I’ve been dreaming of the beautiful Isle of Capri for years. I read about it over and over in Adriana Trigiani’s Valentine series. The main character, Valentine, travels to Capri searching for the perfect adornments for a pair of shoes she must create to keep her family’s decades-old shoe business alive. Along the way, she stumbles upon amazing people, beautiful scenery and, yes, a little romance. What more could you ask for?

Capri is most famous for its Grotto Azzurra, or Blue Grotto. Thousands of tourists travel to the tiny island each year to experience the magical site. You take a row boat through a tiny hole to get inside the cave, where the light reflects off the water to create a beautiful glow of blue. The one downside — it’s hard to predict whether you’ll be able to get inside or not. Because the opening to the grotto is so tiny, conditions must be calm in order for the trip inside to be safe. Sadly, the waters were too rough during our visit for us to head inside. But, that just gives us a reason to return!

While we didn’t make it inside the grotto, we had a wonderful time boating around the island. I booked a private, three-hour tour through Gianni’s Boats ahead of time and it was one of my favorite experiences of our honeymoon. We took a traditional Capri-style boat around the island, with a local guide telling us all about the history and legends associated with Capri.

James was not a fan of the boat ride at first because it was a bit windy when we headed out, so the water was choppy. I thought that made it more fun! But, James was holding on for dear life. I looked back at our guide and he was steering the boat with his foot, so I wasn’t worried. Luckily, the water calmed down once we got around to the other side of the island.

It’s amazing to see how much Capri changes when you’re on a different side of the island. There hasn’t been a new building permit issued there for about 25 years. And, people who have built recently have done so on the more exclusive side of the island, where famous people have erected multi-million dollar mansions. It’s a point of contention for the locals, who say they have no options if they want to move because everything’s become so expensive.

We passed by several grottos on our boat ride, as well as the famous Faraglioni of Capri — a stunning formation of three rocks jutting out of the sea. Pictures of the scenery doesn’t do it justice.

We took a few minutes to hop out and swim during the tour and were greeted with homemade limoncello as we dried off. It was the best limoncello I had during our whole trip — mainly because it was the strongest! I’m told it was made by the owner of the company’s mother.

After our boat ride, we headed up to our hotel to check in. This was one of our biggest splurges of the trip. After reading the Valentine series, I knew we had to stay at the world-famous Grand Hotel Quisisana. It was absolutely stunning. Our room wasn’t ready right away, so they upgraded us to a room with a balcony overlooking the beautiful pool and sea. I can’t imagine waking up to those views every morning.

Once we got changed, we headed out for a late lunch. I had been dying to try Paolino, a romantic restaurant situated among lemon trees (and the restaurant Beyonce went to while visiting the island earlier this summer). But, we were so hungry we didn’t want to trek all the way back down to the marina area to eat. That gives us another reason to go back! We instead opted for a restaurant near our hotel that had a decent menu. We scarfed our food down after having anything to eat for about eight hours!

Once we had some food in us, we spent the afternoon by the pool at the hotel. Swimming while looking out at the sea was amazing. Once it started to get a little cooler, we threw some clothes on and walked over to the Augustus Gardens. For one euro, you can enjoy the terraces of flowers and wonderful views of the sea. We were also able to get a good look at a famous, terrifying road called Via Krupp. There is no way I would drive down that!

We spent the rest of our evening sipping wine on our balcony before heading to bed. We woke up the next morning and enjoyed the amazing spread at the hotel’s breakfast buffet before doing a bit more hiking around the island. We walked up to see the Arco Naturale, but it was covered in scaffolding because there are fears it will fall without some type of extra reinforcements. The walk was worth it though — we were able to get away from the heavily trafficked areas of Capri and enjoy a peaceful, scenic stroll.

I wish we had stayed in Capri longer — we had to leave by about noon in order to catch a ferry to Naples and a train to Rome. We were only on the island for about 24 hours.

There are so many places I still want to see — Emperor Tiberius’ Villa Jovis, the views from Anacapri and the famous Blue Grotto. James promised we’ll go back someday. I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later, but until then I’ll be dreaming of the beautiful island that captured the hearts of emperors and movie stars — I certainly left a piece of my heart behind.

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Of all the towns along the Amalfi Coast, Positano was the one I was most excited to visit. The colorful town sits among the hills and offers breathtaking views of the coast. The scenery is absolutely stunning.

Because of wildfires, the road to Positano was closed while we were in Italy. That meant we had to take a boat instead of a bus and I’m so glad we did. We stood toward the back of the boat on the top floor, so we were able to take in amazing views of the coast and Capri as we made our way to Positano. The boat left for Positano at 10:30 a.m. and headed back to Sorrento around 5 p.m., making it an easy day trip.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever experienced. While Positano is a popular shopping destination (it has a family-owned ceramics factory and is also famous for its handmade linens), we spent most of our time soaking up the views. We made our way up the winding roads to the top of the hills and stood there for quite some time mesmerized by what we saw.

I loved the beautiful, tiled dome of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, so we decided to make our way inside and check it out. The church dates back to the 10th century when it was a monastery. It was abandoned for some time before receiving a makeover in the 18th century. According to Rick Steves, The parish is well-known for its Black Madonna painting:

“The Black Madonna icon-like painting above the altar was likely brought here by Benedictine monks in 12th century. But locals prefer their romantic legend: Turkish (or Saracen) pirates had it on their ship as plunder. A violent storm hit; it was sure to sink the evil ship. Then the painting of Mary spoke, saying “Posa, posa” (“Lay me down”), and the ship glided safely into this harbor. The pirates were so stricken they became Christians. Locals kept the painting and the town became known as “Posa-tano” (after Mary’s command).”

After walking up and down the hilly roads, we worked up quite the appetite. We had a wonderful meal at Buca di Bacco, which sits right along the beach and boasts beautiful views.

I had delicious pasta with pesto that I was happy to discover tasted very much like the pesto my mother makes. The basil used was extremely fresh and the pesto wasn’t overly oily like you’ll sometimes find in the states. James ordered the fried ravioli appetizer as his entree and loved the dish. Of course, we had a bottle of the white vino de la casa with our meal.

After lunch, we spent time walking along the beach and dipping our toes in the water. In hindsight, I wish we would have brought our swimsuits along. There is a small section of public beach for sunning and swimming. You can also rent a chair and umbrella along a small, private section of the shore.

We loved romantic Positano and would have liked to spend more time there, but going for the day seemed to be the perfect amount of time for our trip. You can check out James’ amazing photos (which put my iPhone pictures to shame) of Sorrento, Pompeii and Positano over on his blog. I can’t wait to get some of his pictures printed!

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Staying in Sorrento for the first half of our honeymoon made it easy to take day trips to nearby cities. One of the places James and I were dying to explore was Pompeii. It was only about a 30-minute train ride away from Sorrento and a short walk from the Pompeii train station to the ruins.

Pompeii has some of the most well-preserved ancient ruins in all of Italy. That’s because they were hidden away, covered in volcanic debris for centuries. The people living at the base of Mt. Vesuvius had no idea they were living near an active volcano. On August 24, 79 A.D., Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Many of the 20,000 residents quickly fled, but the 2,000 who stayed behind were killed.

The site was forgotten for centuries until it was rediscovered in the 1700s. The volcanic debris covering the site helped preserve the buildings. The bodies of victims had decomposed over the years, but left hollow spaces in the debris that archaeologists were able to fill with plaster and create lifelike casts. The looks frozen on their faces are heartbreaking.

Pompeii was a bit overwhelming at first — the site covers more than 100 acres. We decided against going on a guided tour because we wanted the freedom to take our time to roam. Instead, we downloaded the free Rick Steves Audio Walking Tour. The information in the tour is great, but the directions are a bit hard to follow — especially because there are often roads/sites closed for excavation. Make sure to download the map or grab one when you get to the site.

We spent at least four hours walking around Pompeii to hit all of the highlights and it was amazing. We went right when they opened, when the site was least crowded. There were still several large, guided tour groups, but we were able to avoid having to wait in long lines to get inside any of the ruins. If you visit Pompeii, you should definitely bring a water bottle along — there are fountains throughout the site with cold, clean water.

I was blown away by everything we saw. It was amazing to think we were walking on the same roads as the people who lived here in 79 A.D. You could see grooves in the cobblestone from chariots constantly passing over the roads. You get to walk through ancient homes, bakeries, theaters — even a brothel!

We only saw about one-third of the Pompeii and were absolutely exhausted by the end. We had grand plans of taking a bus up to Mt. Vesuvius and hiking to the top after visiting Pompeii, but we quickly decided we were far too tired and headed back to Sorrento instead.

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Hello again, friends! It feels great to be back home, but I’m running solely on caffeine today. We got home around 1 a.m. after a marathon day of travel from Rome to Indiana. The cats must have really missed us because they woke us up at 6:30 a.m. Welcome home?

While it’s nice to get back into our normal routine, my heart is already aching to go back to Italy. The country and its people absolutely stole my heart. Our honeymoon was more amazing than I ever imagined and I’m sad it went by so quickly.

Getting There

Our first day in Italy was a long one. We flew from Indianapolis, to New York City, to Rome. We arrived in Rome at 8:30 a.m. and immediately hopped on a train from the airport to Tremini Station (Rome’s central train station). Then, we took a high-speed train to Naples and hopped on a local train to Sorrento. I was proud of how easily and quickly we were able to navigate from one place to another!

I did have an interesting experience on the train to Sorrento. We were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with locals and other tourists for most of the ride. While we didn’t have any problems with theft, an Italian man kept trying to grab my butt during the train ride. James and I quickly switched spots and had no problems after that, but it definitely put me on edge for the rest of the ride. It was an important reminder to stay alert and be aware of our surroundings.

Sleeping in Sorrento

Because we were spending five nights in Sorrento, we decided to rent an apartment through Airbnb. It was the perfect size for the two of us and located in an alley just one block away from Sorrento’s main drag, Corso Italia. That made it easy for us to walk everywhere — the beach, the train station, the harbor. Our host, Martina, even left a bottle of wine for us to enjoy. If you’re planning on traveling to Sorrento and are looking for a space that sleeps two, I would highly recommend booking this space!

Local Sights

We chose to travel to the Amalfi Coast for part of our Italian honeymoon because it seemed like the perfect place to go for a good balance of relaxation and sightseeing. Sorrento served as a great home base to take day trips to nearby Positano and Pompeii. And there was plenty to keep us entertained on the couple of days we decided to hang around town.

I loved Sorrento, which boasts stunning views, colorful buildings and all things lemon. There was no shortage of amazing shops throughout the city. The Amalfi Coast is known for its lemons, linens and ceramics. Many shops featured beautiful, handmade goods at great prices. We had fun popping in some of the shops to buy some mementos of our trip and gifts for family. Among my favorite purchases is a beautiful, hand-painted tile of the scenic Sorrento coast.

Our favorite activity while in Sorrento was swimming in the Gulf of Naples. It was in the mid-to-high 80s for our entire trip, so the cool water felt amazing. Swimming with Mt. Vesuvius in the background was absolutely magical. But, you’ll likely have to pay if you want to take a dip. The only public beach is an extremely small portion of the shoreline and is usually busy with locals. Sorrento’s shoreline is rocky, so the best spots to post up for several hours are on one of the docks lined with chairs and umbrellas. You’ll pay about 10 euros per person, but we decided it was worth the money. It’s wise to choose one of the docks that doesn’t have a restaurant connected — they’ll allow you to bring a picnic.

The Food

Everything we ate in Italy was amazing. What stood out to me was how simple many of the dishes were. They were all made with just a handful of ingredients that were extremely fresh, which let the flavors shine. One of our favorite meals of the entire trip was our first meal in Sorrento at Inn Bufalito. The restaurant specializes in buffalo mozzarella and buffalo meat and it didn’t disappoint. We ordered a massive meal after not eating all day during our trip down to Sorrento. The mozzarella tasting plate with focaccia was our favorite dish. James ordered a buffalo steak, which was great. I got the gnocchi with tomato sauce and devoured the entire plate. We liked this place so much we went back a second time!

We drank a whole lot of wine during the entire duration of our trip because it was so cheap and so dang good. We ordered the vino del casa at almost every restaurant and were never disappointed. We went out for drinks after dinner most nights too because the city doesn’t truly come alive until after 8 p.m. Corso Italia is open only to pedestrians in the evening and was always swarming with people. We would sit down at a table lining the street and people watch for a couple of hours while sipping a local favorite: limoncello. I’ve had limoncello before, but it’s much sweeter in the U.S. I fell in love with the Italian version, which has quite the kick to it!

We also made it our personal mission to sample as many gelato flavors as possible during the entire trip. We picked places at random, but looked for shops that had more subtly-colored gelato — bright colors (other than fruit flavors) are a sign the gelato was likely made from a mix.

Other great restaurants if you find yourself in Sorrento: Restaurant Da Gigino for napoleon-style pizza, Trattoria Chantecler’s for a 9 euro, two-course lunch (order the gorgonzola gnocchi and pollo al forno) and Restaurant Bagni Delfino for seafood with a view of Marina Grande.

Now I’m off to relax and try to adjust to life back in the states … while sipping some Sorrento limoncello. Salute!

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