The highlight of the morning was breakfast at the small Hotel where we are staying.
We have had a cornetto and coffee every morning for breakfast so far,so it was with some relief that we were able to have muesli, yoghurt and fruit salad ....and cornettos as well as course! And I had my first cup of tea since I left home: it's the small things that give you pleasure when you're travelling! But I will be back on board with everything italian from here on, after this small lapse, I promise!
Mind you, I did have a headache for most of the morning which I think might be because I have developed a coffee addiction. After a couple of coffees in the afternoon - one of them a very nice granita - the headache disappeared. I'm sure that's a bad sign.
After a quiet morning we attempted to book tickets for a boat tour but were told the weather was too bad. Now there had been showers during the night, and it looked a bit grey, but there are two things we have learned about italian weather:
A. Do not pay any attention to the weather forecasts as they are invariably wrong.
B. The weather changes more times in a day than Melbourne.
Despite the doom and gloom of the boat operator it has been mostly sunny and beautiful today with a few random spots of rain only.
So we decided we would see how the other half lives, and we caught the bus to Positano which is the equivalent of Noosa on the Amalfi I would say, although far more exclusive. We had a wander around,which in Positano basically means you go up and down stairs. The only flat land is the actual 'beach' and the road (which is great if you want to play Chicken with the trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles and occasional crazy cyclists!). To avoid spending lots of money in some very tempting shops we left!
We decided to see the next best resort and caught the ferry to Amalfi which took about 25 minutes, It was a great way to appreciate the tenacity of those who live work and play along the coastline. Anyone who is happy to trudge up lots of stairs to get to anywhere from their abode deserves a medal. The photos show how steep the cliffs are and the ingenuity that has gone into the buildings, lemon groves and roads that cling to them.
As you can see from the photos Positano is a vertical town: the photo with the circular ledge shows how the roads are constructed : that ledge is not on solid ground and is actually part of the very narrow road which is the main access to Positano. Amalfi and all of the small towns along the coast are the same and some dwellings seem so high on the mountains it's impossible to see how they would be accessed as roads are few and far between.
After we had climbed a few long sets of stairs - me puffing and panting, and Ewan's left achilles causing pain - Ewan made the classic comment (as he looked at even more stairs to reach someone's front door): " You wouldn't want to be trying to get a fridge in there - small appliances would be the go!" Very practical my husband!
If you're thinking the beaches of the Amalfi Coast are white sand and picture perfect forget it: basically you pay for a beach chair to sun yourself on, in preference to lying on grey pebbles. Sand?? What's that??
We finished a lovely day by having dinner on the terrace which hangs out over the cliffs here in Praiano. There were even fireworks to celebrate the festival of Saint Maria. After a fairly ordinary dinner here last night ( the worst lasagna I've ever tasted) I ordered a pizza with vegetables hoping it would be OK, and it was fabulous. The old man who owns the hotel (we think!) fired up the wood pizza oven and the pizzas he produced were great. To Ewan's great excitement he also owns two red Fiat Bambinos - one 40 years old and the other 25! Both of them very tiny compared to the current version.
Tomorrow we have a big day catching the ferry from Salerno to Messina in Sicily - we will probably arrive there at midnight after a 9 hour ferry trip.
Time to make the acquaintance of the mafia!
your brave traveller
Dianne
PS For our daughters: you might be interested to know that your father has FINALLY listened to your fashion advice about NOT wearing two different checks or stripes at the same time. He specifically bought a plain shirt today as the only clean clothes left would have caused a clash and he knew you wouldn't approve! Miracles do happen! DA
Good one Ewan.
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