Amalfi Coast
Forgot to mention in the last post that the boat trip took us into a couple of caves and underneath a natural arch. The caves were beautiful with stalactites and lovely clear water.
Friday we caught the bus to Amalfi and Ravello, two more towns along the Amalfi Coast. The drive was interesting to say the least as the road is skinny and windy and there are places where both a car and a bus won't fit, so plenty of sudden stops and occasionally either the bus or the approaching vehicle would need to reverse to make room. Once we arrived (safely) in Amalfi we swapped to a different smaller bus for the 15 minute drive to Ravello, which is higher in the mountains and set back a little from the coast. Ravello was different with lots of lemon trees growing on terraces around the village. They make Limoncello here, which is about 26% alcohol. We had a tasting and it was very good. There were also many ceramic shops - as there are in Positano. Trace bought a handpainted teapot to add to her collection and we met the artist. Hope it makes it home in one piece!
Back down the mountain to Amalfi and we wandered through the shops and then climbed about 300 stairs to the cemetary. (Look for the arches in the photo below) Pity it was closed! They close at 12:30pm for siesta and don't re-open til 5:00pm and we were there around 2:45. After that we needed a gelato, which turned out to be lovely but grossly over priced, twice what we had paid previously. Another long walk up the road to a lookout point, before returning on the bus to Positano - standing all the way.
Saturday and we got our walking shoes on. There is a trail called 'The Walk of the Gods' which goes for 9.5kms over the top of the mountains between Nocelle and Bomerano. We caught a bus up to Nocelle because we didn't fancy climbing the 1000 stairs from Positano. The trail was fairly well maintained in most places and easy to follow. The views, particularly of Positano, are awesome and we noticed at one point that we were about as high as a helicopter flying along the coast. The trip is expected to last 3 hours and we had read reports on the internet from people who took 4 to 5 hours. Not really sure what they were doing as it took us a little over 2 hours, with photo stops.
At the end we had planned on a bus from Bomerano to Amalfi then another to Positano, but we were feeling pretty good and saw a sign to a trail down to Praino - apparently 1km long and duration about an hour. Well I think they meant a kilometre in height because the walk was very long and on some fairly dodgy tracks. It took a bit over an hour and we were both knackered by the end. We had packed lunch (Borrowed some rolls, ham, cheese and tomato from the breakfast buffet) so ate it in Praino before catching a bus back to Positano and going to our room to relax and have a beer, having walked about 15 kms.
Afterwards we went to the beach and I had a swim whilst Trace sunbaked on the stony beach.
Nearing the end of three perfect days on the Amalfi Coast, but time to head to Pompeii and Rome.
Friday we caught the bus to Amalfi and Ravello, two more towns along the Amalfi Coast. The drive was interesting to say the least as the road is skinny and windy and there are places where both a car and a bus won't fit, so plenty of sudden stops and occasionally either the bus or the approaching vehicle would need to reverse to make room. Once we arrived (safely) in Amalfi we swapped to a different smaller bus for the 15 minute drive to Ravello, which is higher in the mountains and set back a little from the coast. Ravello was different with lots of lemon trees growing on terraces around the village. They make Limoncello here, which is about 26% alcohol. We had a tasting and it was very good. There were also many ceramic shops - as there are in Positano. Trace bought a handpainted teapot to add to her collection and we met the artist. Hope it makes it home in one piece!
View from Ravello
A sample of road
Back down the mountain to Amalfi and we wandered through the shops and then climbed about 300 stairs to the cemetary. (Look for the arches in the photo below) Pity it was closed! They close at 12:30pm for siesta and don't re-open til 5:00pm and we were there around 2:45. After that we needed a gelato, which turned out to be lovely but grossly over priced, twice what we had paid previously. Another long walk up the road to a lookout point, before returning on the bus to Positano - standing all the way.
Amalfi
At the end we had planned on a bus from Bomerano to Amalfi then another to Positano, but we were feeling pretty good and saw a sign to a trail down to Praino - apparently 1km long and duration about an hour. Well I think they meant a kilometre in height because the walk was very long and on some fairly dodgy tracks. It took a bit over an hour and we were both knackered by the end. We had packed lunch (Borrowed some rolls, ham, cheese and tomato from the breakfast buffet) so ate it in Praino before catching a bus back to Positano and going to our room to relax and have a beer, having walked about 15 kms.
Afterwards we went to the beach and I had a swim whilst Trace sunbaked on the stony beach.
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