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Revisiting Our Honeymoon – Naples, Italy

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Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

I’m back with another chapter in my long overdue and often overlooked Honeymoon trip report.  Our stop in Naples was somewhat of a turning point in our honeymoon – I finally felt free of jetlag, we started to really get comfortable with our ship, and we got to know a lot of our fellow cruisemates that we had been chatting with on Cruise Critic for months.  Plus I was really excited about this port, which included visits to the postcard-esque Positano and the mysterious ruins of Pompeii … and it turns out that neither of those places ended up being the highlight of my day!

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Our day started with a hazy view of Mount Vesuvius from our balcony as we came into port.  We had a tour planned with our Cruise Critic group so we had early room service delivery and we met up in The Cafe on Deck 7 bright and early. There were 14 of us and we walked off the ship relatively together and met up with our guide Sasha and driver Salvatore with Joe Banana Limos. As we left the port we got a brief history of Naples from Sasha and he also explained we were changing our itinerary a little bit from what we were originally told when we booked the tour.  At first we thought we were going to Pompeii first to avoid the afternoon sun, and then stop in Positano and Sorrento last.  Now we were going to Sorrento first to avoid the morning crowds at Pompeii and get to Positano before the afternoon rush. We would go to Sorrento, then Positano, then Pompeii. Our drive to Sorrento took about 40 minutes with a scenic photo stop along the way.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We were dropped off at a wood shop which was our meeting point. In exchange for this being our rendezvous point, we were given a brief wood inlay presentation but it was only five minutes. It didn’t take me long to find some old friends.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We used the restrooms and then had about an hour and a half to wander around Sorrento.  We walked
around with a couple friends from the tour and it didn’t take us long at all to find some gelato.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We stumbled upon a cute little hotel with romantic views and lots of gorgeous Wisteria.  I became completely obsessed with Wisteria during this trip and now I’m dreaming of how I can grow some at home!

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Maybe it was because we were there before the afternoon crowds, but I completely fell in love with the sleepy charm of Sorrento.  The weather was nice, the scenery was beautiful, the shops and cafes were charming.  Sorrento ended up being the highlight of the day (which is saying A LOT).  I would love to return someday!

We took a ton of pictures and then started to walk back and did some souvenir shopping. I took a picture of this olive plate because I thought it was so interesting, then later went back to buy it!  Slightly obsessed with it!

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Oh yeah, and guess who found the (unlicensed) Disney Store?

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We found a shop with free samples of Limoncello and made lots of purchases (after trying lots and lots of samples!). We went back to our meeting point and were sitting on the bus and witnessed a car accident right in front of us! We were surprised we hadn’t seen one before now because the drivers in Naples are crazy!!  Sasha said this was common every day stuff in this area.  Next we took the “mama mia” road to Positano which was about an hour drive through twisty cliffside one-lane roads, stopping a couple times for picture ops.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Positano from above

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We were laughing because tour guide Sasha also was taking pictures!  Even when you live here, you are taken by the beauty.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
These lemons are the size of your face, no joke.  Here’s our friend Kent to prove it.
Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We had about 90 minutes to spend in Positano and our large group pretty much split up once we got by the water and everyone started seeking out restaurants.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Positano from sea level

Mr. BFT and I weren’t too thrilled with the selection and prices at the surrounding restaurants and we noticed a little sign that indicated a restaurant about 400 meters along an incline path.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

We weren’t exactly sure how long 400 meters was but we decided to have an adventure and give it a try. We walked along the steady incline for about 10 minutes and were greeted by a restaurant set into the hill with beautiful views of the sea. The menu was pricey but comparable to what was along the beach and since we had walked so far and I was tired (and grumpy), we decided to try it. It was early-ish, around 11am, so we had the patio to ourselves, with quiet views of the bay and mountains.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Since we were in the appropriate region, we decided to have the Caprese salad (Sasha told all of us to make sure we ask for buffalo mozzarella, which I did – and it was wonderful), pasta with lemon sauce, and the lemon tiramisu. Everything was soooooo amazing. And like most places in Italy, it was about three euros for a pitcher of wine (two glasses).

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Amazing.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Amazing.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Amazing.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

After our relaxing lunch and several photo ops along the path back to the beach, it was time to walk allll the way back up the hill and meet up with our group. Our lunch was great but the walk there took up so much time that we weren’t able to do anything else in Positano (not that there’s much to do besides eat, shop, and take pictures of the scenery).  We were even the last to get back to our bus!  (But we weren’t late – for the record!)

Next it was time to go to Pompeii. It was about an hour away but Salvatore entertained us with Italian music on the CD player. We arrived at Pompeii and found out that Sasha was going to be our guide! We originally thought we were going to have to hire a tour guide at the site, so that was a pleasant surprise.  We spent about two hours in Pompeii but could have spent a whole day there. He gave us the highlights of the city and how the people of the time lived. As a major geography buff, I was super in awe of being in Pompeii.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Sasha entertains the masses.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
Primitive speed bumps that were dual purpose as bridges for when the streets flooded.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy
I see dead people.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

After Pompeii it was time to head back to the port of Naples. When we got back to the room we had a cheese and fruit plate waiting for us which we ate on our balcony as we drank some of the Limoncello we received as a gift from Joe Banana Limos.

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

By the way, we HIGHLY recommend a tour with Joe Banana.  Both Sasha and Salvatore were wonderful and Sasha was very knowledgeable, friendly, and had us laughing the whole time on the bus.  Plus Salvatore was a super handsome Italian dude.  What more do you need?  After our balcony snack break, we headed to Windows for dinner and found Kent and Mark in the hallway so we all had dinner together.  I don’t remember what I ate but I felt compelled to take picture of my chocolate cake dessert … can you blame me?

Budget Fairy Tale: Revisiting Our Honeymoon - Naples, Italy

After that I think we went to the casino for a while and then to bed, excited for our FIRST sea day!  Finally, a little break from our “grueling” itinerary.

Past Honeymoon Posts:
Chapter 1 – All Aboard the Norwegian Spirit!
Chapter 2 – Barcelona, Spain
Chapter 3 – Toulon and Bandol, France
Chapter 4 – Florence, Italy

About Mindy

Mindy Marzec is a life-long Disney fan who grew up in Los Angeles. She started This Fairy Tale Life to share Disneyland travel tips for adults. When not at Disneyland, you can find Mindy at home snuggling with her cats and re-watching Thor: Ragnarok for the billionth time.