What is with the drizzly weather? It is following Rosie and the Operator around a little too much….we wake up today and the cloud is low, the sky is grey, its only 15c and forecast for heavy rain around lunchtime. The sea is flat with little wind and swell, shall we can our trip to Amalfi today because of the rain? Are you kidding, we are kiwis, we wont melt, armed with our fold up Kathmandu raincoats in our pocket we pushed out with the umbrella.
First up, you know the drill, ciambella and cappuccino. The Bar Internazionale is pumping at 8.00am in the morning, mainly mothers bring their little kids to this location to meet with the school bus that collects them outside the bar at the top of the town, they stay on for a coffee and animated gossip sessions. Morning coffee is normally quick here, it is not something to be lingered over, most have there coffee and sweet cornetto standing at the bar and have come and gone within three-five minutes. We catch the Positano interno bus down the hill to the final town stop and walk the rest of the way down to the spiaggia (beach) where the ferry companies have their ticket booths in a line on the waterfront.
There is still a few people around as the weather seems to be getting bleaker, the cloud is low and it is still a misty drizzle. On the bright side there is blue sky on the horizon….The Operator reckons it is going to be blue sky in Amalfi.
Positano is another deep water port with a concrete jetty that the boats back up to, put the gangplank down and you are away.
Our ferry motored out of the harbour, Positano looks beautiful from the sea!
We were soon passing all the same landmarks we did yesterday by car, was cool seeing them from the water, the photo on the left is a large hotel, look at the winding path leading down to the…ummm boat jetty….sunbathing deck….a big climb to catch some rays, or tow your luggage up. The way the roads are built into the cliffs are impressive and best appreciated from the sea as well. The 17 kms to Amalfi whizzed by in 25min, a big difference on yesterdays road trip that took 45mins.
Coming into Amalfi (above) it looked beauty. We alighted in the port area and it is crazy busy, ferries from everywhere, Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Salerno all berth here and hundreds come ashore, in the bus car park on the marina there were already 10 buses parked side by side. This is about the only flat town on the Amalfi coast, there is no hill or stairs to climb to get anywhere, Rosie was loving this fact and looking forward to strolling.
Hold on, as soon as you stepped into the small Piazza, there was the beautiful Duomo….with a hill of stairs to climb to access it. Hahaha Rosie. It looks impressive doesn’t it though, it soars over you in the tiny square. This is the busiest a place we have been to out of the major cities, it was Saturday, and it was crawling with people.
The town of Amalfi has 5,300 residents and its flat due to the fact it is built at the mouth of a large ravine at the foot of Mt Cerreto (which just looks like the other tall craggy cliffs around it) which is 1300 mt high.
Amalfi is the capital town of the Amalfi Coast region and was the capitol of the maritime republic known as the Duchy of Amalfi an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 to 1200ish. In the 1920/30s it was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy….now, everybody, ourselves included, comes here.
From the square we wander through the main street of Amalfi, Rosie picks up a few more trinkets to bring home with her, the weather has turned and the sun is now out in full and it is getting warmer.
We pass by a little trough fountain built into a wall by a pizza shop. The fountain was built in the 18th cent, and is called De Cape E Ciucci, named after the fact that when the donkeys (ciucci) came down the mountain from the town of Pogerola, laden with basket of fruit and vegetables on their backs, this is the fountain they drank from.
It is also the place where the villages nativity scene is assembled every year, and the donkeys used to be a part of the scene when they were tethered at the well….look at all the wee modern characters attached to the volcanic stone.
Rosie and The Operator wandered down to the harbor and thought about lunch, we got a panoramic marina view table at a lovely restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed lunch watching the people on the beach and walking along the promenade.
While we were sitting in the restaurant overlooking the beach goers, the sun had by then come out in full force and people were starting to arrive on the stony beach in ones and twos.
A couple of ladies stripped off, leaving only bikini bottoms on, they went for a swim, then came back on the beach and lay on their backs sunbathing…..all of a sudden about half a dozen middle aged men, paunchy, pink and well covered up…looking very English Rosie might add, took to the periphery of the beach and started taking photos…..all pointing towards the topless ladies. The irony, the ladies were well of retirement age and fighting with gravity. Get a life fellas! The Operator wandered down to the waters edge and dabbled his toes in the water, he thought it was nice and warm. Rosie wandered out to the end of the wharf to catch the cool breeze.
We ambled along the nice, flat, shady, promenade, here we were carrying our umbrella, and now dressed a little too warmly and heavily….are there no early risers like us still out and about? Or, did everyone else wait for the rain to ease before venturing forth…?
Tomorrows forecast is for bright sunny weather agian, it is Sunday and we are headed for another ferry ride off to the Island of Capri.
