Travel Diary: Amalfi Coast, Italy

You guys, I was blessed beyond measure to visit the Amalfi Coast this summer with Travel Noire. To my surprise and I’m sure yours, I won a  7 day trip to Italy on instagram. Amazing, right?

I haven’t blogged about it because seven days on the coast of Italy was truly life changing, and there’s so much to share I didn’t know where to start.

My Travel itinerary included a flight from Minneapolis to New York City. After an overnight stay, I headed from JFK to Dublin, Ireland and Dublin to Naples, Italy, which is about a 45 minute drive to the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in the small town of Ravello.

Upon arriving at Naples, I met up with a few girls at the airport. While we waited for our shuttle, we sat at an outdoor restaurant; we ordered pizzas and some water/juice. The drive to Ravello was amazing. The views were beyond anything I had anticipated. Along the way we drove past mount vesuvius, which was pretty awesome to see. I fell asleep on the drive and when I woke, we had almost arrived. Driving in Italy can be a bit scary since the roads are very narrow and curved and their two lane roads are very small, as most of their cars are actually small.

Upon arrival in Ravello, I checked into our home for the week. Had a pretty good conversation with my roommate, and later headed up to the top of the hotel for a welcome dinner with everyone.

Table setting for our welcome dinner.

Reviewing our welcome packet.

The set up at Mamma Agata. I mean, look at this view! The table on the right hold albums of celebrities she’s had at her school, like Pierce Brosnan, Mark Ruffalo to name a few. I purchased her cookbook because her meals were amazing!

Chiara here holding her famous eggplant parmesan. My gosh, the parmesano reggiano cheese was the finest cheese I’d ever tasted. Seriously, it melts in your mouth in seconds.

We all had aprons on as we we watched her, her mother and her husband prepare the meals in the kitche. A little tip, when deep frying opt for grapeseed oil as it’s less likely to burn your food. 

We had breakfast, and lunch at her home and my tummy was beyond happy.

Can you believe this view? Overlooking the Mediterranean sea? 

One of the days, we made some ceramics, which we got to bring home with us. I remember taking a ceramics class in high school, and I’ve always wanted to take a class again. 

I don’t remember where we were here, but I mean this view never got old.

We were at dinner here that included wine tasting. I hated all the wine, and gave mine away. LOL

This was one of my favorite days. We took a boat to Capri. I’ve always wanted to go to Capri, and was really excited it was built into this trip. I have to admit. Being out on the sea was equally exhilarating and gut wrenching at the same  time. 

This was after a lemon grove tour. We got to learn more about the process of how they make limoncello. I didn’t care much for limoncello but then again, I don’t care much for alcohol. We visited a grove that was owned by an elderly couple who managed the grove on their own, which is SO much work. Turns out working the lemon groves isn’t a job that pays very well hence the younger generations are opting for non traditional jobs leaving the elderly to manage the groves.

Other activities I enjoyed was hiking to the highest point of the Amalfi Coast. We hiked for about three hours. It was pretty intense, but ohso good! On our “free” day, me and a few girls, (most of the girls on the yacht) walked a billion stairs for a beach day. We had lunch in Minori where there were rock/black sand beaches. We walked 15 more or so more minutes to Maiori and relaxed by the water before heading to dinner in Amalfi. Oh, and gelato. I probably ate my body weight in gelato, but how could I not? 

I met some amazing women during this trip, some of whom I keep in touch with. I learned so much about myself on this trip, as well as from my trip-mates. I left Italy with a grateful heart, and so much inspiration and zeal for life. There’s nothing like spending time with women who are fulfilling their purpose, traveling, pursuing dreams that serves as a driving force to just going for it. 

I’m super  grateful to Zim, and the Travel Noire team for this experience. All photos in this post are courtesy of Ashleigh. 

ps. see ALL my instagram posts of Amalfi HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE