Amalfi

Italy's Amalfi coast is a beautiful area... homes and buildings built into the sides of a steep incline, stair stepped up from the sea.  We drove along the coastal road south from Sorrento and snapped a few photos along the way before making a pit stop in Amalfi.

Here we made our way to one of the rocky beaches and the kids quickly began looking for sea glass, seashells and other treasures.  While they did that, Ted and I enjoyed a couple of tourist-priced cappucinos.

But they were good.

I might have hunted for a treasure or two, and in the process found this pretty little gem.  If you squint your eyes just right it almost looks like a heart.

I was working on getting a quick group shot of Ted with the kids when I promptly lost my balance and ended up falling into the rocks.  It was a pretty funny scene for Ted and my children as I attempted to stay upright for a second or two before finally giving in to the fall.

After a bit we headed up the main road into the town where we saw lots of tourist stands eager to sell us trinkets, pottery, lemons and gelato.

It also led us to a beautiful 12th century church, the Amalfi Cathedral, which we toured for a small fee.

Like most cathedrals we've visited it was stunning; filled with incredible artwork and elaborate altars.  It contains relics from St. Andrew (as in Peter's brother), and had a few treasures in a museum area that were of minor interest--including these gold statues; do you see that one of them is holding his own head?  We have no idea what this was since all of the signs were in Italian and we could not read them.

We only spent a short time here in an effort to see more of the must-see places in the area, but the few hours we did spend were fantastic-sea glass, wonderful views--both into the town and out on the sea, and a town abuzz with people enjoying it all.