June 10th Monday Sorrento to Amalfi and Ravello. Step count 10,583

This morning the alarm went off way too early at 6:00am. We were up and ready to head down to breakfast at 6:45am. The hotel has an amazing breakfast buffet. There was several different cakes, pastries, croissants, fresh baked bread, fruit, cheese and meats. There was also a make your own omelette station and pretty much anything else you could desire. Being a bit jet lagged we were most excited about the coffee. We met up with the tour group at 7:30am so we could get an early start as we had about an hour drive to Ravello on the Amalfi coast. Along the scenic drive we took a stop to take photos of Positano and had a lovely experience with the roadside fruit stand and its staff. We purchased some delicious Bruschetta mix and some peaches. The man at the fruit stand washed the fruit for us and provided us with napkins. In Italy it is not acceptable to touch the fruit you want to purchase, instead you point and they grab it for you. We passed many orchards of lemon trees and orange trees. We also saw many grooves of olive trees. Along the bottom of the trees there were nets rolled up ready for the harvest in the fall. They unroll the nets and shake the tress so the olives will drop. Our next stop was the beach town of Amalfi. We visited Saint Andrew’s church. We climbed the 63 steps from the center of the piazza to the top of the church where the original bronze doors are still standing. The remain’s of the apostle are interred here in the catacombs. There were many historical relics inside the church and it was beautifully presented. After the visit in the church, we had some free time to walk around the town of Amalfi. We visited some shops and picked up a couple of souvenirs. We also purchased some locally made limoncello. We mentally picked a few items we want to purchase and will have the opportunity to come back to Amalfi and our next stop of Ravello in a couple of weeks when we return here for my son’s wedding. When we arrived at Ravello we went to a family owed restaurant for lunch. Another multi course gastronomy adventure complete with wine. An older woman, probably the owner, who we fondly called Nonna, kept coming by to check on the four young ladies to make sure they had enough to eat and to offer to bring them more. It was reminiscent of my own grandmother. She brought them some cherries that she said were from her garden and then appeared again a few movements later with a bag of peaches and more cherries for them to take with us. By the time we left we were hugging and kissing each other on the cheek goodbye. We can’t wait to surprise her with a return visit later in the month. After lunch we had some free time and Megan and I ventured to the vista point of the sea. It was 90 steps each way and the view was breathtaking. Valerie waited for us on the church steps in the center of town. Lastly, we ventured up the hill further to see where we will be staying when we come back. It was a trek up another large number of stairs through cobbblestones streets. But the increased elevation also made for an even better view. I am looking forward to having time to sit on the veranda, drink a glass of wine and relax the day away. We returned back to the bus for the long drive back to Sorrento. We got back around 3:00pm and decided it was time to visit the rooftop pool at the hotel. We got a chance to relax, swim, and we all got in some reading. We were on our own for dinner tonight so we opted to visit the restaurant right next door. We enjoyed some fabulous homemade pastas and one of the best lasagnas I have ever had. As the girls are old enough to drink here, we all had the opportunity to share a bottle of wine. Very strange sharing a drink with my daughters. It was a really nice experience and I can’t imagine anywhere better to have had this first experience with them than in Italy, drinking Italian wine. When we got back to the room after dinner we got all packed up so we could have our luggage ready for the early morning pick up. We all fell asleep almost before our heads even hit the pillow. We knew tomorrow was going to be another 6:00am morning. I was awakened at about 10:45pm from a fireworks display going off across the street from the hotel. The girls slept through it. I thought it was gunshots at first but then got to enjoy the tail end of the display. A nice surprise ending to a most memorable day in Italy.