Amalfi Coast - 2011

Our last full day in Italy, and we woke up to rain this Monday morning. We decided to take it easy and after breakfast, got our umbrellas and took off on foot, wandering around Praiano. Up to now, we had only walked up the hill and stopped at the hotel, so we took off going down the road past the hotel this time. It goes around and down to the main road that goes through town. As we strolled, we saw hidden doorways that led to homes up or down a long flight of stairs.

There were tons of lemon, pomegranate ( by the way did you know that you thump a pomegranate to see if it's ripe just like you do a watermelon? Us neither) and olive trees, bougainvillea vines, grape vines, and numerous other flowering plants.

There was a miniature city of Praiano, that was pretty neat. I'm sure it took a lot of work and time.

This is the time of year to harvest the olives; so they look ripe to pick. Of course I had to pick one and try it.

Most awful thing ever!!! It seems they soak them in brine and do other stuff to them before they are edible. Yuck. Now I know why.

Once we got down to the square we waited for a bus to come by to take us up the road about a mile, towards Positano, so we could take some pictures of Praiano we had seen from the bus, but never could get. It is really difficult to capture a good picture while hanging on inside a bus along that road. While we were waiting at a cafe, a dog came up that we had seen our first day at the bus stop.

The waiter called him Nando and told us he is known up and down the coast. He actually gets on the buses and has ended up in both Positano and Amalfi! He belongs to the owner of the restaurant next door, La Braca, and they get calls every once in a while to come pick him up. It was pretty funny. He is a German Shephard mix and very sweet. He came and layed in front of us like he was protecting us.

We got on the bus and went about 5 minutes up the road till we saw a good view.


Once we got our pictures of both Praiano and Positano, we started walking back to town and stopped at La Braca, where Nando lives. This was the funniest stop. There was an older, very Italian man in there, and I believe he was a bit enamored with Mom and me. He kept stroking our faces and saying 'Bella' while gazing at us...

I wanted pizza (yes, again) and Mom wanted soup - neither of which they were serving at that time of day. So, we settled for a glass of wine. Well, our little man, Gionni, paid for it. He kept trying to talk to us, but he knew NO English, and I only know a very little bit of Italian (Eio capisco unpo L'Italiano which means that I only understand a little bit-very little), so neither of us knew what the other was trying to say! He kept trying to get the waiter to come over to interpret, but the waiter really didn't want to take part in the conversation. We did figure out he lived in Amalfi. He kept talking about a big casa, so we thought he lived in a big house. Then he brought over the bottle of wine he had been drinking and insisted we finish it off after we finished our own. Somehow, we thought he was telling us he made the wine... After several more face strokes and cheek kisses, he begrudgingly left to go back to Amalfi without us. I think he would have taken us with him if we had acted the least bit interested - in fact, we think he was trying to invite us! [I (Nancy) told Karen she missed her chance at a rich Italian who was quite taken with her. She could have lived in Amalfi. Ha.] We asked the waiter about him after he was gone. Turns out he doesn't make wine at all, he builds houses... We were slightly off with our guesses... I wish I had gotten the name of the wine we thought he made. It was really good and I would have liked to have tried to find some at home. Oh and Nando had come upstairs by that time and was sleeping inside the door - turns out he doesn't like rain.

We moved on to another restaurant where I got my daily pizza and Mom got her veggie soup, which we ate as we gazed out over the Mediterranean Sea, dark because of the cloudy day. It was still drizzling, and we were tired of walking, so we called the hotel and asked for the car to come pick us up. After we got back to the room - about 4:30 or so, we decided to take a nap. The balcony door was open, as usual, so we fell asleep listening to the rain and the bells from the Church above us.

When we woke up, it was dark and close to 7:00. Since we were still full from our late lunch, we decided to go downstairs to have desert and coffee. I got a yummy, rich chocolate mousse and Mom got the tiramisu. We had hoped to spend some time with our new friends Gail and Steve, and saw Gail as they were leaving for dinner. We were going to try to get together with them for a glass of wine when they got back, but we went to bed before they did.

Then came the scary part - settling the bill! It ended up being less than what we expected. I guess the exchange rate got a little better since we made our reservations. It turned out to be about $300 less than what we figured back in June, and that included two or three dinners, cappucino, latte, and Irish coffees, that we didn't count on. Nice surprise there, especially since I spent a bit too much on ceramics! In Capri, I told Mom that I wasn't allowed to go into any more ceramic stores, because I might find something else I couldn't live without - again! Oh, and I can't forget the Limoncello - got a bit of that, too!

We went back to the room to pack after settling the bill. Believe it or not, I got everything in the suitcase, and it was still the right weight at the airport. Since we had a 3:00am wake up call, we headed to bed. But I just layed there wide awake! I think I ended up falling asleep around midnight, again listening to the Church bells ringing in the distance. Gonna really miss that. Got up at 3:00 and the driver Genaro came to get us at 4:00 to take us back to the airport in Naples.

It was kind of a sad ride back. I kept looking back at the lights of Praiano, then Positano, hoping it wasn't the last time I would see them. I kept going over in my mind the favorite things I don't want to forget.
The clear blue Mediterranean Sea;

The lemon and olive trees everywhere; The quiteness of Praiano - other than the scooters going by, the occasional dog barking or those wonderful Church bells ringing;
Riding down the awesomely beautiful, yet somewhat scary Amalfi Coast road, with it's breathtaking views;

Positano - all of it;

All the winding stone roads (pathways to us); The endless supply of places to shop at in Amalfi, Ravello and Positano;

The chair lift ride on Capri; Listening to the locals talk to each other loudly with their hands, in what looks like a heated discussion, but then they end up laughing together;

The food, the wine, the cappuccinos, and ice cold Limoncellos.... Oh, and I can't forget the cute little cars of all kinds. Many Peugeots, Fiats, Smart Cars, Alpha Romeos, even an occasional Ford, and many others that we had never heard of; The Hotel Margherita and it's wonderful staff. They were wonderful hosts and I would recommend this place to anyone going to that area.

The best part, of course, was spending this wonderful adventure with my Mom.

I'm sure it is something neither of us will ever forget! [Amen!! (Mom)]

Woke up early to an absolutely gorgeous day for our trip to Capri by way of Positano. We missed breakfast, even our cappuccino and latte, because as we were getting the bus tickets from Suela, it pulled up outside. We had to chase him down in order to keep him from driving off without us! While we walked down to the beach in Positano, all the merchants were getting ready for their day, putting out displays and chairs at the tables of the cafes. The smells of pastries hit us as we approached them. We caught the 10:30 ferry in Positano which then takes about 30 minutes to get to Marina Grande on the Isle of Capri.

The village was so pretty as we watched it get smaller and smaller in the distance. When we got to Capri, we finally sat for a few minutes and had our coffees.

The Island is actually in three parts (or at least that's what I gathered)--The Marina Grande, Anacapri, up in the mountains, and Capri. We stayed at the Marina for a while, then took a taxi--an authentic antique Fiat--up to Anacapri. Our driver was Paulo, an older gentleman who has always lived on Capri and was quite the tour guide.

We enjoyed the views from Villa San Michele, although we didn't go in.

We walked and shopped and ate, More pizza for Karen, and veggie soup for me.

Fun, fun... We took a chair lift ride up to the tippy top of the mountain. I thought it would be a gondola type of ride. I was shocked to see a simple, one person chair as I rounded the corner and before I could even think about it, I was scooped up in the chair and locked in.

Quite an experience for me. Once at the top, the views were incredible!

We could see a few large yachts off the coast. I guess that is how the rich and famous get to enjoy Capri. Then we headed back down. Karen was behind me going up and in front coming down.

On the bus ride back down from Anacapri to Marina Grande, it was so packed we had to stand, quite another experience... It was pretty difficult to hold on with all the turns this way, then that way, and then this way again as we went down the mountain. We were so thankful to get back down to the bottom.

We went back to Positano on the 6pm ferry. The sunset behind Capri was really pretty, and arriving at Positano with the lights twinkling was charming...


We wandered around there for a while, and then decided to eat before coming back to Praiano so that we wouldn't have to walk up the hill (I've really decided it's a mountain). The bus back from Positano actually lets us off right in front of the hotel. So we walked up the mountain there in Positano and ate at a neat little restaurant that seated inside or on the other side of the street for a view. We took the view side. Karen had spaghetti and meat sauce and I had eggplant parmigiana. We walked on up the mountain to the bus stop at the top, caught the 8:30 bus back to Praiano. We were fairly exhausted; got an Irish Coffee to take to our room, and came upstairs. It was a beautiful night so we sat out on the chaise lounges wrapped in our blanket, drank our coffee and enjoyed our next to last evening on our lovely balcony.

We did manage 9093 steps on the pedometer. Pretty good for us!!!

We woke up to an amazing sunny day today. We had breakfast with our new friends Steve and Gail (the ones from Philly), then we took off for Amalfi again for some more shopping.

We found some pretty good deals, then made our way back to Praiano on the bus. After we got ready, we had the car take us down to Marina di Praia to eat dinner at Il Pirata, a restaurant built into a cave.

It was really neat. From the beach, we followed a stone walkway along the water, built into the cliff. It went around a few bends and up to the restaurant.

We each had a glass of a sweet sparkling white wine. I had spaghetti with seafood, which included clams, mussels, shrimp and a big shrimp looking thing with claws - kinda looked like a crawfish. Mom had spaghetti with clams. Mine was pretty fishy. I probably wouldn't order it again, but it was good enough to try at least once.

Then we walked up the stone walkway up further to the Hotel Onde Verde, one of the ones we were considering when researching. It is built down the side of the cliff, but they don't have private balconies, so we decided we are happy with choosing Hotel Margherita.

We decided to have dessert there, then we walked back down to the beach to Bar Mare. We had been told by another guest here at our hotel that they served white wine with peaches in it. So, we had some of that - I usually don't like white wine much, but this one was very mild and I enjoyed it very much. Mom enjoyed the peaches!


The setting was so nice. Right on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore, the lights twinkling around us, and it was cool and brisk. A big white lab looking dog even came up to visit. The owner of the bar brought us a piece of pie on the house. He just wanted us to taste "Mama's" pie... It was apple & peach... Quite tasty. The driver from the hotel will pick up after 10, so we called around that time and walked up another steep hill to meet the van. So, we managed to walk off our dinner, dessert and maybe even the wine! (total on the pedometer for today was 4687) On the way back to the hotel, we picked up Steve and Gail at another restaurant in town, then stood in the foyer of the hotel talking for a while. Our new friends from Sussex showed up as well, so we stood there and talked and laughed for a bit longer. Now we are going to bed. Tomorrow is going to be early and long. We are taking a ferry over to Capri. Really looking forward to that!

After a mostly sleepless night, we managed to get up around 9:00 this morning. A thunderstorm came in and the power kept going off and coming back on. Each time it did, the AC unit would have to reset itself by beeping and clicking - and would wake us up each time. We kept trying to figure out what was happening, and when we finally did, we just opened the balcony door and finally went to sleep around 3:00am.

At breakfast, we met a retired couple from Philadelphia and a young couple from Argentina celebrating their 10th anniversary. It was nice talking to them and comparing places we had been and what we were still planning to do. We all commented on the crazy driving and roads here, and were all in total agreement.
[Before going on, I, Nancy, must say I am pleased to see that people in Italy besides me have to back up; even the buses. On these crazy skinny streets with turns being so tight we have seen many many cars and buses have to back up because they took the turn too wide. Of course my reason was usually because I was going the wrong way, but same outcome.]

After we ate and got ready, we caught the 'Orange Bus' to Positano. I have to say that it is such a magical little place and I completely fell in love with it. The bus let us off at the top of the mountain going down into town, and the views were absolutely AMAZING!

We made our way down the stone alleyways, stopping to shop along the way. Wasn't much of a problem going down. But what goes down must come up too; so we weren't looking forward to that too much.

There was one shop that sold lemon scented and flavored stuff. Candles, scented oils with reeds, perfumes, Limoncello, lemon drops, soaps, you name it! It smelled SO good in there! More ceramic shops, where I finally got the mug I had been looking for, and a few other things. We meandered along (downhill) till we finally made it to the beach. Oh, that beach and the view!

I now have a picture of myself standing where Dianne Lane stood in 'Under a Tuscan Sun', my whole inspiration for coming here. It was very surreal...

The clouds were coming in, so we decided to stop and have lunch - another pizza! This time, it wasn't as cheap as the one here in Praiano, but was still very good. The mozzarella cheese here is so much better - I guess it's fresher.

After our pizza, we shopped more as we made our way back uphill. Our legs are going to be in pretty good shape by the time we get back! Then we caught the bus back to Praiano, being very thankful that we didn't have to walk all the way to the top of the mountain because it stops right in front of Hotel Margherita. Since we didn't get much sleep last night, Mom is laying down while I write this. We haven't planned what we are doing tonight yet.

Well tonight is here. We ate at the hotel, very light. Had a lemon mousse that we shared. Then sat with the couple from Philly we met this morning. They are quite a pair. Lots of fun. They own a company Tfairy.com which sells tooth fairy stuff. It is 10;50 so we are getting ready for bed. Although right now we are sitting on the balcony on the chaise lounge with a big blanket around us cause it's cold.

More pictures soon....

Oh, and our total steps for today was 3859. Like I said, the legs should look good when we get home.

Sleep tight. Love ya'll.

This morning we got an even later start because we didn't wake up till after 11:00! We completely missed breakfast, but were still able to get our cappuccino and latte once we got downstairs. We had Suela take us to the bus stop and went to Ravello today. It was cloudy and we just kept praying it wouldn't rain. The bus ride to Ravello was once again exciting. I can't get over this Amalfi Coast Road. So many of the twists and turns are basically U-turns, and you should see these buses make those curves.

It's amazing, especially when another car is coming from the other direction. They just know they have to take turns and often times, one of them will have to back up to make room for the other one. And the horn honking! The bus driver honks as he approaches each big curve, I guess to let anyone around it know he is coming. And I think sometimes they honk just to honk! I guess no one listens to the radio here for fear of missing a honk.

When we made to Ravello, we walked around this little town built in stone. The town is known for its ceramics - and apparently Wine & Drugs!

We had a very late lunch at Cumpa Cosima. I had Cannelloni and Mom had Ravioli. Both were absolutely delicious!

Lots of ceramic shops and Limoncello shops. I found a pattern of ceramics that I fell in love with. Unfortunately, all the pieces they had were way out of my price range. It was so pretty, though. The pattern had vineyards and villas on it. None of the others pieces looked anything like it. We also stopped at a hotel bar for a glass of wine - Hotel Villa Maria.

They had the most gorgeous views, but then again, all the views from Ravello are beautiful. The altitude is 365 meters (almost 1200 ft), as compared to Praiano, which is 0. If it had been a clear day, we would have been able to see forever.

The pathways we walked along were maybe a little wider than the span of my arms spread out. Yet, at one point a little car came down one of them. We had to find a doorway to step into so they could pass...

So, then we started the bus ride back to Praiano. When we got here, we finally had our first pizza and it was wonderful - and cheap! We got one for 4 Euros! Unheard of in the States!

After that, we did that fun walk up the hill back to the hotel, and topped it off with Irish Coffee. Our total steps for today was 4578; mostly up hill. Now we are back in the room and actually found some American shows on the TV. It's supposed to be raining tomorrow, so we aren't sure what we are going to do yet. I guess we'll wait till we get up and see what Suela can suggest. She and her husband are the owners of the hotel and are always very helpful, so I'm sure they can come up with something. If it isn't raining, we will try to make it to Positano.

It's getting a little late, so I will wait till tomorrow to post more pictures.