Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 November 2016

Travel Adventures- Amalfi Coast, Italy

As usual, sorry I haven't posted much recently! I want to try and finish off these travel posts from my summer holiday so that I can more onto other content, and especially some more Christmassy bits and pieces. 

So our next stop on the cruise was Napels, and we decided to rather drive all along down the Amalfi coast, which was absolutely stunning and one of my favourite places on this trip! Driving along the coast through narrow windy roads that are super high-up on the mountains, just a barrier away from the deep cliff down to the sea is just so beautiful and picturesque. The sea was so beautifully blue and endless, and you can see for miles ahead all the upcoming little fishing villages and towns. If you're looking for stunning views, this is definitely the place to be. 

The first place we stopped at was this really sweet little Italian town called Positano. The whole town is situated on a steep mountain side (as most of the towns in this area are), and so to get down to the beach, you walk down the one main road that winds and weaves its way all the way down to the pebbled beach. The bottom half of this road is mainly for pedestrians only, so you park right up near the top and walk down. All along the sides of the road there are cute little shops, restaurants and gelato stops and other touristy places. It was so lovely to just take our time walking down and explore some of these places. The region is also known for their lemons, so make sure to try so delicious lemon granita or limoncello! As for the beach itself, the shore is made of black pebbles, which despite being super pretty, isn't ideal in terms of comfort, and does get really hot on a hot day, but the water was absolutely beautiful! Its so cool to swim in the sea right there and look up the mountainside that this whole town is built on, looming above you. We didn't have too long in Positano, but I absolutey loved it, and it seemed like a really relaxing place to spend a while, and there looked like there were some lovely places to stay. 

We continued to drive further along the coast to our next stop, Sorento. Sorento is actually quite different from Positano but the coast is equally as wonderful! I really enjoyed wandering through the town here, and we also had some of the most delicious pizza, as only Italy can do! There is also one really long street (I seem to have forgotten the name of it) that is known to be packed with loads of shops and retail stores, some touristy, some a bit more authentic. The road is colourful and loud and really lovely to have a wander down. It's packed with shops of all types- clothing, leather, touristy trinkets, lemon products of all kinds and lots more, so thats also a lovely thing to do while there. 

Another thing that's quite cool to do if you're anywhere near Napels of the Amalfi Coast is to visit Pompeii, as it isn't too far away and is just so interesting. Pompeii's ancient ruins of a city that once was, is just so fascinating and really not like anything I'd experienced before. I think the best way to see and understand the place and its history is actually to get a tour guide or pamphlet of sorts, as without it we were a bit lost as to what to do first, and what meant what, but despite this, it was really so fascinating and a cool, interesting thing to do. 

The Amalfi coast just had this wonderful charm to it and really captured my heart. Italy is filled with vibrance and vitality, and I just really loved experiencing this part of it and these sweet little towns. 








Pompeii

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Travel Adventures: Split, Croatia

So after Greece, we moved off to Croatia, which I have absolutely and completely fallen in love with! While there, we did a student 'party-boat' type thing, called Sail Croatia, which was an absolute blast and such an amazing week. It was so fun to see so many amazing cities all the while living on a little boat and meeting lots of new people. I highly recommend  Sail Croatia to anyone even vaguely keen, it is just so much fun and Croatia is stunning- I did the Split to Debrovnik navigator cruise. We were in Croatia for a total of 8 nights, and saw quite a few different cities, the first of which was Split. 

Split is one of the biggest cities on this coast and is very touristy and commercial, but really stunning. It has a massive, beautiful promenade along the whole length for a couple of kilometres and has pretty little benches and flower beds and trees all around. The promenade also is lined with loads of restaurants serving delicious seafood and cocktails to sip on by the water's front. Another must-see in Split is the Diocletian's Palace. Split is composed of the old town, which revolves around the ruins of this palace, and then the surrounding newer town, which is quite built up and residential. Old town is build almost entirely of white stone and is filled with local markets, authentic shops and delicious gelato stands on every corner. The actual palace ruins are definitely worth seeing, and you go underground into what was the basement level and can wander around and read up on the history. My favourite part of split was just wandering around through all the narrow alleyways in the old town, going up to the ball tower and learning all about the history. 













Split was really so so lovely and I would love to go back someday!