A rugged but picturesque coast.

Tuesday 3^rd June

The Amalfi Coast. We decided to do a bus tour along the coast so that Rob could also enjoy the views. Good decision! It would not have been an enjoyable drive for him because the road is narrow and twisty all the way and every time a tour bus is met the cars have to pull right over and even stop to allow the buses to pass.

 

The road to Amalfi.

The views along the road are pretty spectacular. I didn't realise that the road was going to be so high above the water and just how steep it was along the coast. Where there were tiny strips of beach along the way the people on the beach looked like ants we were so far away. The bus stopped in Positano but the bus stop was a long way up from the beach – not too sure if there were lifts to get up and down from the beach. We didn’t get off in Positano.

Dog of the day - on the bus to Amalfi.

Views along the way
- taken through the bus window so not the clearest photos.

Positano - from the road the bus travels along.
 It is a long way down to the beach.

An interesting sculpture that caught our eye along the road.

At Amalfi the bus stop is at sea level so we were able to get a look at the beach. The sand is dirty grey and quite coarse with pebbles. Not quite what we Aussies are used to. We didn't hang around in Amalfi but took another bus up to the town of Ravello which is high on a hill and overlooks the sea. Beautiful views from there. We had lunch here and wandered the shops. It seems that the specialty craft of the area is hand painted ceramics. We didn't buy any – not quite my thing. The other specialty of the area is Limoncello. We may add some of that to the luggage before we head for home. A surprise to be found in Ravello - a foot long snake working his way across the path in front of me. He attracted the attention of a number of tourists who were all keen to take photos.

View across the sea from Ravello.

Lunch stop in Ravello at one of the restaurants 
around the town piazza..

Beautiful arches and street scenes to be found in this town.

Some of the ceramic pots made in Ravello.
I love the way they displayed these..

Time to head back to Amalfi where we had tickets to catch the boat back to Sorrento, and the bus queues were getting longer and longer and no sign of a bus. I went over to see about a taxi back and apparently there had been an accident in Amalfi and the queue of traffic waiting to get in to the town was a kilometre in both directions. We decided to take a taxi back and just get out and walk when we hit the traffic queue and were able to share the taxi with an English couple. The taxi worked out well as traffic was still not moving as we walked into town. By the time we reached the town the traffic was just starting to flow.

A fresco on one of the walls as you enter the town of Amalfi.

The boat ride back to Sorrento showed us the coastline from sea level. You look at some of the houses on the hills above the water and wonder just how people get to their houses. There must be some sort of roads surely?

The Royal Clipper with some of her sails unfurled
- she was in Sorrento yesterday, and Amalfi today
doing a 7 day cruise out of Rome.

Positano from sea level. Not a patch on our beaches.

How does one get to and from this place - boat only?

Some of the supports for the road along the coast.

Another town along the coast.

This cruise ship was in Amalfi and I guess
partly responsible for the crowds of people.

We had dinner back at the hotel again tonight. We think we might be the only guests in the hotel tonight – and we were the only ones in the dining room. It’s a weird feeling to feel that the whole hotel (and it is not a small hotel – probably 100 rooms) is there just for you.