.  We went to the Valley of the Temples and the Turkish Steps.  It was only about 2 hours away and was a day full of fun!  Here's a little history from thethinkingtraveller.com:

One of Sicily’s most famous historical attractions is without a doubt the Valley of the Temples, just outside Agrigento. 

This splendid archaeological park consists of eight temples (and various other remains) built between about 510 BC and 430 BC: the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Heracles, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Hephaestos, the Temple of Demeter, and the Temple of Asclepius (the God of Medicine). Apart from this latter, which is to be found on the banks of the Akragas river, all are situated in the same area on rocky crests south of modern day Agrigento (not really in a Valley at all!).

These ruins are amazing!!  Definitely the most impressive that we seen so far, in my humble opinion.  

There was a little bit of hiking involved and it was a hot day, so my sweet Jason took one for the team and ran back to the van and pick us up at the end of the site.  We love him!!

Next stop, The Turkish Steps, or as the Italians say, Scala die Turchi.  Here's some info on that, too:

The Scala is formed by marl, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white color. It lies between two sandy beaches, and is accessed through a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, whence the name. The latter part of the name derives from the frequent raids carried on by Turks.

After climbing the steps we made our way over to the sand for a couple hours of beach time.

Favorite Beach Pics