Where to Stay in Paestum {La Locanda del Mare}
At the end of our most recent week in Positano we decided to take an extra day to return to Rome and head further south to an area of Italy known as the Cilento.The Cilento coast could not be more different than the nearby Amalfi Coast. The Cilento coast has wide sandy beaches, flat agricultural land that make for very happy water buffaloes, simple beach cottages and the very lovely La Locanda del Mare.
I love the Amalfi Coast but it requires planning and logistics and climbing a lot of stairs. Just 45 minutes beyond Vietri su Mare (where you stopped and filled your car with ceramics, right?)the landscape changes dramatically to flat wide spaces and sandy beaches.
La Locanda del Mare is a relaxed chic version of the Florida places of my childhood. Poetry is everywhere, there is lots of comfortable seating surrounded by shelves of novels and design books, and there are bright orange bikes you can borrow to explore this sleepy stretch of the Italian coast.
We arrived in the late afternoon and headed straight to the beach where we swam in the clear shallow sea and stayed until the last light of the orange sunset. A rarity in Italy where many stabilimenti chase you from the beach long before the sun sets.
It's not just pretty words and pretty decor. The food here is great too. For dinner we walked the few steps from our room to the dining room and ordered almost everything on the menu. A plate of local mozzarella with proscuitto and another with slices of tart tomato. Tiny local fish that were deep fried and delicious piece of orata cooked in an elaborately tied package. We drank a cold bottle of Coda de Lupo white wine. Breakfast the next morning was fresh fruit and tarts made from organic chocolate spread or jam and buffalo milk yogurt. We even had them make us sandwiches for a picnic lunch on the beach.
A night a La Locanda del Mare made a weeklong vacation on the Amalfi Coast feel like a monthlong beach vacation.
La Locanda del Mare
via Linora
La Locanda del Mare is a relaxed chic version of the Florida places of my childhood. Poetry is everywhere, there is lots of comfortable seating surrounded by shelves of novels and design books, and there are bright orange bikes you can borrow to explore this sleepy stretch of the Italian coast.
We arrived in the late afternoon and headed straight to the beach where we swam in the clear shallow sea and stayed until the last light of the orange sunset. A rarity in Italy where many stabilimenti chase you from the beach long before the sun sets.
It's not just pretty words and pretty decor. The food here is great too. For dinner we walked the few steps from our room to the dining room and ordered almost everything on the menu. A plate of local mozzarella with proscuitto and another with slices of tart tomato. Tiny local fish that were deep fried and delicious piece of orata cooked in an elaborately tied package. We drank a cold bottle of Coda de Lupo white wine. Breakfast the next morning was fresh fruit and tarts made from organic chocolate spread or jam and buffalo milk yogurt. We even had them make us sandwiches for a picnic lunch on the beach.
A night a La Locanda del Mare made a weeklong vacation on the Amalfi Coast feel like a monthlong beach vacation.
La Locanda del Mare
via Linora
Paestum
Oooh, I love this! It makes me want to leave the heat of Provence behind pronto. And for me while growing up it was my Grandparents lake cottage - this sounds like a similar feel with MUCH better food. ;)
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