Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Amalfi, Italy

Well, I'm not sure why, but I decided to start the Amalfi Coast pictures and info with the actual town of Amalfi, even though it was our least favorite of the villages along the Amalfi Coast. Maybe because it's where I have the fewest pictures from... Yea, that's it. I still need to finish going through the others from Positano and Ravello, which are two other towns along the Coast that we LOVED and I took billions of pictures.

Amalfi,  Italy is ok. Don't get me wrong, it is a completely adorable little village right in the middle of the Coast with cute little buildings and a gorgeous backdrop of lush green mountains. BUT since it is 'Amalfi,' it has the name, it is too crowded, too touristy, too expensive. So glad A didn't choose for us to stay here! 

We headed to Amalfi first, directly from Sorrento. There are no trains to the Amalfi Coast,  you have to rent a car or go by bus. Well, we heard the driving along the Coast was ridiculously scary, so we opted out of the rental car and opted for the bus. From Sorrento, you usually take a curvy crazy twisty road that overlooks the water, and it's supposed to take about an hour. Unfortunately for us, there were rock slides the day before we were heading to the Coast, so that road was closed. Instead, the bus driver took a crazy, twisty, curvey road that took TWO hours, not one. Lucky us! HA. The views were still fantastic, and town the end, also overlooking the water. It's absolutely crazy how people drive along this Coast, I mean crazy. It is SO twisty, I can't even explain! It's not THAT far from town to town, however, the majority of the road, a bus and car cannot pass each other, so they have to take turns. And every time a twist/turn happens, every 100 meters, honking happens. So this ride is accompanied by the honking of the bus that you're in and most likely, the honking of another oncoming bus and perhaps oncoming cars, vans, trucks, etc. Upon arriving at a twist/turn where the vehicle cannot see the oncoming traffic, he honks, and honks again. If he hears nothing, he continues to honk and FLY, I mean speed like CRAZY through the turn, all the while, honking. Yes. Seriously. This is how it works. And it's not like this happens every 15 minutes. More like every fiften seconds. While this is happening, you're sitting on the edge of your seat, overlooking a cliff into the Sea, praying for your life. I cannot tell you how mnay close calls we had... almost going over the edge of the cliff, almost hitting an oncoming car, almost hitting an oncoming bus, having to back up last minute around a 180  degree turn so both vehicles could fit, having to slam on the breaks because accelerating through the turn and honking somehow did not alert the driver on the other side of the turn to stop and wait for the bus. Yea, it was a bit scary. 

Anyways, we went to Amalfi only once to actually walk around (a few more times just to switch buses, ferries, whatever) and we didn't stay long. We ate a spectacular foccaccia sandwich with fresh mozzarrella and vegetables, gelato, walked around a little more, then headed onto Positano. Too many people in Amalfi, not enough space. 

I do recommend seeing it. It is cute, especially from the water, but don't stay here! 




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