Summer Travel Amalfi Coast

July of 2012 found myself and my wife Marie off to Italy for the first time. We joined a G+ adventures group for a week of trekking on the Amalfi Coast. For me, never have visited Europe before, the experience was mind blowing to say the least.

Naples: Our landing place for Italy was the city of Naples. The vibrancy of the streets, the architecture and the history was incredible. Naples was a place one could get lost in photographically but was also a place that seemed in a severe state of decay.

Pizza: Naples is the spot for the unique delicious taste of Neapolitan Pizza. With a stay of just a day and a half we managed to sample pizza from four different spots. We stumbled on this little out of the way pizzeria during the mid afternoon heat and it turned out to be my favourite.

Th first stop of our travels with G+ was the ancient city of Pompei. It was such an interesting place but 40+deg temperatures made it a little uncomfortable. Thankfully our guide was able to give us the highlights without baking us in the sun.

When your residence for the week has a relaxing area like this on a hillside (maybe more mountainside) overlooking the Amalfi Coastline you know you have made the right choice. This Agritourismo, St. Alfonso was excellent. Hats off to G+ for this choice.
Visit http://www.agriturismosantalfonso.it for more.

Our hosts at St Alfonso were incredible. Did I mention they had a Michelin rated kitchen as well.  In the late afternoon after we returned from a day of hiking they shared some of the recipes for the delicious food we enjoyed every evening. Our guide Danilo translates the recipes from Michela one of the proprietors and chefs at St. Alfonso. I must say that our week here was made even more enjoyable by our outstanding guide Danilo.

This is the view greeting you as traverse the hundred some odd stone steps the old Monastery which is St Alfonso.










View from the Terrace, best enjoyed with fantastic house wine and the great new friends we met and travelled with.

                                                   

The hiking on the Amalfi coast was spectacular, and even though some level of fitness is a must especially in summer temperatures, the views from hikes such as the Walk of the Gods shown and the Tre Calle is stunning to say the least. I could include a hundred pictures to show the great coastal towns such as Positano and Amalfi. Not to mention the unique hillside town of Ravello which warrants a post of its own. After an amazing week of superb weather, gourmet food and breath taking scenery of the Amalfi Coast, we boarded the train for a destination that was equally interesting and fun, the medieval city of Perugia in the Umbria region.


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Faithful

My first Blog post starts close to home with a picture of my Bernese Mountain Dog, Jasper. This is one of his calm moments and to capture this mood I used a single Sony flash with a Honl Grid to really focus the light and create shadows to enhance the mood. I shoot Sony's and shot down low at dog level with a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 Lens.

This is my first foray into the world of blogging (I am always a late starter), so I hope you enjoy my images and stories.

FYI, Jasper is about two and half years old now and a healthy 105 pounds. He suffered from joint problems at an early age but surgery to both elbows has kept him happy and very active albeit stiff and arthritic at times. I do attribute some of his joint health to a supplement we use called Sasha's Blend. Not one to believe in snake oils it really does have a noticeable effect on his mobility and I whole heartedly recommend it.