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Published: August 9th 2007
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Today we did the famed drive along the Amalfi Coast. I had been planning on sitting on the right side of the bus to get the best views, but by the time I got down there, everyone had already boarded. Luckily, Chris offered for me to sit next to her by the window since she's tall and can see over me.
The coast is amazing... at one point we saw a swimming pool carved right out of the side of a cliff. There's a cute miniature version of the town of Praiano set into the cliff by the highway. We saw another one of these mini-towns later in the week also, I wish I could have taken a picture, but the bus was moving too fast.
The traffic on the road to Amalfi is almost as amazing as the scenery, but not in a good way. The road is only wide enough for one giant tour bus, so private busses are only allowed to go one way. On some parts of the road, even an oncoming car is a hairy situation, but Pasquale, our bus driver, was able to squeeze that giant bus into places I never thought possible.
He was so calm about it, too... at one point we met another tour bus travelling illegally in the opposite direction, and Pasquale had to back our bus up around a curve in order to let him by. I was watching him in the mirror, thinking surely he would mutter something or make some kind of gesture (the Italians do love their gestures), but he was not fazed at all.
Amalfi was a cute little town, though pretty packed with tourists. The Duomo (Cathedral) is amazing inside, very grand and majestic. We walked from Amalfi to another town called Atrani, and then set off for Ravello.
We had lunch in Ravello at a place called Bonadies, with a view of the cliffs out the large windows.
In Ravello, we toured two Italian villas -- Via Cimbrone which is now a hotel, and Villa Rufolo which is the location of the Ravello Music Festival each year.
On the way back from Ravello, we had some more traffic problems, this time in the form of a herd of goats and sheep that decided to graze on the road.
In the evening, some of the others went to
an optional folk dance dinner while I decided to just go shopping in Sorrento and take it easy. I was in bed at 11:15 pm, when my phone rang... it was Adrienne, the 22 year old girl that I had become buddies with a couple days before (and the only other young person on the tour, besides the 11 year old.)
"Hey, Kristen! Antonio and I are going out for some drinks, you wanna come?"
"Uhh, no thanks, I'm trying to get some sleep..."
"Aww, come on! I'm going to introduce him to the Irish Car Bomb!"
"I'm in my pajamas..."
"Pajamas are okay!"
*sigh*
As I roll myself out of bed and wonder how many more times she's going to do this to me...
We went to the Irish Pub which was packed, and Antonio was the ONLY Italian in the entire place. One Irish Car Bomb, a White Russian, and another strange Italian drink later, I am back in bed at 2 am, dreading my 7 am wake-up call. Ahh, to be 22 again.
*Don't forget to click "Next" for the second page of photos...
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