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OCT 30 TO NOV 3
We left Porto Santo Stefano and headed for Praiano on the Amalfi coast. Things were roaring along nicely until we hit the outer perimeter of Rome and then it came to a screeching halt. It took more than an hour and a half to get around Rome and on the way to Naples. This should have been a 20 minute ride. The good part was you could pull in to a service area, get gas, have lunch and still only lose about 20 positions in line. We had been wondering if Monday was a holiday and now we had our answer. It was the last 3 day weekend of the year. After a while the traffic broke loose and we were roaring down the road a 83 mph in our Panda. Scary as it sounds. After Naples we headed for Sorrento on a small 2 lane road and were again in stop and go traffic. The Panda is not a comfortable car to drive and all the clutch action was beginning to make my leg hurt. We discovered the main problem on this road was the tunnel around Vico Equense was closed, so all the traffic had to wind it's way through the narrow streeted village. Once we cleared the city we were moving again. We crossed over the peninsula at Meta and once on the other, side traffic was light. We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks and I got more discouraged with this area. This is the trashiest place I have seen in Italy. That and the traffic were putting me off on this area.
took these buses 5 minutes to manuveur past each other
There are beautiful pictures of apartments and hotels on the internet on the Amalfi coast. But, you have to be very careful. Two important things are, how many steps and parking. It may say "only 500 meters" from the road. Well that is a quarter mile and the steps can be straight up. "Parking available near by" could mean it is in the next town. I was glad to see my research had paid off and our apartment was right on the road (but quiet) and only 3 floors up. We stopped in the road to unload, shutting down one lane. So after the luggage was out of the car, I had to move it. The parking "was just down the road past the large green tree". Fortunately that was only 500 meters. By the time I got back the owner, her husband and Vicki had carried all the luggage up to the apartment. I am liking this arrangement.
Our attitude to Amalfi changed somewhat once we were in the apartment. It was very large and comfortable and had a large balcony with a great view. The little village is perfect. On the sort of level main street is everything we need; grocery store and "barberro" down below and several restaurants that are still open. Most hotels and restaurants are closed and many will close after this weekend.
Views from the Balcony
One of the advantages of staying in small villages are you are pretty quickly accepted into the small community and people talk to you every day. Especially if you do what they do. Go every morning for a coffee and buy your groceries everyday in the local grocery.
our neighbors and grocers
Over the 5 days we ventured up and down the coast. Sorrento is a very famous city so I felt we ought to got there to see it. It was a bust. Just another big city. In all the "tourist" cities the prices are very high. In Praiano I get a coffee and a croissant for 1'60 euros. In the town of Amalfi, that was flooded with Americans and others, a coffee alone was 2 euros.
There are quite a few large Mercedes Vans carrying tourists back and forth on the coast. I learned if you get behind them they stop at all the good scenic spots. They just stop in the road and I would stop right behind them and get out and take pictures.
when he stops, you stop. we got out to take pictures, his passengers stayed in the van
I know a little about weather forecasting, but I have never quite figured out the weather patterns here. I do not feel bad as neither have the paid forecasters. Here is the forecast and actual weather:
- Monday- rain steady in the morning turning to heavy downpours and thunder in the afternoon
- Monday actual- Sunny all day
- Tuesday- rain steady AM and PM with heavy down pours at times
- Tuesday actual- Partly cloudy to sunny
- Wednesday- rain in AM ending in PM
- Wednesday actual- Sunny, Sunny, Sunny
We did have a heavy rain late Monday night for 3 hours.
Our last day of total touring the weather however, was excellent. So off we walked from Praiano to the famous of town of Positano. The only bad part of the walk was our scheduled time as it seems all the tour buses from the cruise ships came at the same time.
We got to Positano in about 1.5 hours. As we meandered down the narrow streets to the water, we decided that Italian must be the second language here, because everyone was speaking english. At about 11:30 they must have blown a whistle that only cruise ship people can hear, because the town literally emptied. We decided to have a coffee on the waterfront, but at the 3'50 eur price we could just not get ripped off that bad. We walked a few hundred yards back into town and had a lovely coffee for 0'80 eur. The owner is the only one to stay open all year round and caters to the locals. He said a place is rated by it's coffee and bathrooms. He got a 10 all the way around.
After a light lunch on the climb back out of town we decided to skip the bus and walk back home. Again it was a perfect walk. The sights are fantastic.
cruise ship bus. 3 abreast
the beach in positano
taking a break
the international herald (top row) in the old days before direct dial international phone calls and long before cellphones and internet. the tribune was the main source of info in english in europe. but, most interesting, was the classifieds. it was full of secret messages for spies and lovers. made great reading and sparked the imagination.
vicki got tired of walking and decided i should buy her one of these to ride home. Ferrari 612, retail $312,000...before options and dealer costs. i here you can get it red.
back home
We thank Britta Luttjohann for her kind assistance while we stayed in her apartment.
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