Day 3 in the books! We slept with the patio doors wide open last night - the breeze was amazing - no air conditioning needed - but it did make the bells from the Church of San Salvatore de Birecto that much louder. They really and truly do ring the hour and quarter hour every 15 minutes. All day AND all night. Trying a different tactic tonight - curtains open, but doors shut. Rest is key!
Bells didn’t seem to bother Bender though. He was up and walking/exploring early - adding some fun pics from around Atrani to the blog…
Pinch me. Seriously. Also, I’m pretty sure you can see our apartment in the pic below behind the clock tower.
Our apartment has an espresso maker and we have been putting it to great use. Chris enjoyed one on our balcony as I was getting ready this morning. We headed down to Piazza Umberto I to find some Italian pastries - I can’t believe we’ve been in Italy this long and haven’t gotten pastries!! Not to fear, Caffe Vittoria to the rescue. We got our cappuccinos before 11 too! Don’t want to go against local coffee customs!
This was our view of Piazza Umberto from Caffe Vittoria. Such a cute little square. Our alleyway that winds up to our apartment is in the middle of the white building on the left.
This was where Chris stopped to get sunscreen, a toothbrush and some clothespins this morning. He said communicating that he needed the clothespins was comical - I think they settled on calling them pinchers 🤣
After our pastries we headed back upstairs to hang out the clothes we washed. We have a washer, and you’re looking at our dryer.
We were heading to the local beach for the day. We rented chairs and umbrellas and settled in. Zack tried a new pizza with lemon zest on it. He and Chris said it was yummy!!
Views from our chairs…
Eventually we needed beverages. This little beach bar was perfect!
As was this prosecco with strawberry juice!
While we were enjoying the beach, the mega yacht Sophia showed up. Once owned by Tommy Hillfiger and then Aston Martin boss/F1 family Lawrence Stroll - and now rentable for only 1.8 million a week. 34 crew. It was enormous.
Pretty sure they were discussing if they could swim out to it and finagle an invitation aboard. I’ve pretty much watched every episode of Below Deck, and am pretty convinced I could be the Bosun and the Chief Stew. It can’t be that much bigger than those boats, right?
After our day at the beach we stopped at our favorite market in the piazza for water, coke, cherries and Zoe’s dorito-like chips. Happiness is…
Then it was time to get showered and dressed for our evening in Amalfi Town. We had 8:30 reservations for dinner, but wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to explore and shop beforehand. We took a quick 10ish minute walk back through the tunnels and found ourselves in Amalfi Town. The central piazza was packed when we got there. It is a completely different vibe from Atrani.
St Andrew’s Cathedral dominates the Piazza. It is gorgeous.
We learned all about the lucky donkey of Amalfi, and I grabbed a magnet!
This whole main road was full of shops and restaurants. Lots of beautiful handmade pottery and just about every use for a lemon you can think of!
Family pic in front of St Andrews!
Zoe got a snack from a vendor that was called “cup of mozzarella” - added some Parma ham for good measure!
This fountain cracked me up. Feel free to fill your water bottle!
We shopped and snacked and strolled. Zack got shoes as a graduation present. Chris found a belt and a tee. Zoe bought a tee and postcards. Zack was nice enough to model a peaky hat. Pretty sure it’ll catch on in the lacrosse world.
I knew I wanted pottery - and we found the cutest, most perfect little ingredients bowls in this store. All handmade - all made in the studio in the back.
Then it was time for dinner at Ristorante L’Abside. This one came highly recommended and lived up to the hype! Plus the tables were in an adorable square down some side alleys. It was perfect.
Family pre-dinner pic!
We ordered a Montepulciano…
Some gluten free spaghetti in a delish tomato sauce…
The most amazing cheese stuffed Gnocchi…
The white fish (caught in the Bay steps away) special…
And the lobster pasta.
We all cleaned our plates, but this one was particularly impressive. Can you guess who ordered the lobster pasta?
Limoncello to end dinner. This meal was our favorite so far! So good!
Then we went to check out the Masaniello Art Cafe. Craziest cocktails! We tried a few including the Polaroid - which came with a Polaroid of us. So fun
This one was called the Matrix - pick the red or the blue pill. The wildest part was all the music the DJ was playing was American.
Another super fun day! We don’t currently have anything planned for tomorrow other than dinner in Atrani. We do need to make a trip back to Amalfi to pick up some items, but it’s a quick hop, skip, jump. Excited to see what we get into - and if a boat is involved 😉.
Sending everyone reading this a hug! Love traveling with y’all!
XOXO, the Benderz
