Amalfi Coast … Wow

Naples, Italy is the first of our three stops in Italy.  We did much research and decided to book our tours with a company called Rome In Limo Tour Sharing.  What you do is you book a tour with them and then you try and get other people to join the tour (using the Roll Call on Cruise Critic) which makes it much more economical.  We got no takers for the Amalfi Coast, Positano, Amalfi & Ravello Tour so we switched it to a private one (500 Euros).  We were met at the port by Stefano who would be our driver for today.  We got into a beautiful Mercedes Benz van (which holds 8 people) and started out of the port.  Stefano explained to us that the Sorrento Coast and the Amalfi Coast are different but both beautiful.  He asked if we wanted to go to Sorrento, that we would have to drop a town on the Amalfi Coast.  Karen and I both agreed that we just wanted to see the Amalfi Coast.  We did see a little bit of Sorrento when we drove above it.

The first stop on our tour was Positano.  The drive to the town was stunning just like everybody says it is.  The roads have many sharp turns and narrow lanes.  It is also five hundred feet above sea level.  There are also many cars parked on the sides.  It reminds me of the Road to Hana.  We stopped at an overlook so that we could see Positano from above.  WOW is a word that was used a lot today.

Since Stefano could not drive right into the heart of Positano, he dropped us off at a parking lot and we decided to meet back up in a hour.   The walk down to the beach is strenuous but it is made a little easier with the various cafes and shops.  Once we got down to the beach, we quickly put our feet in and it was refreshing.  It is not a sandy beach, rather it is a pebbly beach.  There were many people swimming and many more people taking various boat trips.

We met back up with Stefano and continued down the coast.  During our time in the car, Stefano was always willing to answer any questions we had and give us so much information about life in this part of Italy.  He told us that he was born, raised and still lives in Sorrento.  His father is a fisherman, his brother is a chef who also grows his own olives.  His harvest will yield him about two hundred liters of olive oil.  Stefano also told us about Mount Visuvieus and how scientists are predicting that there will be a huge eruption in the next eight to ten years.

We arrived in the town of Amalfi and once again Stefano dropped us off and said he would pick us up in a hour.  The first thing we had to do was to find ourselves someplace to have some pizza specifically Margherita pizza.  Stefano explained that the pizza was named after the first Queen of Italy, Margherita.  The pizza was created to honor the King and Queen’s first visit to Naples.  The colors of the Italian flag are represented in the pizza.  The green is basil, the white is mozzarella and the red is tomatoe.  Pizza will never taste this good at home.

After lunch, we walked around the narrow streets which are lined with many shops selling beautiful souvenirs of Amalfi like ceramics and limoncello.  In the Piazza Duomo (the main square) is the Cathedral of St. Andrew, a beautiful church with a very large staircase going up to it.  We saw a bride and groom walking through the parking lots obviously just being married there.  Before we knew it, it was time to meet up with Stefano.

We left the coast and headed inland (another five hundred feet above sea level) to the town of Ravello.   We had about an hour here as well.  Stefano suggested that we go to the Villa Rufolo since it has beautiful grounds.  Boy I am glad that we took his suggestion.  We walked around the remaining parts of the building which had many interesting features.  In the summer, the Villa is home to music society performance with the stage projecting out over the sea.  We left the Villa and spent the rest of the time in the narrow streets that run off of the Piazza Duomo.

We started our trip back to the port around 3:45pm.  Stefano wanted to make sure he got us back in time since traffic is very bad at that time of the day.  The trip back was not along the coast but down the back side of the mountain. More stunning views this time of the Provence of Naples.  We said our goodbyes to Stefano promising to come for a much longer visit next time.  He was even kind enough to give us a bottle of limoncello.

By this time it was 6:00pm and we were hungry.  There is a 24 hour restaurant called Blue Lagoon and they have a very small menu but it does include chicken wings.  I have been dying to go there so we thought why not go there and have appetizers.  After finishing off the chicken wings and warm artichoke dip, we headed to the Raffles Court to enjoy the buffet.  After dinner, we watched the sail away before retiring for the evening.  Tomorrow we are headed to Rome and it will be another action packed day.