Hello Friends!
Did you know I’m planning another huge adventure while I’m on this break? I’m starting to flesh in the details now on my trip to the Philippines, Bali, Australia, and Tasmania (yes, I know Tasmania is part of Australia.) Stay tuned for the whole story of all those wonderful places coming soon!!
But this TR is still in full gear, so let’s trudge on, shall we?
This is now Day 3 in the area of Naples and today’s adventures would lead us to the Amalfi Coast. Anara and I took an early train headed to Sorrento. Here is a map of our day’s route for reference:
I can’t stress enough how easy taking the trains is in Italy. Unless you’re with folks who have a harder time getting around and walking and/or it’s your first couple of trips. After that, it’s super simple, even if you’re train gets cancelled. Luckily, this time everything went super smoothly and in about an hour and a half we disembarked in the lovely town of Sorrento. I had done exactly zero research about Sorrento but we headed for a short walk, nonetheless.
I had high hopes for coffee and breakfast with a spectacular view, but sadly, there was nothing on the route we took that was open. We did, however, enjoy the views into the harbor briefly before heading back towards the bus station.
*** A sad note: None of the photos from Sorrento are mine. Somehow, I’ve lost the SD card(s) with these photos and so basically all of the photos from this day are either taken from the internet or from my (or Anara’s) cell phone. I’m sure it’ll turn up at some point, but my life is too topsy-turvy and I’m not home enough to hunt deeply for the missing card(s).
Taking what we could get for breakfast, we ended up at a tiny street café which did the trick nicely. It was great coffee (Italian espresso always is)… just without the harbor overlook.
On the way back to the bus station, we passed a lovely little lemon garden that was irresistible. The warm, filtered light of the trellises invited us in, so we strolled through at a leisurely pace. Again, I’m sad these photos are missing as I spent a fair amount of time trying to get that perfect glisten off of the lemons. Ah well. The memories are what matter. Here’s a photo that gives you a good idea of what we enjoyed on our slow little stroll.
By 10:52 we’d made it back to the station with these little beauties in our hands.
Unfortunately, they were not as useful as I’d hoped. The line up for the bus was very long and we ended up having to wait for about an hour to get on one as they only depart about every half hour (and less frequently as the day goes on), and we’d just missed one. But once on, (thank God we had seats, many did not!) we were in Positano in about another hour. The day was being chewed up and we’d only seen so very little. A word of warning: The road is very curvy, the buses do not go slowly, and there will be times you are positive your bus is not going to fit on the road with an oncoming car. With literally 2-4 spare inches the driver squeezed past on several occasions. If you are lucky, you will even have a seat.
The bus stops are NOT clearly marked anywhere along the SITA route. Remember that.
We got off in Positano and followed the crowd. The obvious place to head was the beach which involves a long, fairly steep trek down, down, down… If you have painful knees think twice. However, while a bit of a hike, it is incredibly beautiful as the path is covered in blooming, purple wisteria vines and lined with local art and boutique shops. All of it was either WAY out of our price range or not reasonable to consider buying and trying to figure out how to get it home (or pay the price on shipping).
Once on the beach we found it to be over-choked with beachside bars and restaurants, each with its own stretch of shaded chairs to rent for the day. Included, of course, was service in which you could order $20 drinks and bougie food. Most of my travels are more budget-minded, so we passed and sought out the nearest bathroom. Relieved, we headed back up the hill with pangs of impending hunger. The fresh lemon ice we took time to enjoy was the perfect little refresher before trekking up the hill.
Time to find real food.
When we arrived at what we thought was the bus stop, we waited.
For a long time.
Remember, they only run about once an hour. There was a cute pottery shop nearby so we popped in there and browsed.
I couldn’t find just the right olive oil dispenser I was looking for so back out the “bus stop” we went. Only to have a bus pass us and stop 2 blocks up. This really irritated me because the driver and we made solid eye contact and we waved at him, while starting to run. But apparently, they wait for no one. Exasperated, we hailed a taxi and $50 later we found ourselves in Praiano. Totally price-gouged, but what ya gonna do?
Did lunch make up for it? OH HECK YES! Overlooking the simply gorgeous Church of Saint Januarius, we dined al fresco under the warm, Italian sun with a gentle breeze to our faces. Our view was nothing short of perfection with the colorful hillside homes decorating the slopes near the sea.
A Danish couple was dining at the next table, and we struck up a conversation with them about our respective travels. It was easy talking over olives, wine, and a fresh-from-the garden Caprese salad. Next came our main dishes, and while I can’t remember what Anara ordered, mine was amazing- a big serving of rigatoni in pesto with warm, fresh bread. Heaven!
We didn’t want to leave Praiano without walking the few steps down to the church below and it was perfect timing. The belled tolled the hour and we had the whole small square to ourselves for photos and solitude.
We eventually made our way back up to the main highway and successfully caught the SITA bus headed for Amalfi. (With the stop at the Grotto della Smeraldo tucked in after lunch as we headed to Amalfi.) I also popped into one last ceramics shop and bought a cute little olive oil container painted with lemons as a souvenir from the area. Success! (See last chapter!)
The day was heading towards late afternoon, and I knew that the ferries back to Naples only ran so late. We were already cutting it close. I found out how close when we got to the ferry ticket booth as was sold the last 2 tickets for the last ferry out. PHEW!!! That would have been a colossally expensive blunder! (A side note: If we’d missed the ferry, we could have taken another taxi into Salerno and picked up a train back to Naples as well, so I did have a back up plan.)
The ferry sailed in about half an hour, so we had just enough time to take a couple of photos (which I’ve lost) of the ferry/bus terminal area. (I sure hope that card turns up!) Nevertheless, we hopped on the ferry that returned us to Naples with a very brief stop at Capri to pick up the last remaining tourists and the swarthy young Italian men that served as the tour guides on the island.
The sunset was spectacular as we neared the Naples ferry landing and without too much more ado, we hailed a taxi back to our room for the night.
And that, my friends, is how we spent 1 day on the Amalfi Coast. I think for me personally, it went under-appreciated mostly because we simply didn’t have enough time to really enjoy the things I’d planned and wanted to do. There are oodles of smaller villages along the way with what look like incredible gardens, the famous Fiore de Furore, and it would have been nice to relax on the beach even if for just half a day.
I won’t lie, the bus situation was frustrating to be sure. They are slow and motion-sickness inducing. Renting a car is really not advised but would maybe be more convenient. Taxis are WAY too expensive, so the getting from place to place is almost not worth the hassle. Anyway, there is my honest assessment. Perhaps again someday…
