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.