The Amalfi Coast

September 20, 2005; Bologna, Italy; Tuesday noon; SAIS Cafe

I promise that I will post about Bologna next, but right now, I thought I would write about the little trip I took this weekend. Late Friday afternoon a group of us decided to head to the Amalfi Coast for 3 days. Along with Amsterdam, the Amalfi Coast is one of the places that I HAD to visit while in Italy, so I jumped at the chance to go....

We decided to stay in Sorrento and then go visit the coast and Capri from there. After a 5-hour train ride, we arrived in Napoli and then had to take another train about an hour to Sorrento. Of course, when we checked into the youth hostel, the front desk informed us that we had been moved to their other hostel, a bit outside the city. Don't worry, they said, there is a very dependable van to bring you back into the city. Right.....When we tried to get back to the city, we waited for an hour for the van driver, who we nicknamed Pepe, to come get us. Finally, some friend of the hostel had to drive us back into town.

So, Saturday night, after getting back into town, we headed to Positano, which was my number one destination. It is probably the town, with its buildings perched precariously on a hillside, that people most often think about when they think of the Amalfi Coast.Of course, by the time we got there it was dark out. But we still walked around and had a nice dinner.

This is a picture of Positano during the day.....

On Sunday, we traveling to the Isle of Capri, taking a very fun hydrofoil that sailed through the largest ocean swells I've ever seen in real life. The day was so beautiful--warm, sunny. Apparently Bologna was cold and rainy on Sunday, so Capri was the place to be. Unfortunately the seas were too rough for us to visit the famed Blue Grotto, but of well. We hiked up to the former home of Tiberious, which dated to 200 BC, and visited Anacapri, where I went on the most amazing chair-lift ride. The hike up to Villa Jovis, Tiberious' home, was especially interesting, because you walked along a narrow paved path, right past the gates of what looked to be some incredible houses.

The Grand Marina in Capri.......................................... The hustle and bustle of Capri......

The Church I visited in Capri on Sunday............. Kiwis growing from the ceiling......

(Above)The most amazing chairlift ride.....

(Left) Me atop of Monte Solarno, after the chairlift ride

The last ferry from Capri back to Sorrento was scheduled to leave at 7 PM. This time was posted EVERYWHERE. We arrive at 6:45 to buy our tickets and find out the last ferry left at 6:30. This was listed on a small sheet of paper posted in the window of the ticket booth, where you buy your tickets to go back. NOT in the ticket booth in Sorrento where we bought our tix in the morning. So, by the time you learned of this schedule, you had already missed the ferry. Good times....Instead we took a ferry to Napoli, which took twice as long, and then had to take a train back to Sorrento, which took another hour. All told, the trip to Sorrento that should have taken 25 minutes, took 4 hours. What fun!!

On Monday, the rest of my group headed to Pompeii (which I have already been to), while I headed back to the Amalfi Coast, to see Positano and the other towns in daylight. Of course, it started to pour. I decided to just see Positano from the bus and travel straight to Amalfi, hoping that the rain would stop by the time I got there. Lucky for me, it did, so I had a great 2 hours in Amalfi....

And that was pretty much the end of my trip. I hopped a train back to Bologna and was home by 8:30 PM. Oh, wait, I do have one more thing to share.....My lunch in Amalfi....Yes, that really is a slice of pizza with french fries on it. I saw it and had to try it.....

I am sorry if this is a tad long....I suppose the fact it is mostly pictures helps a little, right? And I will make sure the pictures are a little more organized in future posts.....