Our plan for the day was to travel down the coast by boat to the small town of Positano, which is about 4 or 5 miles west of Amalfi on the same peninsula.
During our back and forth with Guiseppe on the previous day, he had indicated that we should go to one of the smaller towns along the coast, and take the boat there so that we would get the pleasure of ridding on the water and seeing the coast line from the ocean. So we got up early and spent a little wandering around the town and Deb did some window shopping. The Duomo (main church in Amalfi) is right off of the main square and as we headed down to the boat launch, we came across a group of Italian Boy Scouts hanging out on the church steps and getting ready for a day trip to somewhere.
The main road comes into town right along the coast, and goes right under a number of the buildings as it comes into the main square. You can see a shot of the road below, as well a picture of the same section of the road taken from the boat as we were waiting on the pier for the boat to Positano.
Waiting for the boat on the pier was also one of our first experiences with Italians and getting into lines. In Germany, as one might expect, it is always a very orderly process when you need to get into a line. At times though you have to struggle with the Chinese in Munich who seem to have no idea of the beginning or end of a line and often just walk to the front and expect everyone to move aside. As we waited for the ferry to Positano it seemed very much the same and while I was initially worried, the ferry was more than large enough to handle everyone, even with all the pushing and jockeying that went on prior to boarding. Since this was a four day weekend, and we were there prior to the major tourist season, almost all of the people we ran into were in fact Italians and not foreigners.
This next picture shows the far hillside of Amalfi and you can see the road heading out of town to the right. I have circled where our apartment was located. If you do a google search on Amalfi Italy, most likely this view will show up in the first set of pictures.
We then travelled the coast line from Amalfi heading west towards Positano. The hillside are crammed with house and villas, some built in the most unlikely of spots, with the road winding its way along, passing in and out of the canyons, sometime high above the water, sometimes down lower. The hillsides also have large areas covered with black netting to protect the lemons and olives that are grown all over this area. We passed many grottos where massive caves were eroded into the hillsides, some of which were above water and some of which were partly submerged. We also passed several old forts and castles, that you can see in the various photo’s, as Amalfi had a long and dangerous history of fending off and being invaded by pirates and raiders from the Barbary coast from across the Mediterranean in Africa.
You can also see the precarious nature of the road quite clearly in this photo below, as it hugs the canyon walls and goes through several tunnels to pass through the various ridges. As you looked at the road from the water, and see some of the supports and bridges that hold it up, it is probably best that you can’t see this view while you are actually driving on the road. You also can get a sense for just how high up the road is in places, and you really wonder how people get down to the water from up above. In the 3rd photo below, if you look closely just left of center below the hotel (the large white building on top of the cliffs) you can actually see a long and winding staircase that you take to get down to the water.
As we arrived at the pier in Positano, we took pictures of each other. You can see the very pretty town behind us and how quickly it rises up along the steep hillside.
As I have noted in the past, Deb and I have a fairly laissez faire attitude towards travel. We book a flight (or rent a car) find a hotel (for all the good it did us this time), buy a tour book, and head on out. So when we arrived in Positano our first task was to sit down, look at the tour book and decide where to go next. Well, on the Amalfi coast next invariably leads up some long and steep staircase!
When I mentioned that it is sometimes hard to believe the nature of the road as it winds along, I think the photo below really highlights that point, as the road wraps around one of the ridges above the town. It really does not look like a car, never mind a giant tour bus, should be driving on that road.
After climbing up and down some of the stairways to get a sense of the town and a vantage of the beach and the ocean, we decided to head over to the Duomo of Saint Stephen, the only church in this little village. Outside the church sat several local folks, just watching the tourists go by, including the gentleman on the right with his dog. I had seen him earlier in the morning, with his dog and his paper, and ran cross him again as we approached the church. I wondered if he moved around town, trying to find the best shady spots and passing the time with his paper, his cigarettes, and his dog. Nice life.
Inside the church, as you would expect, it was lavish and devoted to Saint Stephen. They were preparing for mass, including several young children with a guitar and a flute. Deb stopped and spoke with the director, indicating that her daughter once played the flute as well. He said they would play a certain song just for us at the start of the mass, so we came back at 11 to listen, but never actually heard the song. Later on in the day we saw the director on the ferry back to Amalfi and I though Deb might throw him overboard, as he stiffed us on the song.
We then spent the next few hours wandering around the stairways and alleys of the town. Positano is a major art center, and there were numerous art galleries, many of them very high end and very expensive that we wandered in and out of. Along each of the alleyways there were also all sorts of artists, and we stopped and bought a few small prints at one particular location. Around midday we headed back down to the beach and had a nice lunch at an outdoor restaurant that was located right at the water’s edge.
After lunch we wandered around aimlessly some more, just enjoying the sights and the warm weather. Finally at 2pm we caught the ferry back to Amalfi. This time Deb was in charge of the pictures so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Upon arriving back in Amalfi, we had a short rest and then decided
to do some waking and exploring around the stairways of the area. Our intention
was to walk from Amalfi to the town of Atrani, which was located around ridge
our apartment was situated on. When Guiseppe had shown us the apartment he told us a lot of the history on the area
and also told us that you could follow the stairway up to our apartment all the
way to Atrani and then further on to Ravello. So, after our rest we decided to
give it a try. Most of the picture we have shown give you some idea of the
scale of the area, but I think you can get a much better sense of the size of
the mountains, and the precarious nature of where the houses are built from
this image from Google maps. You can also see across all of the hillsides the
paths and stairways that run up along ever single hillside.
Deb and I set out from our apartment and followed the
stairway until we came to our first fork. It was a bit scary thinking that
these twists and turns were not all that well marked and you could go left or
right and who knows where you might end up. Additionally, I wondered how this
area must be a night, as the stairways are in places underneath buildings and
not always lighted along each section.
We made it across and over the ridge between Amalfi and
Atrani, and got all the way down to the beach at one point. We wandered around,
and then on our way back, took a detour to see if we could make it up the numerous
stairs to a small chapel that looked so darling and yet also looked so far
away. We climbed and climbed and
climbed, passing lemon grove after lemon grove and while it did seem like we were getting
closer, we never actually made it all the way there. I have included a photo
that we took the next day from Ravello which is located on the top of the ridge
above Atrani, and you can see the chapel and get a sense for the height we
tried to climb up. We started at the ocean level just around the ridge and past
the round castle turret in the upper center of the picture, and climbed almost
up to the chapel which is the brilliant white building on the far right of the picture.
On our way back down, we met a local woman who seemed like
she climbed the stairs all the time, and although we did not speak Italian, and
she did not speak English really, she did make fun of the fact that I was
huffing and puffing after our little walk.
It had been a long, hot day as we had started early so we
headed back to our apartment, changed quickly, and then went for a swim in the
Med. It was the first time for me, and although the water was cool, after our
hot day it felt great to float and relax and just bob up and down with the
swells and the waves.
