Amalfi Coast Day 4 - Amalfi

Amalfi is great as a base because it doesn't have as many stairs as the other villages :p 

There are tons of little cafe and restaurants too 

The shops aren't that good though - all the ceramics shops seem to source from the same place.

Andrea Pansa 

- just opposite the Amalfi Duomo

http://www.pasticceriapansa.it/

Best italian pastries.. EVER! 

Lots to choose from

Here's the best find - called sfogliatelle with lemon custard

soooooooooooooo goooooooooood

traditionally they are supposed to be filled with ricotta but I prefer this

We also tried out the lemon cake at the top

very soft and moist

l'Angolo dei Sapori

We stayed in a self catering studio away from the centre towards the paper mill museum. 

Theres a little shop opposite that opens at irregular time selling ham cheese and bread

(featuring vintage fiat 500)

We've got 100g prociutto, a smoked provolone and half a loaf o bread for 7 euro only!!!

Lemon Granite

This place serves the best lemon granite!

you can see the little lemon zest 

Pizza express

you will be happy to know that it's not quite the same as the pizza express in London :p

just a small pizza take away up the main street

Their arancini is alright... with olive and capers

very good pizza 

simple and basic - just tomato mozzarella and anchovy (could do with more toppings though :p)

made to order - rolled up the dough in seconds, sprinkled the toppings and straight to the oven

costing less than 5 euros

Il Mulino
It was recommended by the resort and ranked high on tripadvisor
It seems to be a family run local trottoria.
It was ok.. slightly cheaper than the other places..

Caprese salad - fresh with light vinegar dressing

grilled veg - it was nice but neither of us were a great fan of the leafy veg on the right

Scialatielli with seafood

This pasta is veryyy thick ... apparently it's an Amalfi specialty.  

The pasta uses less egg and with a bit of milk.

Seafood risotto

- Nice but not as special as the pasta :p 

Amalfi Coast Day 4 - Villa Cimbrone, Ravello

Ravello is located high up in the mountain.   

Amazing view as soon as we got off the bus 

The town itself is very small.  Shops are selling higher class products than Amalfi ( which is very touristy) 

Giant amalfi lemons :) we have bought two back to London

haven't decided what we are going to do with them yet :p

Wouldn't mind bringing a few ceremics back - but they are expensive!! and heavy 

cute little kittens!!!!

mama cleaning him up :p

Our next stop - Villa Cimbrone.  

Originally we have made a dinner booking at their michelin star restaurant - il flauto di pan. 

However, we realized that there's a reduced bus service on Sundays and the only bus back to Amalfi in the evening is at 7.30pm and 12.30am!!!

Taxi costs 40 euro.

We thought it doesn't really worth it given there are tons more brilliant restaurants around the coast/Ischia anyway.  We'll go there next time :) 

We walked passed this beaultiful hotel :p thought we would just pop by and have a look at their pretty garden:) 

The entrance fee is on the expensive side - 7 euro per person

We had coffee at their terrace cafe. 

we were holding our breath when the bill arrived :p 

(coz we have experienced 8 euro espresso when we were at lake como )

It was surprisingly good value... 

costing less than 4 euro for 2 coffee with complementary little croissant, cake AND of course the view! 

Getting more and more cloudy :( 

The infinity terrace

Here comes the storm.  Just seconds after I took this photo, the rain started POURING!!!

We were going to walk to Minori but we saw the bus to Amalfi and thought we couldn't be bothered anymore.. 

so we head back to Amalfi and had a lazy afternoon

Amalfi Coast Day 3 - Da Vincenzo, Positano

Positano is beautiful :) It's our favourite village along the Amalfi coast

lots of nice little shops, stunning view of the coast with pastel coloured little houses

wish we had spent more time there.

A beach there but wayyyy too cold to swim

We had coffee at a veryyy cute little cafe called Casa e Bottega. 

They showcase lots of local designers work - vase, lamp, espresso cups etc.  

Unfortunately, they didn't let people take photos to protect the designers work but you will be able to find a few on tripadvisor

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g194863-d4097948-Reviews-Casa_e_Bottega-Positano_Amalfi_Coast_Campania.html

http://estmagazine.com.au/tanina-vanacore-casa-e-bottega-positano/

The menu itself doesn't seem to be overly exciting.  

We had dinner at Da Vicenzo which was also ranked pretty high on tripadvisor. 

http://www.davincenzo.it/

Thankfully, we got there when it opened, we saw quite a long queue not long after.  

They have quite a long menu - so lots to choose from! 

You can tell all the ingredients are very fresh.  Service was attentive and fast! 

Starter: Octopus skewer with Artichokes  - veryyyyyyyyyyy nice ! 

Octopus was very soft and flavoursome.

The artichokes are crispy 

Ricotta ravioli

Slow cooked beef roll with crispy polenta

The beef roll itself is a bit dried, we love the crispy polenta though

Rum baba

Amalfi Coast Day 3 - Olive oil mill and Mozzarella cheese factory, Sorrento

Having had a look at the weather forecast for the weekend, I thought I should plan for some back up plan in case it rains!
I found this "Gastronomical tour" that picks us up from Amalfi, driving us to the mozzarella cheese factory, old olive oil mill, limoncello factory as well as goes wine tasting near mount vesuvius.
The quote we had was 410 euro for two!!!!!!
Wayyyyy too expensie I find.  Apparently the main cost was the pick up.

I've decided to shop around and found out I could actually contact the mozzarella cheese factory ( http://www.caseificiomichelangelo.com/ ) and the olive oil mill ( www.frantoiogargiulo.com ) directly!
The cheese factory contacted us back and offered the following tour:

MEDITERRANEAN TRIO!      Mozzarella-Limoncello-Olive Oil – half day TOUR!
1.  Mozzarella Tasting + demonstration
• Bits of mozzarella 
• Smoked bit of mozzarella 
• Caciottine 
• Ricotta
• Slice of  aged cheese “caciocavallo”
• Slice of cheese “Moscione” 
• Slice of  smoked provola
• Slice of Provolone del Monaco 
• Bruschetta with fresh butter
• Bread
• Water & red wine included

Price per person : 30 Euro ( Adult)        15 Euro  (4-8 years Child)

Price includes:
• Guided Tour @ the cheese factory
• Hands-on cheese demonstration
• Explanation  of the entire process  
• Making your own mozzarella
• Disposable kit to wear
• Final tasting of all our specialites in our welcoming tasting room
• Roundtrip transfer from/to the hotel(if located in Sorrento downtown) or local train station for individuals

2. Limoncello factory - a taste of the famous Limoncello of Sorrento
 The tour takes about 30 minutes
PRICE PER PERSON :15 euro( including transportation to/from  Sorrento)

3.Another fascinating tour is the OLIVE OIL TOUR.
Visit the oldest Olive oil manufacturers in Sorrento which is renowned for the DOP olive oil in the area, in fact the quality has been certified from the EU Agricultural department,
Explanation of the old style production compared with the new state of the art process. 
Final tasting of more than 10 different kind of aromatic oils with bread.
The admission to the oil mill is totally free. You will pay just the transfer to reach it up to Sorrento’s hills.

PRICE PER PERSON: 10 EURO

So we signed up for it, took the sita bus to Piano di Sorrento.
Sara from Caseificio Michelangelo picked us up and first drove us to the olive oil mill.

so they used to grind the olive with the stone on the left, squeeze out the oil from the paste on the right with the help of donkeys.  

Unfortunately they haven't harvested the olives yet as they werent quite ready.

so none of the machines were running..

The owner kindly talked us through the process anyway with photos taken last year.

we were then given a big basket of bread and nearly 20 diff olive oils to try!

Didn't know just plain extra olive oil - there are quite a few to choose from already.

Then you've got the flavoured ones - chilli, lemon, orange, herbs, truffles etc. 

Next stop is the mozzarella factory :) 

We were shown the whole production process and we were given the chance to mould the mozzarella cheese ourselves :p

It was made with cow's milk - adding rennet (from sheep's stomach) to coagulate the milk!

All the water was squeezed out - leaving blocks of curd - looking a bit like tofu

The curd are blended and melted

Forming little mozzarella balls using the machine

They can put a few mozzarella balls together and shaped it quickly under hot water.

e.g. plait

Little flower

Some of them are sold fresh, some are hanged to mature for a few days/ weeks 

Cheese tasting

It was still pouring with rain when it finished :(
we walked around sorrento town and there isn't much to see really..
thankfully it stopped and so we took the bus to Positano after that :)