Amalfi Coast

(Here's where a map starts to become handy)

So we hopped back on the Circumvesuviana and took it to Sorrento, the end of the line. From there, we got on the first of many SITA buses that we would take the next several days. It was a great ride, even though it took over an hour longer than expected. It reminded me some of a couple careening bus rides I did in the mountains of Catalonia after study abroad.







The coast, however, made this particularly dramatic.



We eventually arrived in downtown Amalfi, figured out the bus to take up to a road near our guesthouse, and climbed down from the road.



Despite the late hour we were greeted with a glass of blood red orange juice, which really hit the spot. It was a nice, small place, and they had overbooked, so we were in their suite for all but one night. Not a bad break.





For dinner, we wandered to find a place that the guesthouse owner told us about, but stumbled into La Taberna instead for what turned out to be a full five course meal. We were one of two couples there, so we got a good amount of attention in broken English from the owner. She was a good Southern Italy nationalist and made sure to point out a document on the wall asserting that Southern Italy was much more rich than North before unification.



That's four different kinds of meat right there. The opening bruschetta was killer, wine was flowing. I was satiated. The owner brought over some homemade cherry liquor to finish the meal off. We stumbled home and collapsed.

Day 7, June 13th started relatively early with breakfast on the patio looking out to the sea. Downtown, we got a map of hikes in the surrounding area with the aim to do the well-known Walk of the Gods. We managed to figure out the SITA to get us to nearby Bomerano (Agerola on the map), the starting point, and set off.



The path was beautiful and, considering that it went mostly alongside cliffs rather than up and down, not very strenuous.





Pictures, of course, don't do justice to the scale of things. You can see some boats down there, though.



That's a perfectly fine place to build a house, and I won't hear any more of it.



After a few hours, the trail ended in Novello. We then descended to Positano, like Amalfi a well-known shore town and one of the favorites for your insanely sunburnt, designer sunglasses, Captain Morgan tourists.





It's insanely pretty, though. We walked around, hung out on the beach, and had the first of what would be many gelato breaks. So good.



We made our way back to Amalfi by SITA and, before too long, it was dinnertime. This night we did manage to find the original recommendation, Gerry's Pub. The food was good, and the handful of middle-aged Anglo tourists there were amusing.

When it was time for bed, we asked the server who wasn't Gerry for the check. Gerry, for the last while, had been setting up some sound equipment and a keyboard on the patio. We were told by the server that Gerry was just going to play a few songs and then we could have our check. It seemed like a strange stipulation, but sure, we're not going to push.



Gerry proceeded to play piano and croon some classics like That's Amore and at least one Frank Sinatra piece over a prerecorded backing track. It became clear what Gerry really had wanted to do when he grew up. It was bizarre but entertaining to be held hostage while the owner played some songs, and frankly I'd like to see that idea extended into other businesses. "Hold on, before we end this meeting, I'm just going to pull out my guitar, lock this door, and play you some things I've been working on".

Anyway, that was fun.

The next day started similarly to the day before. After breakfast, we went downtown to figure out how to get to Capri, playground of the emperors, and planned that for the following day. We relaxed on the beach and swam a bit before filling out a first batch of postcards over lunch. We also established that Italy does not accept my debit card at ATMs. Good thing I had a travel buddy!



I should mention that throughout our stay in Amalfi, there was periodically loud celebratory cannon fire that would reverberate down the coast and into the mountains. We were there during the time of the Regata delle Antiche Repubbliche Marinare, which is a big competition between Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Venice. Amalfi crossed first, so we thought they were celebrating in style. Well, we thought it was for that, until I read that there was no winner this year, so now I'm just as lost as you.

Despite some afternoon rain, we went for another good hike, this time from the nearby town of Atrani straight up to Ravello. Nothing like endless stairs to get a good quad workout.





No weather can dampen our spirits, and the views were still incredible.



After hiking back down to Atrani, we grabbed dinner at a restaurant associated with the guesthouse (more pizza, mmm). Dinner ended with a complementary enormous cannoli for two, and we did not complain.



In the morning, we were up early to catch the first high-speed ferry to Capri, as well as our bus tickets for the following day's departure from Amalfi.



Seeing the coast from the water was pretty great.



These are the rocks from which the sirens called to Odysseus.



There's our guesthouse!



Capri itself is very impressive but also very expensive and touristy, more so than the mainland. After exploring the main town, we set out to try to get to a castle on top of one of the peaks of the island, continuing one of the themes of our trip: wanting to climb to a tall place everywhere we went. We couldn't quite get to the castle, but did stumble across amazing views of the other side of the island.





After heading back down, we figured out buses to the Grotta Azzurra. We had heard that it was pretty cool, but questioned all the excitement around it.



Despite it being a hugely overpriced racket, it is still pretty cool to be inside.



Doing it again, we'd probably find a different grotto.

From there, we decided to walk all the way back to the town, which brought us by some cool stuff.





This church floor was pretty cool.



Until the ferry that would take us back to the mainland, we hung out on the beach, where I swam some and Amanda napped. I also played fashion photographer...

When we first arrived at the beach, I noticed without interest who I assumed to be a friend taking a couple pictures of this Indian guy in front of the water. A few minutes later, however, the "friend" was gone and the Indian guy was asking me if I could take some pictures of him.

Sure, I said. First I'll take some with my shirt off, then I will wet my shirt and put it on, and you will take some more, he said. ...Sure, I said, sensing that I had stumbled into a hilarious moment. The guy proceeded to do, completely earnestly, his best bad-ass and model shots, shirt off, then wet shirt on, being true to his word. I was just riding the wave and playing along, taking close ups, framing shots differently, with more than a pinch of Will Ferrell-style hamming it up that was lost on the subject.



When he paused to wet his shirt, I accidentally made eye contact with a thoroughly amused couple watching from a distance, who probably saw him start with his first "friend", and it took all of my concentration not to break character and burst out laughing. After twelve or so shots, we parted ways, and I was so pleased that Amanda had surreptitiously captured the experience. My only regret is not exchanging email addresses so that I could have some of the pure gold I captured. Oh, and then he came back and wanted some pictures with his designer "specs". Who could say no?

When it was time, we picked up some groceries, snacked on the pier, and took the ferry back to the mainland. Overall, Capri was nice, but I wouldn't put it on my must-see list. I suppose it's a testament to the rest of the trip that Capri would be relatively uninspiring.

There were some imposing clouds for the afternoon and a brief sprinkle. What did that give us? DOUBLE RAINBOW.



And I have to say, a dinner of yogurt and cereal that evening on the patio hit the spot.