After our terrible experience in Naples, we were SO excited to get to the Phlegraean Islands!
We bought a ferry ticket from Napoli to Ischia with a stop in Procida.
And the journey was a-mazing. This might have been my favorite part of
the entire trip (or at least tied for first).
We started our ferry ride inside because we thought it was air conditioned, but after about 5-minutes of annoying neighbors, I ventured to the top deck instead. And it was the best choice! The views were gorgeous, there was a fabulous breeze, and it wasn't crowded or stuffy.
The port of Procida wasn't quite like the pictures I pinned on Pinterest, haha, but I knew they were Photoshopped so I curbed my expectations a bit. The tiny island still had a lot of character and was beautiful with the multi-colored buldings and ships.
Our final destination for the day was the island of Ischia. It is larger than Procida and probably even more beautiful. During our trip, I tried really hard not to compare Italian islands to my favorite place in the world: the Greek islands.... because they are both wonderful, just in different ways. (When making our original plans, we ALMOST flew to Greece to return to my beloved islands, but decided to give southern Italy a chance.) Right away, I noticed that Italian islands have a lot more color - especially in the buildings, flowers, and greenery everywhere.
After arriving, our first task was finding mopeds to rent! We walked a few extra blocks past the first few rental places to a shop around the corner and ended up only paying 30 Euros for a 2-day rental, vs. 40 or 45 Euros for one day at the other shops.
Moped rides were the PERFECT way to get around the island! At times it was a bit scary... but we quickly got used to all the passing, swerving, and craziness. In fact, I think Husband's driving style fit right in! And the views were amazing: beautiful houses, bright colored flowers crawling on rooftops, the ocean... I fell in love instantly.
When it came time to find our hotel, we got the classic Italian directions. "You go up, make a left, a right, and then (waves hand in a snake-like, zig-zag pattern)... you see it." By some miracle, Husband navigated us straight to our hotel, which was up squiggly, windy, cobble-street roads that had no names and all looked the same. (We later realized that we often went down one-ways in the wrong direction, but luckily mopeds seem to have a lot more freedom.)
Our hotel was called Villa Erde. It was a little local B&B, run by a cute, old Italian couple that spoke NO English. Luckily I was able to translate "pass-a-port-eh" to passport because the boys had no idea what she was asking. And for the same price as our ghetto Naples hostel... we got an apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a balcony! Plus we had the pool all to ourselves, with amazing views of green mountains, tropical flowers, and the valley of buildings with the ocean as a backdrop. It truly was paradise.
After relaxing at the hotel, we decided to explore the island. We found a castle built on a hill-top that reminded me of Mont Saint Michel in France.
While driving, we forgot to wear our helmets, accidentally went into a pedestrian zone in the middle of town, and were "pulled over" by two female cops (who seemed way too "sexy" to actually be cops... super tight pants, low-cut shirts... reminded me of the skank-cops on Halloween, except they were really trying to do their jobs.) Luckily for us, they just told us to wear our helmets and not drive in sections where there was a "limited traffic" sign. We were so relieved (and quickly went straight back to the hotel to get our helmets!!)
While exploring, we had a super yummy afternoon snack of canolis (my FAVORITE) and then stopped by the supermarket to get food for dinner. We definitely wanted to make use of our kitchen. And it was quite the feast! Mushroom alfredo pasta, foccicia bread w/ fresh mozzarella & a giant watermelon!
We enjoyed our dinner on the balcony as we watched the sunset overlooking the island. It was a perfect night.
The next morning we rode scooters all around the island. We stopped in Sant Angelo and then hiked over to Maronti Beach, known as the best beach on island. One of the locals told me the hike was only about 10-15 minutes, which may have been accurate... but it was a giant, steep hill! Plus with our backpacks it was freaking hard!
The boys (mostly Husband) were not too happy with me. Honestly, I thought they were being a little whiny. Yes, it was hot and my calves were burning badly. But seriously... how can you complain with views like this?!
Once we finally arrived, everyone was okay again. The water felt great, we had views of lovely green mountains and cute little villages, plus we still had half our watermelon leftover to enjoy on beach.
After soaking up some sun, we decided to skip the hike, and take the water taxi back to Sant Angelo. (I definitely recommend it... totally worth the 3 Euros per person.)
We then headed back to the port and hung out while waiting for our afternoon ferry. Perfect excuse for Fragola (strawberrry) smoothie time.
I was kind of sad to leave Ischia. I could have easily spent a few more days here, if we had the time. It was such a peaceful, stress-free, and beautiful place.
But luckily for us, at least we didn't have to go home, or back to work... we had more beautiful places to see and explore! Next stop: Sorrento! Coming into the city's port by ferry was gorgeous.
The city is built on giant cliff/walls + Sorrento itself is so pretty, clean, and high-class... especially compared to Naples. Wow. It was like NIGHT.AND.DAY. It reminded me of a European Beverly Hills with high-fashion shops, palm trees lining the streets, and a warm breeze.
It was obvious that everyone
else loved Sorrento too, because ALL the hotels and hostels were
completely sold out. [So before you think we are just totally unprepared
travelers, know that we were purposely attempting the "flexible,
fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, backpacker travel-style"... compared to
my normal "Type-A, over-planning, printed itinerary binder style." Let
me just say, we will be planning ahead in the future! And Husband will
no longer be making fun of me for being a crazy planner. The lady at the Info
Desk was really nice and called
around everywhere for us, but luckily we ended up finding a place online called Hotel Linda, and it was only a 15-minute walk.
Our awesome Info Desk friend also told us about her favorite pizza place called De Francos. We took her advice and it was hands down the BEST pizza I've had in my life. We chose the suckling (just trying to find a way to accurately describe how good it was.) My mouth is watering just thinking about it. If you go to Sorrento and don't eat here, I will be highly disappointed in you!
Oh and we also found CURTIS Street! Mandatory Photo-op. (ignore the electric box and check out those flower bushes!)
The next morning we walked through the city some more, and went to the Salvador Dali Exhibit. (David's favorite artist... so he was pretty excited about it.) I'm not super familiar with Dali, but I did recognize the melting clocks and it was interesting to admire his different pieces of art.
However, I do have a confession to make... I MAY have spent more time admiring/photographing the museum's gorgeous tile floors, then I did the Dali exhibit {insert embarrassed, wide-eyed emoticon face} But aren't they beautiful?!
Island hopping from Procida, to Ischia to Sorrento was the best. We also considered jetting over to the island of Capri... but it was going to be about 40 Euros per person round trip, and after talking to some locals, they recommended we spend more time in the Amalfi region, especially since we had already been to Procida and Ischia (which are way less touristy than Capri and probably just as beautiful).
So we skipped Capri, bought a 3-day bus pass, and were off to explore the famous Amalfi Coast!
We started our ferry ride inside because we thought it was air conditioned, but after about 5-minutes of annoying neighbors, I ventured to the top deck instead. And it was the best choice! The views were gorgeous, there was a fabulous breeze, and it wasn't crowded or stuffy.
The port of Procida wasn't quite like the pictures I pinned on Pinterest, haha, but I knew they were Photoshopped so I curbed my expectations a bit. The tiny island still had a lot of character and was beautiful with the multi-colored buldings and ships.
Our final destination for the day was the island of Ischia. It is larger than Procida and probably even more beautiful. During our trip, I tried really hard not to compare Italian islands to my favorite place in the world: the Greek islands.... because they are both wonderful, just in different ways. (When making our original plans, we ALMOST flew to Greece to return to my beloved islands, but decided to give southern Italy a chance.) Right away, I noticed that Italian islands have a lot more color - especially in the buildings, flowers, and greenery everywhere.
After arriving, our first task was finding mopeds to rent! We walked a few extra blocks past the first few rental places to a shop around the corner and ended up only paying 30 Euros for a 2-day rental, vs. 40 or 45 Euros for one day at the other shops.
Moped rides were the PERFECT way to get around the island! At times it was a bit scary... but we quickly got used to all the passing, swerving, and craziness. In fact, I think Husband's driving style fit right in! And the views were amazing: beautiful houses, bright colored flowers crawling on rooftops, the ocean... I fell in love instantly.
When it came time to find our hotel, we got the classic Italian directions. "You go up, make a left, a right, and then (waves hand in a snake-like, zig-zag pattern)... you see it." By some miracle, Husband navigated us straight to our hotel, which was up squiggly, windy, cobble-street roads that had no names and all looked the same. (We later realized that we often went down one-ways in the wrong direction, but luckily mopeds seem to have a lot more freedom.)
Our hotel was called Villa Erde. It was a little local B&B, run by a cute, old Italian couple that spoke NO English. Luckily I was able to translate "pass-a-port-eh" to passport because the boys had no idea what she was asking. And for the same price as our ghetto Naples hostel... we got an apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a balcony! Plus we had the pool all to ourselves, with amazing views of green mountains, tropical flowers, and the valley of buildings with the ocean as a backdrop. It truly was paradise.
After relaxing at the hotel, we decided to explore the island. We found a castle built on a hill-top that reminded me of Mont Saint Michel in France.
While driving, we forgot to wear our helmets, accidentally went into a pedestrian zone in the middle of town, and were "pulled over" by two female cops (who seemed way too "sexy" to actually be cops... super tight pants, low-cut shirts... reminded me of the skank-cops on Halloween, except they were really trying to do their jobs.) Luckily for us, they just told us to wear our helmets and not drive in sections where there was a "limited traffic" sign. We were so relieved (and quickly went straight back to the hotel to get our helmets!!)
While exploring, we had a super yummy afternoon snack of canolis (my FAVORITE) and then stopped by the supermarket to get food for dinner. We definitely wanted to make use of our kitchen. And it was quite the feast! Mushroom alfredo pasta, foccicia bread w/ fresh mozzarella & a giant watermelon!
We enjoyed our dinner on the balcony as we watched the sunset overlooking the island. It was a perfect night.
The next morning we rode scooters all around the island. We stopped in Sant Angelo and then hiked over to Maronti Beach, known as the best beach on island. One of the locals told me the hike was only about 10-15 minutes, which may have been accurate... but it was a giant, steep hill! Plus with our backpacks it was freaking hard!
The boys (mostly Husband) were not too happy with me. Honestly, I thought they were being a little whiny. Yes, it was hot and my calves were burning badly. But seriously... how can you complain with views like this?!
Once we finally arrived, everyone was okay again. The water felt great, we had views of lovely green mountains and cute little villages, plus we still had half our watermelon leftover to enjoy on beach.
After soaking up some sun, we decided to skip the hike, and take the water taxi back to Sant Angelo. (I definitely recommend it... totally worth the 3 Euros per person.)
We then headed back to the port and hung out while waiting for our afternoon ferry. Perfect excuse for Fragola (strawberrry) smoothie time.
I was kind of sad to leave Ischia. I could have easily spent a few more days here, if we had the time. It was such a peaceful, stress-free, and beautiful place.
But luckily for us, at least we didn't have to go home, or back to work... we had more beautiful places to see and explore! Next stop: Sorrento! Coming into the city's port by ferry was gorgeous.
The city is built on giant cliff/walls + Sorrento itself is so pretty, clean, and high-class... especially compared to Naples. Wow. It was like NIGHT.AND.DAY. It reminded me of a European Beverly Hills with high-fashion shops, palm trees lining the streets, and a warm breeze.
It was obvious that everyone
else loved Sorrento too, because ALL the hotels and hostels were
completely sold out. [So before you think we are just totally unprepared
travelers, know that we were purposely attempting the "flexible,
fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, backpacker travel-style"... compared to
my normal "Type-A, over-planning, printed itinerary binder style." Let
me just say, we will be planning ahead in the future! And Husband will
no longer be making fun of me for being a crazy planner. The lady at the Info
Desk was really nice and called
around everywhere for us, but luckily we ended up finding a place online called Hotel Linda, and it was only a 15-minute walk.Our awesome Info Desk friend also told us about her favorite pizza place called De Francos. We took her advice and it was hands down the BEST pizza I've had in my life. We chose the suckling (just trying to find a way to accurately describe how good it was.) My mouth is watering just thinking about it. If you go to Sorrento and don't eat here, I will be highly disappointed in you!
Oh and we also found CURTIS Street! Mandatory Photo-op. (ignore the electric box and check out those flower bushes!)
The next morning we walked through the city some more, and went to the Salvador Dali Exhibit. (David's favorite artist... so he was pretty excited about it.) I'm not super familiar with Dali, but I did recognize the melting clocks and it was interesting to admire his different pieces of art.
However, I do have a confession to make... I MAY have spent more time admiring/photographing the museum's gorgeous tile floors, then I did the Dali exhibit {insert embarrassed, wide-eyed emoticon face} But aren't they beautiful?!
Island hopping from Procida, to Ischia to Sorrento was the best. We also considered jetting over to the island of Capri... but it was going to be about 40 Euros per person round trip, and after talking to some locals, they recommended we spend more time in the Amalfi region, especially since we had already been to Procida and Ischia (which are way less touristy than Capri and probably just as beautiful).
So we skipped Capri, bought a 3-day bus pass, and were off to explore the famous Amalfi Coast!
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