AMALFI COAST (Tues 9 June)

We’re off to see the Amalfi Coast today. We caught an early bus from Sorrento and this will take us through to Amalfi, then we change buses (to a smaller one) to continue the journey to Solerno. This is a hop on hop off affair, but we have decided to go all the way to Solerno and then hop off at Amalfi and Positano on the way back.
The main attraction on the Amalfi Coast run, seems to be the road, which holds quite a reputation. This is why we are taking the bus. The advantage of driving is that you can hop and take photos at points along the road (although there are not many spots you can do this), the advantage of taking the bus is that you don’t have to worry about being pushed off the road, or worry about parking in the towns which is often both impossible and illegal. As it turned out, the road wasn’t as bad as what we were expecting. There were very tight winding parts, and places where buses need to fold in their wing mirrors to pass each other. According to the guide book this road is ‘one of the all-time great white-knuckle rides’. In our opinion, this is bollocks. We have driven on worse roads over the last few weeks, the only difference is that the Amalfi has a shear cliff on both sides. The unwritten road rule here is that ‘size does matter’, the biggest vehicle wins, and that is usually a bus (there are lots of them). You always give way to buses. But they are very helpful, they toot their horn when approaching every corner and then just continue on at full speed. So if you are driving a car, and you hear a horn … stop!
Regarding the scenery, it is pretty incredible. A very scarred landscape, showing the ravages of time and probably a few earthquakes.
When we arrived in Solerno, we decided it was time to leave. To be fair we only saw the port area, but for us the most interesting part of Salerno, was the drive there.
Our next hop off was at Amalfi. A vey nice place. We wandered around for a bit, found the Basilica but decided not to go in. What we did find out while here was that the remains of St Andrew are in a crypt here. There is a set of traffic lights in Amalfi (up one of the skinny side roads), but if what we saw was the norm, they get ignored. This resulted in a tourist in a late model BMW 4WD being forced by a truck to reverse several hundred metres down a narrow winding road, dodging gaggles of pedestrians all around him. And the truck had a red light – remember that size does matter.
Evidentally Amalfi used to be a very successful town. After the fall of the Roman empire, it was one of the first cities to trade with the east. Their main export being paper – a valuable commodity. But a Tidal wave and the plague, put an end to that.
Then it was back onto the bus and off to Positano. From the bus to the main waterfront area is a steep footpath and steeps that seem to descend forever. But each corner discloses another gem. Houses built on near vertical rock faces (they have probably been there for hundreds of years), a large expanse of bougainvillea in flower (it is everywhere at the moment), breathtaking views. When on the waterfront you get to see tourist commercialism in full force. The usual hotels with their rental deck chairs, Restaurants, clothes stores, and artists selling their cheap as chips paintings (and they look it). There is after all nothing to do here but eat, shop, and soak up the sun … it’s a tough life isn’t it.
Regarding the fenced off beaches and rental deck chairs, that is something that we still haven’t got used to. You can be next to hundreds of kms of beach and yet have no public access so that you can even get your feet wet. We are missing our beach walks. Despite all of this Positano is a very picturesque town and well worth the visit.
From here it was home. And so ended another glorious Italian day. Listening to the band in the hotel up the hill playing ‘YMCA’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’ very loudly … oh well … nowhere is perfect.