Trip to Naples & Day 1 in Amalfi - Thursday 12 September

We were up early this morning after a restless night, worrying that we might not wake up in time to be at Termini Station to catch our fast train to Naples. After breakfast together, a taxi was called and appeared within 5 minutes. It's only a 15 minute walk to the station, but slightly uphill, over rough footpaths, and trying to avoid the pedestrians heading to work would not have been a good way to start the day. A lot of those people seem to have breakfast out, and the cafe we ate at was always flat out, most people buying pastries and coffee - not very healthy! We have a theory that they might stay thin on a diet of cigarettes because everyone seems to smoke!

We loaded into the comfortable van and were soon at the station, where we waited about 40 minutes for our train. There were obviously lots of tourists travelling, and some Americans asked us how to know what platform our train would come to. We were on the same train, as it turned out. We were in a second class carriage that was largely empty and very comfortable. The train had free wifi and sped along at 299 km per hour, and we arrived in Naples in just an hour and a quarter. It was great to relax and enjoy the scenery along the way.

The weather was very murky with low cloud, and the summit of Mt Vesuvius was obscured, so we had to miss the opportunity for Jan and Steve to go up and look at the hoped for views (as we had done in 2009). There was a downpour as we left the station. We were met, as I'd organised by someone from Drive Amalfi, who took us on the hour and a half journey to Amalfi in his Mercedes van. The road was incredibly steep, windy and narrow, but it was great to see the weather starting to clear as we made our way down the other side to Amalfi.

In its heyday in the 10th and 11th centuries, Amalfi was a powerful maritime republic, rivalling Venice and Genoa. It has kept its medieval feel and is very quaint even though it's very 'touristy'.

Our hotel, Hotel Residence, is right across the road from the waterfront, and in the main hub of Amalfi, with all the shops. We have a lovely room on the second floor, that looks out across the waterfront. Most of the day there is lots of traffic and hoards of tourists, but it's already quietening down at 6 pm.

The hotel recommended a great place for lunch, right on the waterfront. It was amazing - great service, great food, and (yay!) they knew straight away about Gluten Free! David had a tuna salad, Jan had a big dish of a variety of shellfish, Steve had an interesting plate of various fish pieces, and I was able to have a tasting platter of 3 dishes (tomato and cheese, risotto, fish and potato in a fresh tomato sauce), plus dessert - all especially put together for me - it was amazing, and the sorbet I had was the best I've ever tried.

After that we went for a walk 'around the block', except it turned out to be up dozens (100s?) of steps and up the back of Amalfi. I wasn't keen on going up further and further with no end in sight, and we headed down into the piazza. That left my legs shaking like jelly, even after we'd got down. We wandered through the very crowded main street that heads up from the waterfront, marvelling at all the small shops selling a range of goods, including Limoncello, varieties of pasta, pastries, gelato, clothes, tea towels, tourist items and much more. Eventually we sat down in the piazza, overlooking the beautiful cathedral and belfry, and the guys enjoyed a couple of beers while Jan and I sipped some Limoncello.

In the evening we tried another recommended restaurant, and ate outdoors in another square where lots of people were out for the evening. Every so often there would be an enormous BANG that made everyone jump. It was a canon being fired from the jetty, out to sea - some sort of festival for Saint Maria that was being celebrated today. There was a brass band playing and a bit of a parade that we could watch from our balcony.

We enjoyed a lovely meal of entrees, which were still surprisingly large. I have never liked shellfish, but was feeling A+ Adventurous and chose a seafood risotto which turned out to be delicious. David enjoyed home made lasagne.

Back at the hotel, we noticed the canon fire was increasing in frequency, and next thing we're on our balcony looking out at a fabulous fireworks display played from the jetty - very exciting, and I managed to capture some of it on video.

Now we're looking forward to a quiet night and hoping for a fine day tomorrow.