(Oct 2019) Our penultimate night in Italy turned out to be one of the best with a Pizza Making class in San Lazarro, a little town on the top of a hill with amazing views and the best pizza we’ve ever eaten. We booked the class through AirBnB and it was a challenge, yet again, to work out the public transport and more than once in the planning stages we questioned whether to go ahead. We pushed through though and so glad we did. The hosts were brilliant, the pizza was great, the views magnificent and the limoncello was divine. And they even drove us back to the bus stop to make sure we didn’t miss the last bus back down the hill.

We had hoped to get to either the Isle of Capri, which looked too touristy for my taste, or my preferred option of Ischia. Turned out we couldn’t get to either of them from Amalfi at that time of year as the ferries weren’t running direct. So we made a very wise choice and took a ferry in the other direction and found ourselves in the quaint, quiet little beachside town of Minori. Lonely Planet describes it as the scruffier cousin to Amalfi and Positano and if I had my time over I’d choose this as my base. Much more my style. It’s the Caloundra to the Sunshine Coasts Noosa. Much more relaxed, much less crowded, and much less touristy. Just as beautiful but seemed more genuine.

The next day we were lucky enough to score a lift with our Air BnB host to Naples, thereby avoiding the dreaded buses back over the hills and around the winding roads and mysteriously missing bus stops. The last day was not without stress as I caught the fast train back to Rome to try to get my dead phone resuscitated and the boys headed off to explore Hercule and Mount Vesuvius. Missed trains, accomodations dramas, no wifi and and hour each way on a bus to an Apple store, language mixups, and the usual travel traumas. I was extremely grateful to the Apple store for reviving my phone at no charge (data intact) and thereby saving me the expense of having to buy a new one. We had to be at the airport at sunrise so made a hasty decision to forfeit our last nights accomodation which we thought was close to the airport, for a last minute booking near the train station in Rome. Wise choice and an easy transition the next morning. The boys back to Australia and me a couple hours later to London.

Farewell Italy. It’s been a memorable trip.