The Old Gray Mare She Ain't What She Used to Be...Day 5 in The Amalfi Coast...

When traveling, one must be flexible. Claude and I were both in a bad way physically. We decided we would press on and finish our trip. If there were things we couldn't, or shouldn't do because of our injuries, we would not do them. But we would persevere and enjoy all that we could of our time in Italy. 

The other thing we had to be flexible about this day was the change of plans for our day. We had been scheduled for a boat ride along the Amalfi coast with stops in Positano and Amalfi. The water was not cooperating. Their version of the Coast Guard had issued a warning and was not letting boats travel the coast. In fact, as we traveled that day, there were not even any fishermen on the water. Luigi worked his magic and got us two smaller coaches and two drivers. We split our group in half and rotated between Luigi and Alan in our coaches for the day. We would drive the Amalfi coast road instead of seeing it from the water. Turns out, that may have been the best choice. 

The Amalfi Coast road stretches between the southern Italian towns of Sorrento and Amalfi. It is so narrow and curvy that large coaches are not to drive it. Hence, two smaller coaches. For the greater part of its route, the road is carved out of the side of the coastal cliffs, giving views down to the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the other side up to the cliffs above. This is listed as one of the most beautiful drives in the world and is in the World Heritage of UNESCO. It is described as a tortuously curved and narrow road. It was an engineering marvel when it was carved out of the rocky cliffs along the entire length of the Amalfi Coast in the mid-19th century.

In 1953 the American writer John Steinbeck experienced this famous drive and wrote in his essay called My Positano, “Flaming like a meteor we hit the coast, a road, high, high above the blue sea, that hooked and corkscrewed on the edge of nothing, a road carefully designed to be a little narrower than two cars side by side. And on this road, the buses, the trucks, the motor scooters and the assorted livestock. We didn’t see much of the road. In the back seat my wife and I lay clutched in each other’s arms, weeping hysterically”.

Leaving Sorrento.

Vico Equense, Italy

Positano, Italy. We stopped and enjoyed a rest at this beautiful spot. 

Claude & Sandi in Positano, Italy.

This area is known for their lemons. They are HUGE. Alan McKay holding one of them. They are eaten rind and all. Everything along here has lemons on it. 

We also enjoyed some fresh squeeze blood orange juice. Oh My Heavens! This became a favorite of ours. We loved when our hotel served it as a juice for breakfast. We will be looking for blood oranges in our grocery runs. 

Praiano, Italy has decorated the cliff side of the highway with minature villages. In the second picture, if you look in the cave at the right end, you will see a nativity scene. In the third picture you find a rail along a hiking trail. Before the was a road, these are the trails people used to get by land from one village to another. 

Our next stop was in Conca dei Marini, Italy, to visit a ceramic shop. Built right into the side of the mountain, this was a really fun place to shop. These ceramics are very much a part of the local market. I loved the ceramic sign on the bathroom door. We purchased ceramic house numbers for our front door and a Christmas tree ornament that was...of course...a lemon!

Once everyone had spent more than they ever thought they would, we continued the drive across the coast to Amalfi. 

Amalfi, Italy is beautiful. There was a place by the water's edge where our coaches could let us off. They couldn't stay there, and I don't know how or where they found a place to park while we explored Amalfi. In this area was a dock as well as the bus station for the area. 

We had lunch at this cute restaurant with tables out front. We enjoyed spaghetti bolognese, a favorite of the Italian people. 

And found another gelato shop. We enjoyed...you guessed it, lemon gelato. It was tart and refreshing. 

After lunch, we walked the streets a bit.

Duomo di Amalfi (The Cathedral of Amalfi).

My cellphone was all I was using to take pictures. At this point, while cleaning pictures I had taken, I realized each picture had a little comment below that said, "view motion photo". What in the world was this? I sent a text to family for help and Michael responded with instructions to get rid of this. Later, it did it again. Then I figured out what was happening. With my lame arm, I couldn't lift it to press the button to take the picture. I was using that extra dot that you can push. I had moved the extra dot to the bottom right corner of the screen. This put it right over the icon to push to take "motion photos". I was doing this to myself. Now I understood and could be more careful. 

We would return the same way we came to Amalfi. This afforded those on the opposite side of the coach to get a view of the side they missed on the way to Amalfi.

Note how they plant orchards on the side of the hill. They have netting to cover the fruit and protect it. 

Conca dei Marini, Italy

Furore, Italy

Positano, Italy. This coach passing us in less than an inch from my window. Ugh!!

Luigi had the coach drop us off in Sorrento. He walked us to the main square and showed us places to shop and get something to eat. Claude and I roamed the two streets. We found another gelato shop and tried more gelato. Claude got a mixed fruit, and I tried dark chocolate. Claude doesn't like dark chocolate. He tried a taste of my gelato and actually liked that dark chocolate. 

Then we walked back to our hotel. We found places to sit along the way and give Claude's foot a rest. It took us a lot longer than others but we did it! Yeah us! Time now to pack again for another coach ride to Florence the next day.