Italy 2011 - Two if by Sea, the Amalfi Coast by Boat

Vatican

Roma

Forum & Colosseum

Sorrento

Pompeii & Herculaneum

Capri

Amalfi

Well, here we are...at the end of our Italian adventure.  I've had so much fun reliving the trip through the blog posts that I don't want the recaps to end.  Sad day.

Fortunately, our last day in Amalfi was definitely not a sad day.  It was actually one of the best of our entire trip.  We decided that we wanted to spend the day going up and down the coast, checking out the other little towns and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We could do that by land (i.e. crowded bus or expensive taxi) or by sea (i.e water taxi or private boat).  If you know my husband at all, you know that there's nothing he likes more in this world than being on the water (whether it's boating, fishing, swimming, snorkeling or just putting his feet in the water).  So, it was a pretty easy choice for us.  The day before, we went down to the shore and priced getting our own boat for the day.  We first considered renting a boat in Capri, but it was SO expensive.  However, in Amalfi, it was about a quarter of the cost and we'd get the boat for the entire day.  Done deal.

Our little boat was pretty sweet.  It costs us about 100 euro for the boat rental for the entire day.  It came with a full tank of gas and we could take the boat wherever we wanted, as long as we were back that evening by 6:00 p.m.  So, Captain Ryan and I set out to sea.  I was thrilled to be able to take so many pictures of the coast from the boat.  It was such a great way to see the coastline and the incredible homes and hotels along the bluffs.

The Italians have done an amazing job just carving their towns directly into the cliffs.  

Yes, it's steep, but it's also spectacular!

Yep, that's the road we took a few days before to get to Amalfi.

Below is the town of Positano...from way far away.

Getting closer...

And closer...

And closer...

And finally we were there.

We docked the boat in Positano (for 3 euro) and made our way to shore.  We spent a few hours walking around town, shopping, eating and drinking.

Positano is a very pretty town.  It has a much "richer" feel than Amalfi, with tons of expensive boutiques and shops.  The restaurants were pricier and the hotels were elaborate.  There are also no roads in town, making it a little more secluded, but very clean and pretty.  Definitely a gorgeous resort town worth checking out.

Me on the beach.

The streets were lined with colorful shops selling linens and jewelry.  I loved that many of the sidewalks were covered with ivy canopies that made them cool and shaded.

We had lunch at a little restaurant right on the shore so we could people-watch.  

Plus, we could keep an eye on our boat while we were dining, which is always nice.  

That's her in the middle with the blue canopy.  

And then it was time to head back out to sea.  

We headed West (back towards Sorrento) and checked out a bunch of islands off the coast.  Then we headed back towards Amalfi and beyond it, nearly to Salerno.  

The views were just unreal.

And the houses were ridiculous. 

Below is the famous "Sophia Loren" home.  Le sigh.  

Wouldn't you jut die to live there?

There's even a staircase carved into the rock from the house all the way down to the sea.

The houses below, that jut out over the water were amazing.

And I don't know if this is a hotel or what, but I want to live here forever.

It was so wonderful to be on our own as we explored the coast.  

We weren't rushed and didn't have to deal with anyone else. 

We got to set our own pace.

We stopped occasionally to check out the water temperature.

We picked a spot to anchor while we laid out and read our books for a while in the sunshine.

We stopped to check out the wildlife...

And explore the caves...

(Can you see even Ryan in that picture above?  That's how giant these cliffs were.)

And the sun was setting as we finally made our way back to Amalfi.

(Atrani below)

We were completely spent and completely happy.

It was the perfect way to spend our last day in Italy.

I cannot recommend doing this enough.  

Get your own boat!  You will not regret it.

Hope you all enjoyed the recaps.  I loved reliving the trip with you!  Since I know a few people that are planning trips to Italy in the next few months and have asked for advice, I'd like to do a post on some of the things we learned and any tips I can give.  If you have ANY questions about the trip or Italy in general, please let me know and I'll add them to the post.  

Ciao for now!