Farewell to Positano

It's hard to believe we have been in Positano for a week.  Our villa was more than we all had dreamed of.  With it's beautiful outdoor terrace overlooking the  azure blue Mediterranean Sea, we enjoyed meals, drinks, converstions and moments of breathtaking scenery.  

I loved going out of my bedroom terrace late at night watching the fishing boats do their work or watching the mega yachts all lit up for everyone in the mountainside to see they are there.  One morning I woke up at 5 AM and just watched the sunrise over the harbor.  Little did I know I would be treated to a helicopter taking off from one of the mega yachts at the crack of dawn.

We ventured out to many of the small towns and always come back to breathtaking Positano...the loveliest of the Amalfi Coast cities.  It's homes built up the raveen, it's shops of linen and lace on every hairpin turn.  The RESTAURANTS...not a single bad one in town.  The bakeries...oh the bakeries!!!.  The down hill walk...the one I made at least 2 times a day if not more and then the uphill walk back.

The narrow streets with traffic that was never ending.  Busses, Mercedes galore, scooters, motorbikes, fiats, fancy cars..everyone trying to get there amidst the pedestrian traffic and traffic jams.  Be carefull, walk as close to the side of the street as possible, you might just get hit by a side mirror.

We dined in some memorable restaurants.  Chez Black on the beach, Capitano with it's dining hanging out over the  cliff, Mediterano with a most memorable night singing italian songs with a soloist who was really good.  A great little place in Ravello with the freshest pasta and Santa Croche in Nocella with pasta to die for.  It seemed everywhere I went I was always ordering Melon and parma ham. No melon in the world tastes like it does here.  We also dined chez Nora and the gang.. pasta, risoto, chicken, parma ham, olives, cheese ect.  We had  a great little grocery store down the street who kept our villa supplied with bottle water, meats, olives, cheeses, croisants. Our villa owner, Matteo supplied us with enough fresh fruit to last the week and a very nice bottle of preseco.

We had our wine shop we would stop in to get enough bottles for the day, along with lots I mean lots of Lemoncello.  A quite friendly man who I had the pleasure of dancing down the street with  last night to his wine shop to buy more lemoncello to take to the UK.

One thing I enjoyed everyday on my walk down to the beach was the dogs I became accustomed to petting along the way.  There was Thelma and Louiise Matteo's dogs, Lola his cat. A couple westies, a pug, a few terriors, yellow lab and the most amazing minature poodle down on the docks that loved it's owner so much he would do anything for him.  It was obvious that his owner loved him just as much.  He went everywhere with him in his boat and on the dock. I had wanted to get a photo of him this morning when we left but they wern't there.  His name was Easy!! 

I'm sure you have heard me mention the stairs but OMG I have never seen so many stairs in my life.  I made the unfortunate mistake of taking the stairs from Fornillo beach the first day and it ruined me for the rest of the trip.  The shin splints were so bad I asked the pharmacist for help.  After helping me he proceeded to tell me that walking the path was not going to happen for me on this trip.

I very hapheartly got onto the bus as much as I could.  Partly because my shins hurt and partly to try and get over a phobia of cars on cliffs...I think possibly I am better on the latter.  Riding the bus here one cannot be squemish when hanging on the cliffs.  It's amazing what these guys do. Narrow roads, hairpin turns, hugging the cliffs with a little stone wall to guard you.  Backing up against a cliff that drops hundreds of feet..I really cannot explain what it's like to ride a bus here.  exhallirating and terrifying at the same time.  I did it and I conquered it!!

My last entry here for Positano is the porters...Blu Porters that is.  These guys showed up this morning, just two of them to deliver our luggage to the ferry.  I could not believe they carried down 10 bags in one trip.  They took their belts off, tied two bags together with their belts, slung them over their shoulder, placed two more bags on their shoulder and carried one in each hand down 70 steps.  I mean STEEP steps. Absolutely amazing.   They delivered our luggage to the ferry and we were off on Ferry, trains and Florence.

 

Pathway of the Gods....

It's what we had come to do while on the Amalfi Coast.  We would base out of Positano and hike the Pathway of the Gods.  That's what the majority of the group was able to do. For me, I had to stay back and take a bus to the finish line!!!  The 600 stairs I had climbed on Sunday gave me the worst shin splints that it was impossible for me to do this hike. 

 Very disappointing for me since I wanted to try and photograph the scenic places along the path.

The group set out by 9 AM Wednesday, hired a taxi for the hour ride to the trail head and procedded to do this:

Its name already recalls the mythological landscapes of the Greek Olympus and, for sure, no other name could describe better the amazing view offered from this mountain trail. From this trekking path, situated half way up Mount Sant'Angelo a Tre Pizzi (with three peaks) it is possible to admire one of the most striking panoramas of the World: an incomparable overview from the Cilento (province situated South of Salerno) to the Island of Capri. 

It is a walking track between the towns of Agerola, Praiano and Positano, at an average height of 500 meters above sea level and it offers a memorable challenge within the local environment. 

The suggestion is to start from Bomerano, a district of the town of Agerola situated at 650 meters above sea level, and walk along the path to reach Nocelle, a small district above Positano at approx. 2 ½ to 3 hours walking distance.

The first site to visit along this nature trail, coming from Bomerano, is the Grotta del Biscotto (at 524 meters above sea level), named after its geologic conformation, similar to the shape of a biscuit bread (typical product of Agerola).

The pass of Colle Serra, situated at 578 meters above sea level, halfway point, reachable also from Praiano, but in this case walking back towards Bomerano, is where the "pinnacolo" is located. This is where a memorial tablet has been placed to remember Giustino Fortunato, who gave the name to this trail.

The surroundings are a continuous blooming of the Mediterranean bush, a mixture of chestnut trees, holm oaks, alders and corbezzolo trees. With some luck it is possible to catch sight of one of the peregrine hawks that live here.

The last stretch is a path rich of uphills and downhills that end up in the district of Nocelle (420 meters above sea level), a small rural village, from where it is possible to reach the main road SS 163 walking down 1500 steps towards Arienzo or continuing the walk towards Montepertuso, another "uphill" district of Positano, from where it is possible to catch a small local bus down.

I proceeded to do laundry and then catch the bus to Nocella... As I was starting the walk down to what was the town of Nocella...just a few inhabitants, I came across this man preparing to make the trek down with his wine and a bigbag of something.

I followed him down....

It was fun coming across these markings on the walls of the town...

This is the Kiosk...a little respite for the begining or end of this segment.  Get a cold one here and also food.  It sits on the cliff looking down to Positano.

 

Just a sliver of the view...

Can you see how hight up we are??

 I also watched this man remove fruit from a cactus tree.  Looked like prickly pear...

Jay was the first to arrive..thrilled at his cliff hiking.

Then came the rest of the group about 30 minutes later.. It took them about 3 hours to hike the 5 miles.

After they all arrived we headed to the Santa Croce Restaurant for another fabulous meal...

I even got to look in their new kitchen..

Now it was time to descend....Linda, Carol and I by bus...

 And the rest of the group by 1600 steps....

Caio!!!

Amalfi and Ravello..shopping, cliffs and more shopping.

Today we ventured out agian by ferry boat.  We planted ourselves on the 10 AM ferry headed to Amalfi.

The boat ride was beautiful.  We cruised along the coast past Priano and the super yachts in the Harbor of Positano.

We found out that if we had $600,000 to just give away...we could treat 10 of our friends to a fabulous week on this yacht.

It comes with lots of toys and a big blow up slide that was on the other side.  FUN

Amalfi.....

We hopped a bus to Ravello..what an experience.  I would say 10 minute drive up to the top with hairpin turns and cliffs on your right.  Another moment I could have peed my pants.

A church in Ravello...

Lemoncello  everywhere

And Ceramics....

 

And Wine

And Linens...OMG the Linens...of course I bought some!!!

Ravello high on the hill above Amalfi.

There is always time for Wine and Drugs...

It's these back alleyways that always get you in trouble.

Pizaaz in Ravello

This looks like a nice place to have a bite to eat!!  Just at the edge of Ravello.  Now remember, we started in a bus all the way down by the water and drove up a narrow road to get to here. YIKES

We headed back down to Amalfi in a bus packed to the gills...now I know what a can of sardines feels like.

Once we got to the bottom we headed into take a look at the PIizza in Amalfi.  What a beautiful church they have their.  It feels like Amalfi is the biggest city on the Amalfi Coast.

Just loved this fountain!!! People were drinking water out of it.

This lady was having fun dipping her kid to the spout to drink the water.  The little boy was in heaven!!

This is the beautiful church in Amalfi.  I think I have seen it on the Borgias.

Time for future Christmas Card Photos...first Theron and Margaret.....

Then Jay and Cindy

Our day is over and we are headed back to Positano by ferry.  They have bottle service on the ferry!!  This guy can open a bottle of beer with a Pelligrino can.. What finesse.

These towers are all along the coast.  I believe they are left from the era of the Romans

Would you feel safe living in a place that is built above a huge cave?  

That's all folks...tomorrow....They hike, I relax and then find a way to meet up at the top of the trail in Nocella.

CAPRI.... Blue Grotto, vistas and SHOPPING for custom made sandals

We took the ferry to Capri today.  It takes roughly 50 minutes to arrive to the island of the rich and famous.  This is where we caught another boat to the Blue Grotto.  First you pay 32

Euro round trip  per couple to take the ferry to Capri, then you pay 26 Euro for a boat ride to the Blue Grotto,then you pay another 26 euro to get in a row boat to be taken into the Blue Grotto by row boat and then the row boat guy tells you to tip him 5 euro a person if he does a good job.  Holy crap, but you are here and you must do it so you can brag to everyone you know you've been in the BlueGrotto.

So here are my hilarious photos of the Blue Grotto and maybe some video too!!

Ok, now that that's all done it was time to tour around the island.  We hired a convertable car and driver for really 6 but he fit 7 in and took us to Ani Capri where part of the group went and road a chair lift to the top of the mountain.  See that road up there on the mountain...well we drove that.  I thought I was going to pee my pants.  Especially when he had to stop to allow another bus to go by us.

 A shrine for the VIrgin Mary ( I mean Grotto)  Nora Securing her place in Heaven..

Now while everyone else was going up the chair life I was having custom made sandals made for me by this famous guy.  Hear Jackie O use to wear his sandles.  Oh that makes me special

Yep...that's my sandals he'smaking there..Don't know why this is typing red and underlines.

We  headed to the other side of the island where the rich and famous were hanging in their boats for the day.

The famous clocktower in Capri.

 I hear La Perla panties are the bomb...unfortunately I didn't find out. 

 The view when you get off the finicular, to the upper part of town.

Now this is the way to travel in Capri..unfortunatly the guy had a tude.