Bella Italia/Italy and the Amalfi Coast – Completed 8/29/16

[DD's Prince]

We have just returned from our first ABD. We chose Bella Italia because of the activities and location. DW has always wanted to see Italy and DD and DS were interested in the itinerary for this trip. This will be my first TR and expect I will do it over several days. I'm gonna try to hit the highlights without giving away any surprises for those that may choose this trip in the future. As a supplement to this report please see the TR by TXTransplant from earlier this year.


We Flew out of RDU direct to CDG in Paris and then took a commuter to Naples. The flight to CDG was great because I was able to upgrade to Business Class. Totally worth it for the long trip. The best part was that they tagged our luggage with the priority tags so they would be the first ones off the plane.

Flight was great but made the mistake of sitting on the front row. That row gets a little loud because it is so close to the serving station. In the future I'll opt for a few rows back. Landed in CDG and easily found our way to the next terminal. Made next flight without any problems. Flight to Naples was uneventful and arrived on time. Unfortunately, our luggage did not.

Not the best way to start the trip. So glad we got the priority tag on our luggage!


So we headed to Sorrento with our carry-ons planning to do a little shopping. The drive to Sorrento was a nice drive and took about 90 minutes. The hotel in Sorrento is the Hotel Grand La Favorita. It is a beautiful hotel with lemon trees all around. The rooms are great and the view from the rooftop pool is wonderful. We actually had 2 rooms on a corner with a balcony that wrapped around the corner.

We changed into our one extra set of clothes and headed out on the town. We were able to purchase some basic necessities and clothes for dinner that night. We did not plan on spending the day shopping but really enjoyed the town of Sorrento.

Dinner that night was at O'Paruchiano. It is owned by the same family that owns the hotel and was nice. The food was good and the setting was great. As TXTransplant mentioned, it is set in a garden in a very quaint setting. Unfortunately the meal was tempered by exhaustion from travel and lack of luggage. Oh well tomorrow is a new day!

Now if I can just figure out how to get pictures to show up.

Headed out to Sorrento from La Favorita!

The view from our room.



View from kids room.

 

[sayhello]

To post photos, you can either upload your photos to a picture hosting site like photobucket and then grab the direct link and hit the button on the editor here that looks like a picture with mountains and the sun. Paste the link in there, then presto! Photos in your post! You can also drag and drop them if you have that capability on whatever device you're using.

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

Sounds like a nice arrival. I'll be following along.

If you can, I would upload the photos to a service like photobucket or flickr (which is what I use). There's a button to share the link of the photo, and I copy and paste that link directly into the post. It's "BBCode". Photobucket may be even easier. I need to try that one of these days.

 

[DD's Prince]

 

[DD's Prince]

I would love to keep going but nothing is working to get the photos here. I've photobucket and the only thing that appears is "". I'm gonna delete this thread if I can since it is pointless without pictures.
[IMG]http://. No picture. Sorry guys. Gonna delete this thread.

 

[BluesTraveler]

Would still love to hear your thoughts/impressions of the trip even without the pictures.

 

[tgeorge]

I agree with Blues Traveler

 

[DD's Prince]

Ok so I'll keep going without the pictures though they are the best part. It is a beautiful location and a wonderful trip.

Wednesday was Adventure Day! We slept in still trying to adjust to the time change. Then headed down to meet our guides. Marcello and Marissa! The bomb! They are awesome. After introducing ourselves and getting some details on the trip we headed to lunch. Marcello recommended In Buffalito and it did not disappoint. The Cheese fondu with focaccia was great. Everyone left there with a happy stomach and out we went for some more shopping. Still no luggage. Spent some more time touring Sorrento and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the welcome dinner.

Reception at 6:30 and dinner followed at the roof top restaurant. Views were fantastic. Looking out over the Bay of Naples at Mt. Vesuvious. Watching the sunset. A memorable evening. Food was good but not great. We had better meals on this trip but still very enjoyable.

Mt Vesuvious!


Sunset from roof top restaurant!


The kids starting to enjoy themselves


Trip was 33 people with 14 kids. Kids ages ranged from 7 - 15. 4 girls and 9 boys. Stayed up a little late drinking wine with new friends and headed for bed around 11:00. Tomorrow is Positano and Amalfi!

Getting ready for bed and the hotel phone rang! My wife and I looked at each other and just smiled. Our luggage had arrived. I think my daughter was as happy as we were. All is good in Sorrento!

 

[mare1203]

I use Photobucket for my pics and TR's. When I click on the photo I want to use for the thread in Photobucket, I use the IMG link to the right and just literally copy that into my post. It will copy as an IMG URL, but show up as a pic. Hope that helps/works!

 

[DD's Prince]

I use Photobucket for my pics and TR's. When I click on the photo I want to use for the thread in Photobucket, I use the IMG link to the right and just literally copy that into my post. It will copy as an IMG URL, but show up as a pic. Hope that helps/works!

Thanks Mare123. That helped me figure it out. Pictures are up.

 

[DD's Prince]

Up early to run this morning hoping to see a little more of Sorrento. Just a short run to the water front and up the main road. Light traffic made it an easy run. I was not impressed with the water front where I ran. It was dirty and smelled of trash. Most of that was from the trash cans at the restaurants on the water. Headed back to the hotel for breakfast.



Breakfast at La Favorita is very nice. The have several juices, cappuccino, made to order omelets, pastries and miscellaneous other items. A great way to start the day!



So today we start our trip with a bus ride towards Positano. I say towards Positano because we stopped just short of Positano and transfered to two vans. The roads leading into Positano are not bus friendly and the smaller vans were needed. The ride to Positano is beautiful and runs along the cliffs above the water. If you go try to sit on the right side of the bus for the best views.



We arrived in Positano and were given about 90 minutes to explore before we met at the dock for our boat tour. Positano is a small town and it doesn’t take much time to explore it. Mostly shopping and a nice church to visit near the docks. Our Adventure Guides (AGs) had arranged a bathroom break for everyone before we boarded the boat and took pictures of the families with Positano in the background.



After Positano we boarded the boat and took a tour of the Amalfi Coast from the water. The breeze provided a nice break from the heat and the view is beautiful. We arrived in Amalfi and walked as a group to the center of Amalfi. After some education about Amalfi we went to lunch at a small family owned restaurant called Pizzeria Da Maria. Great food! Best ravioli we had the entire trip. After lunch we took a quick walk around Amalfi, bought some paper (Amalfi is known for its paper) and had some gelato. Always good. We then boarded the bus for our drive back to Sorrento. A lot of sleeping on the bus for the ride home.




Next up is La Galatea!

 

[DD's Prince]

Next up is Agriturismo Galatea. This was one of my favorite nights. It is a working family owned farm. When we arrived we were treated to a demonstration on how to make mozzarella cheese. Then we were given a quick lesson in tying it into knots. We weren’t quite as talented as they were. We then sat down to dinner. This being our second night together the guides decided to put all the kids at one table. It didn’t take long for them to really bond and soon were laughing and having a great time.









Our meal was several courses and the food just kept coming. The highlight being the homemade margherita pizzas. We all got a lesson in rolling out dough and then made our own version of the pizza. The kids were first given some dough to practice and then made their own pizza also. We ended the night with a little dancing and some lemoncello made on the farm!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Gorgeous pictures of the Amalfi Coast! I can almost smell the lemons.

 

[tgeorge]

Gorgeous pictures! This is the other Italy trip I really want to take (Italy and Switzerland the other). I've been fascinated with the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii since high school. I think after twenty years it is definitely time to make it a reality. So glad you figured out how to post the pictures, they are spectacular

 

[DD's Prince]

Gorgeous pictures of the Amalfi Coast! I can almost smell the lemons.

I loved the area. Great atmosphere and lemon fragrance in the air. A lot of fun!

 

[DD's Prince]

Gorgeous pictures! This is the other Italy trip I really want to take (Italy and Switzerland the other). I've been fascinated with the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii since high school. I think after twenty years it is definitely time to make it a reality. So glad you figured out how to post the pictures, they are spectacular

This is a great trip. Very active. Not a lot of museums/touring that would have tested my kids. Now we're looking at the Italy/Switzerland trip. Looks like another great one.

 

[tgeorge]

This is a great trip. Very active. Not a lot of museums/touring that would have tested my kids. Now we're looking at the Italy/Switzerland trip. Looks like another great one.

I do like museum's, but I would much rather do an active trip.

 

[DD's Prince]

Today we head to Capri. Really looking forward to swimming in the Mediterranean. This is from the dock in Sorrento with Sorrento in the backgroud.



Too many post card views in Capri to show them all. We took a short guided tour and then were on our own for 3 hours. We went to lunch at Villa Verde Ristorante and then headed out for a self directed walking tour. The food at Villa Verde was very good. Best calzone I've ever had. Also very good pizza.



These are from the walk I took with the kids while the DW did a little shopping. An easy walk away from the crowds in the square. Great views the entire way. Would recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to shop in Capri.







Headed out to swim in the Med!

 

[tink1970]

Thanks for taking the time to write this-it helps those of us to hoping to do it someday

 

[DD's Prince]

Thanks for taking the time to write this-it helps those of us to hoping to do it someday

This was our first ABD. We are really happy we chose this one. A wonderful introduction to Italy!