AMALFI COAST

Writing this on a rainy day waiting on the bus before it takes off for Praiano and then Ravello along the Amalfi Coast.

Last time I came back from Amalfi I felt I was going to drop my guts. My head and stomach were going whoosh whoosh, with every one of those hundreds of hairpin bends. My hands and feet went numb and I had to wait for 10 minutes to recover when I got off at Sorrento. 

So why do it again? I thought of taking the boat but the weather has been wild. So I've taken 2 ginger tablets and hope that works.

At Praiano..

Here I am at the bottom of 100s of steps (praise be for getting up again) but Im enjoying the solitud with just the sound of the sea pounding, and the freshness of air carrying rain.

It's a beautiful much quieter spot than Positano. Perhaps I arrived and left with the rush of Tourists at Positano. What may have been a fishing town plastered on an impossibly steep hillside, has probably given into tourism over the years. It colours a place. It is colourful. It says walk here, drink and eat here and buy me. Admire my beauty.

And I did. I found a nice place to eat my panini and I brought a colourful cotton shirt from a place where I fell in love with most of the clothes.

But Praiano feels a step back from that. It's slower, quieter. Just below the road is a church with what feels like an islamically inspired dome, such is the colour and geometry of its design, though bold.

Inside the floor is ceramic tiles with birds and sun's and olives. It feels like it's been done in modern times, giving the church some zest for current living and life. It says 'rejoice'.

The way up the steps I managed more easily than I expected,  except that it started to rain, and rain hard.  I had my rain gear in the rucksack but by the time I got on my poncho and struggled getting on my green over-gumboots, and sheltering my bag under the umbrella, the steps has turned into a waterfall.  I felt prepared but wet all the same.

The umbrella blew inside out and it teamed with rain as I got to the main road. I asked Tourist Info for another  timetable and she said there's one u 15mins at Stop 7 100 metres down the road.

So there I am walking in the wind and rain on a footpathless narrow road with traffic in both directions. And there is no stop 7. I hail a Sita bus at what looks to be a busstop but it just goes straight by.

Would it have stopped if I were young and blond I ask myself, feeling decidedly invisible, yet totally drenched. Working my way back uphill in the rain, I remembered a Cafe Bar. I shook the rain off and joined the sodden people inside.

I also enjoyed some lunch coffee and WIFI. Venturing back to Bus Stop 6, I just missed another bus. But met some gentle Americans while we waited over 30mins. They gave me a more fuller picture of Praiano and the pedestrian streets that run parallel..

Instead of going back defeated, I decided to head on to Ravello. And that's where I am now at the busstop at Amalfi.
....

Going to Ravello was am absolute treat even if misty. It's the Eyrie position. Up in the hills looking down along the coast (in the mist).

The bus trip up was a treat as we went into ravines where every inch of land was used for growing things, mainly vines. Lots of terraces.

We went through a medieval town called Scala. Ravello had such a hill top town feel to it, a large piazza. A church. It promoted itself as a musical town. There were concerts throughout the year, just not tonight.

I grabbed a hot chocolate in a Cafe which waz just like hot liquid chocolate.

Then went into an old fortressy type of place that advertised itself as a Garden. Indeed it was. I used my last 5% of battery taking photos before it died.

It was an old Sicilian-Arabic-Norman style complex with a Romantic style garden on the top of a hill overlooking the coast. De-lish! Very uplifting to be there. Perhaps it's easier to get to Via the Napoli-salerno Freeman, than the winding Amalfi  Coast too.

However I made sure I always had front seats  just behind the driver even if it meant holding my place in the queue for 20-30 even 50 minutes at Amalfi.  I also took ginger tablets all day.

Now I'm back home in Sorrento waiting for my phone to recharge before I go out for minestrone and WIFI.