Gumbo’s Pic of the Day, September 13, 2015: South of Naples

This summer, I spent 17 sunny days in beautiful Italy. My boyfriend and I travelled from Turin to the Amalfi Coast, stopping in Bologna, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Siena, the Tuscan countryside and Rome. Once in the South, we could finally relax a little after our very busy itinerary. The bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast are stunning locations. The famous ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum are only a short train ride away, however, we decided to skip the ruins. I visited Pompeii 9 years ago, and even though I would have loved to have seen them again, we were in need of some relaxation and cooling down. The weather had been extremely hot throughout our trip, and we couldn’t face hours in the blazing sun with almost no shade.

We spent 4 days enjoying several activities such as two boat trips; one to the island of Capri and the second along the Amalfi coast and the picturesque villages. Apart from enjoying the sun and the scenery around us on the boat, we were also able to swim and snorkel as well as visit the small towns along the way. On Capri, we managed to hire a scooter for 2 hours and explore the island, away from the tourists. I highly recommend this, as it’s hard to fully enjoy Capri in a few hours when you don’t have your own transport.

Apart from these activities, what I enjoyed the most was relaxing at our hotel with a glass of wine. We were located between Naples and Sorrento, and our hotel had gorgeous views of the bay and the Vesuvius, the volcano that caused the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The sunsets were breathtaking, and are one of the reasons you should book a trip to the Naples region.