When booking our accommodation in Salerno, we ended up finding a fantastic looking B&B on Booking.com and couldn’t wait to stay in a place where breakfast was included for a change. We communicated so well with our host beforehand and he even got his sister to come and collect us from the train station, so we wouldn’t have to pay a heavy taxi fee.
Up until this point in our trip, I had tried to hard to get us accommodation within walking distance to the train station, because I knew that we would have to walk there with our heavy, slightly damaged suitcases. I actually thought I had done that everywhere, but when we realised it would take over an hour to get to our accommodation in Salerno, the choice was easy.
We soon realised that neither the host or his sister could really speak any English and we could barely speak any Italian, so it definitely made for interesting communications. It turned out that our host was proficient in using Google Translate though. It was a family run business and his sister quickly settled us in for the night. Luckily no one else was staying in the B&B, so we didn’t have to share a bathroom with anyone, but the room was huge with an awesome balcony overlooking the whole city.
It was also the first time all trip that we weren’t anywhere close to a grocery store. We asked the hosts sister for advice and she quickly told us about the pizza place just up the road that would be able to help us. I sent Luch off in search of the elusive pizza and only hoped he would be able to point at what we wanted, since every time he tried to use a few Italian words, the pressure would build up inside him and he would turn a lovely shade of fuchsia.
We eventually got our amazing and huge pizza. I think it was half a metre long and settled in with Netflix and a view over the lights of Salerno. The next day brought with it problems of its own. We had no transport to the ferry station and the whole point of staying over in Salerno was so that we could take a ferry to Positano and Amalfi.
We needn’t have worried though, because our host very kindly offered up his sister as our driver once again and was even kind enough to take us all the way to the ferry counter and organise our tickets for us. We felt truly special and as if we had paid for our own personal guide to show us around which was incredible.
The rest of the day was a blur of colours. I have never seen such beautiful towns right on the coast before. Positano was filled with houses perched on every cliff surrounding us and church bells that would ring out every quarter of an hour. We also found these amazing flower lined streets filled with shops selling everything from lemon liqueur to flowy skirts and tops in bright colours. I won’t even think about all the jewellery shops I had to walk past with speed to stop myself from going into every single one. It felt like a romantic Italian holiday that I’d seen on a movie somewhere.
We even walked down over 300 stairs to get to the Fornillo Beach, which despite the mission to get there was so worth it. We swam and sat on the beach to dry off before we started our long journey back up the stairs and back to our ferry once more.
Once we had hopped in line and on our ferry again, we headed to Amalfi town for a few more hours before we returned to Salerno. We found a beautiful church called the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, a flea market and a few fountains a long the way. We also spent some time on the main beach before heading off in search of gelato.
Our favourite thing to do on our two month trip was to look through Google or Tripadvisor reviews before deciding on a Grocery Store, Gelato store etc and Amalfi was no different. We found the three best gelato places within a block radius and then picked our favourite purely by look alone. Luckily, the reviews weren’t wrong!
Although Amalfi was also lovely, it didn’t quite have the same vibe as Positano. The shops seemed more expensive and everything just seemed to be happening in the centre of town with the majority of people crowding around there, whereas Positano just seemed to have more space and people were more scattered around and not so suffocating.
We were actually happy to leave after 3 hours and head back to Salerno. We were going to be early and our ride would only arrive later, so we took a walk up the Lungomare Trieste and found a grocery store where we could buy some food to cook in the B&B’s kitchen later.
I have no idea what they really were, but I can only describe them as being between a snitzel and a cheese pie. They were amazing. It cooked fast from frozen, was filled with cheezy goodness and felt comforting. What more could one want from a meal? One of the things that made me sad about coming home to South Africa after our trip, was know that I’d never find those delicious things again. Maybe I could re-create them myself? It would help if I actually knew the ingredients though! 🙂
So, after thinking that Salerno and the Amalfi Coast would be a total letdown, because we had no transport and way to get around, it actually ended up being one of the best places we stayed on the trip. The B&B Irnum was incredible and the host family truly made our stay. Of course I wrote them an awesome online review afterwards, but can anyone really explain how someone can make you feel at home when you are lost and out of place in a strange city? Probably not. I will never forget them or how kind they were to us.
I will also never forget the fresh croissants (straight out of the oven and still warm) that the host bought for us every day. Especially the ones that had melted white chocolate in the centre! 🙂
