Hello From The Wet Amalfi Coast -
We have run into wet weather and culinary heaven! It’s now Tuesday morning after a night of rain and thunder. The sun breaks through here and there, but the rain that greeted us on Saturday has generally continued. The weather forecaster was correct. Today is an 80% chance of rain day and it looks like it. Tomorrow and Friday are encouraging with less than a 50% chance of rain.
Yesterday was a decision day. What to do? We decided to try to take the bus down the coast to Amalfi (a town) and and Ravello. The main goal was to see the dramatic coast line. The bus, apparently crowded more often than not, was a big question mark. So, we reconsidered and scheduled a tour on Wednesdaywith Raffaele Monettis, highly recommended in the Rick Steves’ Italy Tour Guide. I called Raffaele and had a nice visit. We’re set for 8 hours of adventure tomorrow (read adventure to mean fear in some cases) in his Mercede van.
Back to my comments on our Saturday bus ride from Sorrento (where the train ended) to Positano. Here’s what the tour book says. “The bus trip along the breathtaking Amalfi Coast is one of the world’s great bus rides. It will leave your mouth open. You’ll gain respect for the Italian engineers who build the roads in the 1800s – and even more respect for the bus drivers who drive it today. Cantilevered garages, hotels, and villas cling to the vertical terrain, and beautiful sandy coves tease from far below and out of reach. As you hyperventilate, notice how the Mediterranean, a sheer 500-foot drop below, really twinkles.” Okay, my estimate of 200 – 300 foot drop offs was somewhat conservative. I didn’t want you to think I was exaggerating when I described the height.
So, yesterday was a drag around day. Lunch may have been the highlight (this is where culinary heaven comes in). Without a McDonalds available, the four of us went to Chez Black on the beach, where Marz and I had such a great dinner on Saturday night. The lunch was superb. Marz had lots of shells (seafood), Sophia and Keaka had pasta and I had veal with lemon sauce, which was probably the best veal picatta (no capers) a human could enjoy. We did some walking between rain drops, some more grocery shopping for the kids, and enjoyed some time in the apartment.
We went to our “To Do List” and looked at the restaurants we had scouted from France, added the information we gathered from a couple from Boston that we met in Rome, and a few tips from the local gal managing our apartment. We came up with four restaurants for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridaynights. The Monday night restaurant was up the hill. It involved taking the small and old town bus, which travels in a circle. The journey got more than one gasp from Marlene and I wasn’t too bashful to turn my head away a couple of times. Cheez! There’s no room making turns, a very low barrier and it is way, way, way down to the bottom should something go wrong. The report was to take the bus up to the restaurant and walk down via the steps. Dinner was great. Marlene had swordfish and I had ricotta cheese ravioli with a light tomato cream sauce and very fresh cherry tomatoes. Somehow, the ravioli noodle tasted like none other with a soft buttery taste. By the way, the steps down were adventurous, with a number of nice residences and a few hotels along the narrow stairway. Sorry to make such a big deal about food, but as you know we haven’t found French cuisine and restaurants to be that exciting. Tonight the four of us are scheduled to take a car up to a village above Positano to a restaurant that features locally grown vegetables and has a fabulous view. I can only imagine the drive!
So, let’s go to the photos. There are a couple of photos of the beachwalk, one with a painter, giving you a look in either direction. If you look up from the beach, our apartment is in the middle of the photo, with the green mountain just above. You can see a balcony, a small window and another window to the right. That’s Marz singing in the rain under the umbrella in another photo. We mentioned that our apartment is about 50 feet from the church, which on the outside is rather in need of some loving attention. We went inside as you can see from the photo. It is the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, which originated as the abbey of Positano’s 12th-century Benedictine monastery, which is now a hotel. It was eventually abandoned, as was the lower town, out of fear of pirates. It all came back to life in the 1700s and the church was given a Baroque makeover. There’s a photo of the local bus, which comes in handy for the locals, as well as us tourists. There’s a photo looking down the main “street” of town from the square where the bus stops and all vehicular traffic comes to a halt. And, Marz is looking her best in front of the restaurant last night and there’s a photo of the two of us in front of the restaurant.
So, we are busy doing as little as possible, which means we have no idea what we’re going to do with the remainder of today (eat lunch and eat dinner).
The Wilsons
