My Defining Decade: Europe 2019 - Sorrento/Amalfi Coast

Arriving in Sorrento was like landing in a city of Rocca’s. My dad’s family is from Southern Italy, more specifically Sicily, and even all these years later, I can tell. The people there were kind, genuine, family -oriented, wine-drinkin, pasta-eatin people! They were loud and bickered and were so so funny! It felt just a bit like home. That is until you looked in any direction and saw coastline! W-O-W. There are no words to describe the beauty. It was awesome.

I’d love to meet the person who saw a peninsula of mountains and thought, ‘this seems like a great place to build a new city!’ Especially 1000 years ago when tunnels, roads, and terraces were built with pick-axes and shovels! The ambition is impressive. And now I get to enjoy their hard work.

Within the two days we were there, we took a boat ride around the island of Capri, took pictures at the top of Anacapri, and drove the Amalfi coast. On our drive to Ravello, we saw a stairwell of 4000 stairs from the coast to the city center at the top of the mountain. They were built when the city was born and used to get fish and supplies from the shore to the people in the city. Our guide said it takes five hours to climb them! We concluded that people in the last millennium were just sturdier than we are now. And with that, we headed to lunch to drink some local wine with lunch.

Our captain!

My favorite part of this city was the relaxation time. We tried fresh limoncello and limoncello spritzes (my new favorite drink!). We rested and enjoyed the fact that God paints in vivid colors – He is a creative, awe-inspiring artist and it was so apparent along that shore. What a joy it was to relax with my mom and take in the beauty! I’m sure there’s more to say about our time on the Southern Italian coast, but I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves now. Off to Santorini!