View our 69 photos of Italy
with captions on Facebook 
|
|
Aware that we once lived in Italy and had returned several times to visit the country, our friends Lee and Mary Beamon asked us to lead them on a trip to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They wanted to return to the Amalfi Coast where they had celebrated their 25th anniversary. There was no need for any discussion. Without hesitation we told them we would love to help make their dream a reality. We had over a year to plan a trip worth remembering. When we discovered the perfect tour was available with our favorite tour company, Now Journey, we promptly paid the deposit and purchased airline tickets. It was an extra bonus that our favorite tour captain (and the owner of the company), Mark Story, would be our guide.
DAY 2 After clearing security check in, we shared fish and chips for lunch in an airport restaurant around 1 o’clock. Our British Airways flight departed a bit late around 4:15. An evening meal was served on board.
|
We arrived in bella Napoli about 7:30 p.m. We cleared immigration. We retrieved our suitcases, except one of the Beamons’ never appeared on the turnstile. We breezed through customs. Our prearranged driver delivered the four of us to Starhotel Terminus at Piazza Garibaldi by 9 o’clock.
DAY 3 We walked several blocks to Museo Cappella Sansevero, arriving just in time for our 9:00 tickets. For about half an hour we enjoyed the unique marble statues there. We were fascinated by the two vascular anatomical cadavers on display below the chapel. Created in the 1700’s, no one knows how to replicate the process that kept the blood vessels from decaying after death. Next we walked several blocks to the National Archaeological Museum, where many artifacts from ancient Pompeii are exhibited. When we finished exploring the museum, we took the Metro to the Toledo stop to view the special artworks in the station there and to get lunch. We walked several blocks to a very popular trattoria. When we returned an hour later, as instructed at 2:00, we learned it could be another hour before we might get a table for four. So we walked less than half a block to a different trattoria where we were quickly seated. We ordered more food than we could eat, but it sure was fun having an authentic Neapolitan lunch again.
DAY 4
We found our reserved seats on the other side of the street from the restaurant. Our outdoor table had a magnificent view overlooking the Mediterranean. While waiting for our food, Michael was on the phone convincing the credit card company that the payment for our new table was legitimate. When our meal was finished, we wandered back into the crowds. As we had been instructed, we met with our tour group at 3 o’clock that afternoon. Mark Story, our tour captain, led us first to the cathedral. After a brief visit inside the church, we stopped at a beachside cafe for rest and refreshments. With only 11 in our small group tour, it was time well spent getting to know one another. The group enjoyed supper on a terrace overlooking the sea at Ristorante il Capitano from 7 to 10 p.m. Then the four of us found our way back to our hotel up the many stairs on the steep hill. Positano has numerous stairway paths. Our iPhones indicated we had walked up and down the equivalent of 40 stories that day.
DAY 5
About three hours later we returned to sea level, stopping at 2:15 to eat lunch in the town of Amalfi. At 4:00 we headed back to Positano, but because of regulated traffic flow, our driver was not permitted to return via the coast road. It took till 6:30 to reach our destination in Positano. That evening most of the tour group went to a $300 per person dinner. Since the Coles and Beamons thought that was unreasonably extravagant, we found a tasty, reasonably-priced supper near the beach in Positano at 7 o’clock. Afterward, we walked back up the hundreds of stair steps and reached our hotel by 9:00. We were thrilled to find that the Beamons' lost suitcase had been delivered to our hotel that day.
DAY 6 Together we all walked down to the port at 9:45 and were onboard a boat at 10. We arrived at the Marina Grande at the Isle of Capri about 2 o’clock. Two taxis transported our group as far up the hill as allowed. Then we walked to our hotel, Gatto Bianco ("white cat"). Our luggage awaited us, having been transported ahead of us on a different boat to the island.   
We got some lunch, did some shopping, and returned to the hotel to unpack. We found a nice restaurant for supper with the Beamons around 7:00. As we were walking back to our hotel rooms, we four stopped for gelato.
DAY 7    
We took a break in our hotel rooms from 5 to 6:30. After eating at a nearby restaurant with the Beamons, we found a gelateria for dessert. We returned to our rooms by 8:30 and packed for the next morning's departure.
DAY 8 This was our son’s birthday, and as has frequently been the case since he was a teenager, we were out of the country. Otherwise, this time of year is the ideal time to travel for us.
At 11 o’clock we began walking into the town center with our tour group. We stopped a few times to hear about the history or other facts. One stop was for gelato for everyone. We stopped at D'Anton bistro from 12:30 till 2 p.m. and ate our fill of all sorts of appetizers and assorted drinks. As the tour captain led most in the group back to the hotel, we four remained in the city center shopping till about 5 o’clock. We quickly checked into our hotel rooms, which were not ready when we first arrived. We unpacked suitcases and enjoyed some rest time. At 8 o’clock our group met in the hotel lobby. Sherry Moore, who we mistakenly thought was just a Now Journey secretary, joined our group. Her outgoing personality added a delightful experience as we walked to Donna Sofia restaurant. It was intermittently sprinkling a bit. Eating began about 9 with samples of lots of tasty choices. Everything delivered to our table was shared among all. The main chef came to our table to greet us. Our return to the hotel was delayed by a thunderstorm. One of the restaurant waiters transported six of us to our hotel. We were in our room by midnight. Our daughter Angelique arrived in Naples from Texas on this day to begin leading a girlfriends-only tour of Italy. Only one of the ladies, Laura, joined her from the start. Angelique was serving as the unofficial, but highly qualified, tour guide for three of her friends. Serendipitously, we had independently chosen overlapping dates to travel, not knowing the other's plans. It was a special blessing that our paths briefly crossed two days later.
DAY 9 At 6:45 p.m. the whole tour group walked downtown to Cafè Latino with Mark Story leading the way. Pascal Locatelli, our Now Journey tour captain in Paris and Florence last year at this time, joined us. We finished eating about 9 o’clock and walked back up to our hotel with the Beamons.
DAY 10 It began raining during breakfast, so instead of walking to the train station, we got into a taxi at 7:30. Unknown to us or our hotel staff or our cab driver, the railway workers were on strike. At the station we were told the strike would end with the next train out of Sorrento at 1 p.m. Fortunately, we quickly found a taxi driver willing to take us 17 miles to Pompeii. Angelique and her friend were also forced to take a cab from Naples to Pompeii due to the strike. We joined them at the front of the line to enter Pompeii at the opening time of 9:00. Shortly before we went into the archaeological site, we met our local guide, Roberto, who Angelique had hired several months before. As requested when hired, he showed us many places that had not been available during our past visits. We were delighted with this special tour. 
We finished our visit in the ancient city and said goodbye to our tour guide about noon. We walked away from the tourist areas to Alleria Pizzeria in modern Pompeii for lunch at 12:30. We then traveled by train to the Oplontis archaeological site. We entered Villa Poppaea about 2:15 without a guide. The site was buried by the 79 A.D. volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii. Official excavations at Oplontis were done from 1964 until the mid-1980s. Angelique and her family came for the first time two years ago. The two of us had been to this elaborate ancient Roman villa in 1983 or 1984 with the archaeology club from the U.S. Navy base. Angelique and her friend returned by train to Naples. The rest of us departed in the opposite direction on the Circumvesuviana train about 3:15. We arrived in Sorrento about 4 o’clock and stopped for gelati on our walk back to our hotel. We met our tour group in the hotel lobby at 5:45 and walked downtown to the bistro we enjoyed two days before. After enjoying our farewell meal together, we were back in our room by 9 p.m. We packed for our return home and went to bed.  Our Now Journey small group tour members in Sorrento (left to right): Lee & Mary Beamon, Michael & Jeannie Cole, Mark Tortora & Betsy McGee, Stacey Franke, Linda Lawrence, Mindy & Salvatore Perillo, and Mikki Freund with our tour captain and friend Mark Story in front
DAY 11 |
|
Our British Airways flight left for London about an hour and a half late from Naples. We had barely an hour layover time in London. The in transit system at Heathrow requires going through security clearance. We just barely arrived at our departure gate before they stopped boarding our flight. The British Airways plane left about 1:30 p.m. to cross the Atlantic. We arrived in Dallas-Fort Worth around 5 o’clock. The Beamons' two bags did not arrive. Only one of our bags arrived. Thanks to having AirTags for the first time, we knew our two missing bags were still at the airport in London. We all ate supper together in an airport restaurant during our 5-hour layover. Our flight to Fort Smith got us home about midnight. (All the remaining checked bags arrived 24 hours after we did.)
|
|
View our 69 photos of Italy
with captions on Facebook
|
You may contact us at
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking 2 kilometers through Spaccanapoli from the street's beginning to end. There were countless storefront shops and street vendors to explore. As the street ran out we were heading toward our hotel. We retrieved our stored luggage and met our driver at 5:30.
We were transported to the Royal Hotel in Positano that is essentially perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. We joined the Beamons for supper in the hotel restaurant, then took our tired bodies to bed for a long night’s sleep. Jeannie’s phone counted over 16,000 steps on this day.
Later we walked down hundreds of stone and concrete stair steps from our hotel to reach the shops in Positano. The ladies checked out a number of dress shops. Fortuitously, we came across a branch of Ceramiche Casola, the ceramics store from which we had purchased a beautiful 24-inch outdoor painted lava stone table in 2007. It was stolen from our courtyard several years later. We showed the clerk a picture and were delighted that they could make us an identical one. We ordered a 28-inch table to replace the original. It should arrive at our house in 8 months, we were told. When we then inquired of a good place to eat lunch nearby, the clerk Stefania called and made us a reservation at a restaurant away from the main tourist area. Awesome service from a sales clerk, we thought.
About 10:30 we arrived at the mountaintop town of Ravello, with its spectacular views high above the Mediterranean. We were met by a local guide. Everyone took lots of pictures as we wandered the well-kept gardens of Villa Cimbrone and the gardens of Villa Rufolo.
We invited our tour captain Mark Story to accompany the four of us after lunch. He met us at 1:30 and we hiked 2 kilometers to the archaeological site of the palace of Tiberius Caesar, called Villa Jovis, built on a cliff, 1200 feet above sea level. Emperor Tiberius ruled from here for 10 years till his death in 37 A.D. It took almost an hour to get there up a path that was often quite steep, requiring us to frequently stop to catch our breath. Arriving at the site, we discovered that it was a day of free entrance. After we wandered through the ruins, we headed toward our hotel. After walking 10 minutes, we stopped at Bar Jovis for refreshments in their outdoor seating.
We had the complementary breakfast in the hotel before checking out at 8:30. The Coles and Beamons met up with the rest of our tour adventurers at the main piazza at 8:45. We were transported to the Marina Grande where we boarded our boat at 9:15 to speedily cross the Bay of Naples to the mainland.
We disembarked at the Sorrento port about 10 o’clock and were transported to the Grand Hotel Capodimonte, where we four now got to stay with everyone else in our tour group. This hotel is only 600 feet south of the Hotel Bristol where the two of us stayed in 1984 while celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary.
We slept late since we really had no scheduled tour nor specific plans on this day. We went to breakfast about 9:30. By 10:30 we were walking into town with the Beamons. We ate lunch at La Lanterna, where the two of us have eaten several meals since the 1980s. The gnocchi alla sorrentina there is still the most tasty anywhere. We returned to the hotel about 3:30.
