The famed Amalfi Coast is as beautiful and stunning as everyone claims it to be. It's the southern side of the Sorrento Peninsula about an hour by train/bus from the center of Naples.
Unlike the Cinque Terre (same mountains meet the sea terrain) which are linked by hiking trail and train, the towns of the Amalfi Coast are connected by a winding edge of your seat road. Riding the bus is part of the experience. You get on and look out the window over the edge of the cliff right down into the sea.
Melody and I stayed in the town of Positano, which is probably the most charming and expensive. It's much less commercial and tourist invaded than Amalfi or Sorrento because tour buses can't reach it.
Positano at sunrise.
The same view as above, looking up into the hills of Positano. As night came, it was awesome to watch the twinkle of the lights take over the valley.
Every Italian town has a duomo!
The weather the entire weekend was beautiful (the weather forecast called for rain) and we took a boat from Positano to the town of Amalfi. The coast is eroding away and I thought this "cave" was totally cool.
The duomo in the town of Amalfi is a mix if Byzantine and Romanesque. The staircase to the duomo is the gathering point of the town.
The Sorrento Peninsula is known for its lemons. The nets cover the lemon trees to keep the trees insulated. Melody and I found Amalfi to be overrun with tourists so we decided to try and hike.
But we took a wrong turn and decided to eat our lunches in front of the house of this charming man, Luigi. I took a picture with him because I had a breakthrough on this trip with my Italian. I spoke with Luigi for a full 7-10 minutes in Italian and we talked about Amalfi, Soccer and each other. Melody and I made friends with a waiter in Positano who told me I spoke Italian with a Viterbesi accent. My language skills are skyrocketing!
Even in Amalfi, vegetable oil is being recycled.
Deciding to abandon our hike, Melody and I took the bus to Ravello, which is perched 1,000 feet above the coast. It ended up being the highlight of the day. At the far end of town, on a high chunk of land is Villa Cimbrone, which was created/rehabilitated by an Englishman in the early 1900's
"Here, in the spring of 1938, the divine Greta Garbo escaped the clamor of Hollywood and met with Leopold Stokowsky for a time of secret happiness"
This wisteria draped lane is called the "Avenue of Immensity." As you can see, Spring has sprung in Italy.
Villa Cimbrone has copies of a number of famous statues. I was excited to find a copy of Verrocchio's David. I did a presentation on him in Art History class where I talked about his pose, hand on hip and line of sight being the essence of the new confident and forward looking Renaissance male. I summarized it by saying, he was the first "porn star".
The best view from Villa Cimbrone comes at the "Infinite Terrace". Here's what it's like looking down.
Melody and I commented on how cute this old man was. I'll add him to my Old Italian Men series. I ended up talking with him and finding out he was 82 years old. I understood none of the rest of the conversation, however.
Positano at dusk. The seafood was amazing and company even better. Thanks for a great couple weekends, Mel!
