Our day started early to catch the 09.18 to Salerno. For this 2 hour trip, we treated ourselves to first class, still considerably cheaper than the UK with many more perks!
The minute we arrived in to Salerno, we had a good feeling about the place. In the first 10 minutes of walking to our apartment, we saw more restaurants that took our fancy than in the 4 days we spent in Rome. At last we were back in food heaven territory! You also notice straight away, the amount of street art and graffiti in Salerno. Here is a taster of some by Alfonso Gatto, that we passed while climbing some steps towards our apartment.
We met Eduardo, our host, a jazz and classically trained pianist. He showed us round and gave us a map, pointing out places to go. All Airbnb apartments we have stayed in during our honeymoon have gone above and beyond by sharing good locations and local tips, unlike some of the more expensive hotels. Eduardo then showed us his living quarters on the other side of the B&B apartments and gave us a little glimpse into his life. He had a cat, tick. He also had a robotic hoover bumping its way round his bathroom, a hilarious tick.
When Nic mentioned that he played piano, Eduardo invited Nic to sit at one of his, explaining the mechanics of this instrument, compared to the other pianos he had in the cellar where he tutors people to play. Eduardo told us that he lived in Paris for 7 years, his wife 15, and they both played piano professionally. He was based in Montmartre, playing for one of the restaurants, before returning to his home town Salerno. One can imagine how many interesting stories and anecdotes this guy has.
It was lunch time and we were hungry (surprise surprise!) so we walked to a recommended restaurant called Mamma Rosa. Within 30 minutes of being there, the place was full of hungry Italians on their lunch breaks and the atmosphere was great. So too was the waiter, who on learning that we were from the UK, told us he worked for Grovesnor Casinos and travelled all around their UK casinos before spending time on a cruise ship. It really is amazing the stories these strangers come out with! We assumed he could be one of the sons of Mamma Rosa, whose motto was written on the walls and menus; “My passion for cooking can only be compared to the immeasurable love I have for my sons”. What an utter babe!
The waiter was keen to tell us about their fresh morning catch of baby squid and razor clams; we couldn’t resist and went for the former. We also shared some fried salt cod and a pasta dish with olives, capers and more fish. Being near the sea, it really would be rude to eat anything other than seafood and so we devoured every last bit of the plentiful dishes and wobbled our way out of the door!
Today and for the remainder of our holiday, we were determined not to do a lot. Our final day of Rome, rampaging around the ancient ruins was quite frankly enough and now it was time to relax! So relax we did, on the small beach of Salerno. This town is better known as having a port but a small public beach is still available. It’s not as nice as Santa Marinella, the beach we visited outside of Rome; it’s busier, smaller and not as clean but it was perfect for what we needed.
During the evening, we were still absolutely full from our feast earlier, so we just headed out to an Italian craft beer bar called BAI that we heard about from a friend. Off a smaller side street, BAI had a delicious range of beer on draft, as well as, floor to ceiling fridges full of intriguing bottles whose labels I had little chance of reading! We started with a session IPA and a white IPA on draft alongside some aperitivo snacks. We moved on to some bottles and shared a coffee, oatmeal stout and a lemon, bergamot and coriander Tripel. And that folks, was quite enough for one night. We ambled back home, watched Gladiator on Netflix (inspired by Rome obviously!) and promptly fell asleep.
Travelling Coltman’s 