The Amalfi Coast....Pontera, Ravello and Positano

After driving down from Naples, we made our way up the winding coastline to our Airbnb in the tiny town of Pontera in the hills above Amalfi.  We were so happy to step out of the car and be greeted with the fragrance of lemon wafting through the air.  And a playground.   We were so happy for a playground.

This tiny town just across the totally hike-able valley from Ravello, (even with our not-so-into-hiking kids ages 8 and 4,) is a perfect landing spot for a small family to explore the Amalfi coast.  Within hours of our arrival, we had a couple of the local kids calling our girls' names through our open window to meet them back up at the playground before dinner.  We found ourselves pinching ourselves a bit cause within hours of our arrival, our girls had found friends their own ages which, when traveling with kids is a huge life-saver and provides a welcome respite for everyone.

             

          

Our first full day in the Amalfi meant hiking down from Pontera to Amalfi to search out some sea, sun, sand, seafood and lots and lots of limone.

        

The hike down took about 45 minutes but was stunningly beautiful.  But you'd better believe we fully embraced the bus option on the return trip.  Those were some seriously steep steps.




 

We spent the next day hiking around the hills surrounding Pontera and into the more touristy town of Ravello before returning to Pontera for more time with new friends, dinner and bed.

We eventually faced the reality that it was time to leave our new friends in Pontera for our trip up the coast to our next apartment in Sorrento, but we first decided to stop for lunch in Positano.

Cause, I mean, who wouldn't make a stop in Positano???

Well, as it turns out, Aliana had had enough.  She had decided she didn't ever want to leave Pontera and her new friends and was was quite sick of following her parents through Italy and she was done.

Chiara waits it out by trying on hats.

So, in one of the most beautiful and renown seaside towns in all of Italy, amid crowds of tourists, Aliana threw the biggest tantrum of the summer.  But what can you do?  When they're done, they're done. 

So we waited it out as best we could, finally made our way to some lunch and got back on the road.

Some day, Mike and I will return to Amalfi.  Senza bambine.  

Southern Italy with kids: Rome

Ok, so first bit of advice when traveling with kids: Go with Airbnb.  You can get 2 rooms for the price of one when traveling abroad which gives you some much-needed space, access to a washing machine (usually), but most importantly: you have access to a mini-kitchen which means that you can eat breakfast (as long as you hit the grocery store within hours of your arrival), when your kids wake you up at 4am cause they are jet lagging and hungry.  Otherwise, you're probably going to have to wait until the hotel serves breakfast at 7am(most of Asia) or 8am (Italy).  And those hours can be pretty painful with hungry kids. 

(The place we're currently as I write this post is a beautiful apartment right on the Anfiteatro in Lucca, a medieval walled city between Florence and the coast in Tuscany.  It's about 130USD a night and 2 bedroom, 2 bath, just remodeled and lovely.)

But this blog post is supposed to be about Rome. 

My advice:

Get ready to walk.  Leave the stroller at home.  Just start early when the kids are ready to walk (mostly run) around the colosseum and before the crowds hit hard. 

Don't try to do too much in one day.  leave a lot of time for gelato (and coffee) breaks and involve the kids in the planning.  Before getting on the plane, stop at the library at home and get some books about the history of Rome.  Keep the kids on an ongoing hunt for Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf all over the city.  They'll be more invested.  

Also, don't spend too much time in Rome.  It's a big city with tons of history and very cool, but for the kids, it mostly boils down to lots of walking, lots of people, lots of heat and dust, and there is SO much more to Italy than Rome.  There. I said it.  Let the negative comments abound.  I'm sticking by my experience. 

But still, we loved our few days in the eternal city.  We opted out of the Vatican this time around but instead spent time biking in the Vatican gardens.  We were conscious of trying to do too much.
Day 1: Colosseum and walkabout.
Day 2: Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Boca della Verita (and catching up with some Italian friends).
Day 3:  a very hot day at the Vatican gardens and Castel Sant'Angelo

Aliana couldn't take it - she was too worried about her sister's hand.

We broke up the day with some dancing in the piazzas

And spent some time cooling off in the churches.  The girls love sacred spaces.

At last, some time with our Italian friends who swept the girls away at just the right moment.

Trevi Fountain - they wanted to jump in.  It was a hot day. 

Spanish Steps. Managing a few smiles...

We definitely hit it at the wrong time of the day. All the girls wanted was to get gelato and head home.  It was hot and we were still jet-lagging.  So we climbed to the top and hopped on the Metro back to our apartment.

At Castel Saint'Angelo - Important info: there's a cafe at the top of the castle.  It has gorgeous views of the Vatican and even more importantly, sandwiches, gelato and prosecco (!) We made it to the top just in time.

Rome is truly stunning.  Especially when you're not jet-lagged or traveling with kids.  Even then, it can still be fabulous. Just don't make your whole trip to Italy about the big cities.  Especially when traveling with kids.  Make sure you get out and see some of the other amazing sites of southern Italy.  They are closer than you think and breathtakingly beautiful. 

From Rome, we took a train down to Naples to pick up our rental car for the Amalfi coast.  (don't try to train it through Amalfi with kids.  Rent a car.  I couldn't stress this enough.  You can see so much more, stop when you need for bathrooms or gelato breaks, and it's so much easier with luggage).

The train was from Rome to Naples easy and fun and allowed us the opportunity to head over to the famous L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele,  about 12 min walking from the Naples train station.  (just hold onto your kids as you cross the street - we live in Jakarta, which has arguably the worst traffic in the world but still, walking from the Naples train station to a pizzeria down the street made our hearts race a bit....)

After leaving our suitcases (for the entire summer) off at the deposito at the train station, we got to the pizzeria just after it opened and there was already a line out the door so we took the ticket we were handed and waited for a table.  Turnover was quick and the results delicious and absolutely worth the wait and the walk. 

Umm....yep.  This place lives up to the hype.  Incredible pizza napoletana at cheap prices.  

After filling our bellies we headed back to the station to pick up our rental car, took a deep breath and braved the drive out of Naples.  After 5+ years driving in Jakarta, we were pretty prepared for madness, but we were still happy to get out of town and on the highway.  The drive down to Amalfi was pretty quick.  Around an hour and 1/2.  And beautiful.  But I'll save all of that for the next post.

Years later.... no more stroller but lots more places

It's 5am in Lucca, Italy.  I am wide-awake, clearly jet-lagging as we just arrived last night into our favorite Tuscan town.  This is our third time staying in Lucca, (we actually spent a couple years looking for property here, but that's an entirely different blog)... anyway, we're here for a week this time and we have booked a fabulous airbnb right on the Anfiteatro.  Last night it was bustling, but this morning it's silent and beautiful. 

And as I was sitting by the window, enjoying my first cup of (Italian!) coffee, I started to think:

1. I should get my clothes on and go for a run.

2. Who am I kidding?  I'm not going for a run. I am going to eat cookies and drink coffee instead.

3. It's so great that the girls (who woke us up at 4am) are playing happily in their room (fully aware that this will probably last 2 or 3 more minutes- tops.)

4. What are we going to do today?

5. It's kinda great we don't have an agenda because we're all going to want to go to bed at 3pm.

6. Where were we a year ago?

and it was that last question that got me thinking about last year's Italy trip... which was incredible and exhausting and a dream and something I needed to share cause I can't remember how many times I looked up 'Amalfi Coast with kids' to find a blog or a website that would help me figure out the best things to do our girls on the Amalfi Coast.  So now, a year later, I have a serious need to blog that trip.  Maybe it could help someone traveling southern Italy with kids (yes, people do that) or maybe it's for my own kids so they don't forget some of the incredible places we dragged them brought them.  Or maybe it's just for me, cause no one in Italy wakes up before 8am so we have a few hours to kill before we can go out.

2 1/2 years later....

So, here I am, 2.5 years later.  And the well-traveled stroller is still with us.  We've had some great travels since that last trip to Bali- we've been to Malaysia (a trip about which I will never write,  due to Aliana who had at that point hit her beastly stage- 18 months and an absolute terror.)  But then things got better... we spent a long vacation in Thailand, from Phuket to Chiang Mai (over New Year's Eve, which is incredibly beautiful, with the warm glow of orange lanterns filling the sky) to Bangkok for a recruiting fair... and then last year's trip to Australia which was a dream come true...from Melbourne up the coast to Sydney and back to Melbourne, but the opportunities for those blogs have long past.  And we have moved on.  Literally.

Within the past two months we have started new jobs at a new school in a new country with a new home and now (as of three weeks ago), a new baby! 

So here I am, making a new start on this blog. 

Last June, we packed up our tiny 19th floor apartment in Korea, headed back to the states for a few weeks, and then boarded our (32 hour flight at 32 weeks pregnant) flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, to begin our new jobs at an international school in Jakarta.

Here we are just outside my new classroom, on Aliana's first day of school.

We moved into the amazing community of Bintaro- just west of South Jakarta, where the school is, and are so grateful for our new friends and neighbors. 

It's been such an amazing gift to have this new community- especially after being on the 19th floor of our apartment complex in Korea, where there were no other faculty kids...

Aliana has dealt very well with all of the changes so far- new house, new country, new school, new teacher, and now new baby.  It's been a lot, and she has her days, but she's adapting very well.  Here she is, getting onto her school bus at 6:30am. 

There are also challenges to life in Indonesia, but I will save those for my other blog.  This post is about our blessings.  And our biggest is our sweet Chiara Grace.

Just Put In On The Tab- Bali, Day 6

Our day at the pool.  I could definitely use about five more of these.  While the hotel was not our favorite, the pool was pretty great- we spent the entire day either in the water, laying out in the sun or resting in the beds built over the water.  It was pretty tough to beat.  Especially when there was a bar you could swim up to, if you felt like expending that much energy.  If that was just too strenuous, (which at certain points in the afternoon, it most certainly was), you could just have them bring you your drink.  Life is tough in Bali. 

For dinner, we headed out to Jimbaran Bay for dinner on the beach while we watched the sunset. 

We all got too hungry and impatient while we waited for our food so we took a walk down the beach to visit a man selling roasted corn on the cob.  I took the opportunity to show off my Thai dress that I bought in Phuket three years ago and have never had the opportunity (or courage) to wear.  Tonight was the night.  It was the right thing to do.  The dress was overdue for a night out.

 

 

 

 

Some guys from the restaurant gave Aliana some blue lobsters to play with.

We had a great meal.  But then.....

We should have known.  

We were still in Bali.  

The Good and NotSoGood rule still applies.

Yep, all was going very well until my mom got very sick toward the end of the meal and provided us all (driver included) with a very eventful trip in the van back to our hotel on the other side of the peninsula.  

There are (thankfully) no pictures of this.

A note to fellow travelers: there are many strategically-placed convenience stores and gas stations between Jimbaran beach and Nusa Dua that may come in handy if ever you find yourself in rough spot.

From forest to beach: Bali, Days 4 and 5

So, I have decided to pretty much skip over Day 4.  It was pretty lousy, due to the patch on my eye and an insanely tired and cranky daughter.   Mike and my mom spent most of the day at a cooking class while my dad and I entertained Aliana and attempted to go to lunch- a disastrous afternoon and one I would not like to relive through this blog.


By the time we all headed out to dinner, however, life was better- we spent some time in the market doing some shopping and ending up with some great spices.

We spent some time listening to Balinese musicians

beautiful fabrics.

Shopping in the market.

 

We packed up in preparation for our departure from Ubud the following morning, put Aliana to bed, and Mike and I spent some time in the hot tub outside of our room.  It was lovely.








The next morning we headed for our final breakfast at the mansion, said goodbye to the great staff, and Mike, my mom and I went off for a walk through the village in search of some batiks, before packing up the car and heading down to Nusa Dua.

Artu, one of our great waiters at the Mansion, who took Aliana while we ate breakfast.  Aliana adored him.

basket lady

batiks being made

We found a place were batiks were being made to be sold to Tahiti- most of the batiks at this 'factory' (not much of a factory, really, more like a four people making batiks in their backyard) had "Bora Bora" or "Moorea" written on them- they were beautiful, though, and my mom and I both bought one. 

Kids taking a break for their morning snack at a local elementary school.

 Then, we packed up the car, said a sad farewell to Ubud and headed down to the beach.  (about an hour and 1/2 drive).

We arrived in a resort town that basically looked like it could have been anywhere, and regretted having left Ubud.  At first we were not very excited about our hotel, but quickly settled into the beach/pool scene, and while my dad headed off for an afternoon of golf, we headed to the beach.

Aliana wasted no time making friends in the water.

Aliana drew a crowd of beautiful girls who sat and played with her for a long time.  We considered handing her over to them for the rest of the day, but alas, the girls had to go.

We all loved the ocean. 

We headed back to the hotel, hot and exhausted and long overdue for a nap.  We stuck close to the hotel for dinner, enjoyed a great Thai meal and went to bed.