Day 3: Amalfi coast: south to north

Today, we drove up the Amalfi coast!

We checked out of Hotel K (and their hard-as-a-rock matress) at 9:00 when Giovanni arrived. He was a nice, older man whose English was good, if thickly accented. He loaded our suitcases into his BMW, and we were off. It took longer to drive out of Salerno than I had expected, but we also arrived in Ravello quickly.

Well, I say quickly only in comparision to the hour plus I thought the drive would take. Being up on top of a mountain, there were many twists and turns to get up to Ravello itself, and I was feeling quite nauseated by the time we arrived. Giovanni himself was a very smooth driver, but the roads were just too winding.

Being in Ravello about 10:00, there were very few other tourists. Most people drive the opposite direction, thus arriving in Ravello last. So there weren't flocks of people indicating the best streets to wander down. We browsed around the main square, checking out the souvineers. The ceramics were beautiful, but we didn't buy any yet. None of them seemed the perfect colors for our kitchen, and there were just too many choices. We did buy a clock for Corbin's room that features the same frog as his music box my parents bought for him in Barcelona. It's cute, but wasn't packaged well, so I hope we can bring it back in one piece.

We got back in the car and drove on. Fortunately, none of the other towns were far apart or in the mountains, so the drive bothered me very little. All along the way, Giovanni would stop at photo opportunity spots and let us take as much time as we wanted.

The next town was Amalfi, for which the whole coast is named. It *was* full of tourists, but not to the point of being too crowded. The church was beautiful from the outside, and we climbed up the 57 steps to go inside, but turned away when we saw the 3 Euros cover charge. On the main street, we stopped into a place for one slice of pizza and gelati. It was about noon, but Giovanni had recommended that we wait to eat in Positano, so this was just a snack to hold us over. The pizza was not particularly impressive, but still better than anything in Texas. Greg's gelati was kiwi and banana.

Shortly out of town, Giovanni stopped at a large ceramics place with a clean bathroom. We were appreciative of the nice facilities, and bought a medium-sized tile painted with a view of Amalfi.


Positano was a very good choice to do last. It was the prettiest town, and we took lots of pictures. There were many stores, mostly with either women's clothing or gallery paintings outside our price range. We browsed, but didn't buy anything. The parking lot for the car was about halfway up the hill, so for all the steps we walked down to the beach, we later had to retrace back up.

The restaurant we chose was slightly off-center from the beach, so it had a beautiful view of all the people and one of the hillsides. I had some spinich and ricotta raviolini, and Greg had spaghetti with lots of seafood on it. Interestingly, his shrimp were pealed, but the prawn on top was not. The food was very good, and the atmosphere perfect. There were many locals sunning on the beach, a few in the water, and less tourists than I had expected. Possibly because it was after 2:00 and they had already moved on.

From Positano, we drove straight into Sorrento. It started to sprinkle, so Giovanni dropped us off at the main square for half an hour with the loan of an umbrella. We walked up the main street, I got some fruitti di bosco and stracciatella gelati, and we walked back down the parallel market street. There were even more lemon-product stores, and inlaid wood shops. Our time was too short to shop seriously. Giovanni then drove us up to our hotel, which is above Sorrento proper. It's actually farther than I expected, but we were amazed to arrive and see the view. From the roof, which is the street-level entrance, we can see the entire city of Sorrento, with Naples and Vesuvius in the distance. Today was a bit foggy, so we hope that tomorrow we can see farther.

We were very suprised to get a free upgrade when we checked in. The room is wonderful. It is a suite with two bedrooms, and a full kitchenette, all decorated in soft blues and yellows. After resting for an hour, we asked the hotel if there was a restaurant within walking distance. The one next door is closed on Thursday nights, so they recommended another place that would come and pick us up.

That restaurant was rather disappointing. Only tourists were eating there, outside was the only dining location even though there were mosquitos and other insects everywhere, and they played show tunes musak. Very strange. We shared a caprese, which Giovanni had told us that Sorrentine restaurants use mozzerella made from cow's milk. Not having any other mozzerella di bufala yet, we weren't sure, but it did taste different from the imports we get in states. Greg had a steak with tomato sauce, and I had the gnocchi again. Both were fine, but not as wonderful as we had hoped. They drove us back with another couple, and we stood on the rooftop for a few moments to enjoy seeing Sorrento all lit up at night.

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