Monday, 10 November 2025
Naples / Amalfi Coast, Italy

I don't really have a bucket list, but if I did have one, today's adventure would reduce the list by one. I have been to Naples many times, by both land and sea travel, but I have never visited the Amalfi coast. During the many summers I flew to Europe during the 1980's and 1990's, I traveled all over the continent by train. But the Italian railway goes only as far as Sorrento, and that city is just the beginning of the famous peninsula and its spectacular coastal drive. So today we are on an eight-hour shore excursion that will allow us to experience the Amalfi coast by land and sea. 

Before each shore excursion passengers must check in with the destinations staff in the Seabourn Salon (aka, the theatre). Over the first two weeks of the cruise the two lovely crew members in charge have made sure that Will and I get special reserved handicap seats in the front of the bus and that Will gets extra time when leaving the ship or getting on tenders. We didn't request special service, but as they came to know us they could tell that Will needed the help. We continue to be very grateful to them every time we get off the ship.

Naples has a very large maritime terminal right in the heart of the city, and the tour bus is waiting close by to whisk us southward on the expressway, to the more scenic road that leads to Sorrento, a city we have never visited.

Leaving Naples' Maritime Terminal

It takes about 90 minutes to reach Sorrento, and then a short walk to the city center, where there are many bars and cafes, as well as traffic-free shopping streets. Will sits in a cafe while I explore some of these side streets. This is Italy and the shopping is very fashionable and very expensive.

Around 11:30 the tour group takes a short walk to a restaurant that overlooks the sea for an included lunch with wine. The cannelloni pasta is excellent and the chicken breast with local cheese is good, but not quite excellent. The lemon cake for dessert is a refreshing end to the meal.

Excellent Cannelloni 

View from Restaurant Terrace

We return to the bus for the spectacular ride from the northern to the southern coast, from Sorrento to Amalfi itself, passing world-famous resorts, such as Portofino. Our bus driver is excellent; he needs all his experience and steely nerves to take us along the narrow and twisting road.

We reach the town of Amalfi in mid-afternoon, just in time for coffee and pastry in the central square. We sit next to a tourist couple from Boston who recommend the superb lemon cake.

Amalfi's Central Square and Cathedral

Amalfi by the Sea
    
                                           
                                   Amalfi and the Road East

From Amalfi we take a 45-minute boat ride along the southern coast to Salerno, where we meet our bus for the return to Naples, after a long and scenic day.