A disclosure and apology, I did this quick trip without a thought in mind of blogging it really, I didn’t think it would be very noteworthy and we were there to relax so we did not take a lot of photos.
With 4th of July being in the middle of the week we only had 2 days to escape for some rest and relaxation and chose to grab a hotel room at the beach South of the Amalfi Coast in a town called Paestum.
We had driven down a few weeks ago to walk around the archeological site there and realized how nice of an area it was. After researching we also found it had a blue flag beach. This is from what I could tell simply a sunning and swimming beach, no water sports or even surfing going on, just a quiet area to relax.
We got a room at Oleandri Resort which has it’s own private section of the beach with chairs and umbrellas set up. The room was bright and airy with a nice patio area including a drying rack for towels and swimsuits, I snapped a photo but the lighting was not right. The bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked great. The grounds of the resort I found to be beautiful with a lot of flowering bushes and many trees, the pool area was lovely. We found a couple of issues though, one being no pool bar which was one of the selling points for us, it was not open. Secondly, the restaurant was just ok. I’m not sure what we expected but it was fine and we found it expensive for what was offered. That said, we had a great time still but would suggest trying other pizzerias/restaurants in the area. We didn’t venture out because we ended up with sunburns. The resort did have a wonderful entertainment program for kids and parents including a dancing after dinner for the kids and on the beach they had games going on. I could see it being a great experience for families (if you speak Italian).
We arrived early evening so got settled in the room and walked about, stopped for a drink at the bar and set up dinner reservations.
Since I failed at grabbing my phone for photos of the beach and my husband isn’t in tune with my blogging needs (haha) I’ll just link to the google images so you can scroll those: Paestum Beach.
Spent most of the next day (the 4th) at the beach and didn’t use enough spf apparently because we were lobsters by noon. I even spent most of the time in the shade of the umbrella but still came back burnt. But before realizing what we were going to suffer with later, we had a great time. The water was cold and clear, no trash in it or on the beach. No rocks to watch out for or even seaweed to get caught in. It was wonderful. The chairs and umbrella were great and they had a cafe/bar to go for drinks and/or a snack. There’s me with my first Aperol Spritz of the day.
I forgot to take my phone so the only other photos are what my husband happened to get of the walk from the beach to the hotel. A pine forest sits in between with a path through it.
A shout out to the life guard on duty that day. He was awesome to watch as he consistently moved the walking vendors out of our area. We were impressed.
Also, a nod to Europeans in general when it comes to beach attire. All body types and ages were wearing bikinis and speedos and whatever they wanted. It was great to see. That said I’m glad I kept my belly covered, the burn would have been emergency room inducing.
Headed home the next morning in pain but still happy we spent the time at the beach. Next time, more and heavier spf and explore other places to eat. In the car ride home we both agreed not to spread word about this beach to the other Americans in Naples until we are moving out of Italy so we can keep it a secret and not have it overrun with mercans. There were a couple of other Americans and I think an Australian group but otherwise it seemed Italian occupied.
So, if you are American in Naples and actually follow my blog you will now know our secret place (in my head it’s secret ok) but otherwise we aren’t advertising it.
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Next trip planned is Norway, above the Arctic Circle.. oh yes!
Life Notes 