Andre and Wendy: Amalfi coast

Today we have booked a shuttle to the Amalfi coast and visiting 3 towns. After all the horror stories we have heard from others over the past week and the terrible bus rides we splurged and booked a shared shuttle with 4 others.

Pick up is right in front of our apartment. A couple from Ireland are already in the van and we move on to pick up the last couple. After 20 minutes of waiting for them our driver is given the OK to just leaves. So a nice Mercedes van now only has 5 of us in it, lots of room to spread out. I was very happy to have the front seat, we heard it was a twisty road, that is most definitely true, turn after turn after turn. And many amazing views around each corner.

Our first stop is in Posatino. This is a lovely small town built all on cliffs and leading down to the water. The bonus of being in a van is it can take you down the small one way road to the sea, where buses and large vans can not go. We were given 1 hour to explore the town. Very pretty, found a little bakery for a pistachio croissant that was delicious. Enjoyed the views and walking some streets then back to the van and on to the next stop.

We were offered a boat ride for 45 minutes for an extra 20 Euro leaving from Amalfi town but it looked a little windy and I was pretty sure I wouldn't survive the trip without getting seasick. The other couple did not want to do the boat ride so we moved on the Ravello which is about 20 minutes past Amalfi, this would shorten the trip on the way home. Ravello is high up in the mountains with beautiful views down to the sea. We explored here for an hour again. Nice little winding streets. It was pretty much all pedestrian streets that we walked, very pretty. We spent an hour exploring here as well.

Our final stop was in Amalfi for 2 hours. We picked up some sandwiches from a bakery for lunch and sat on the Duomo stairs to eat, along with many others. We walked some back streets again and then spent the rest of the time enjoying people watching down at the ferry dock as well as some beautiful views of the town. This is a very pretty town where you can spend some time walking along the water.

Before we came here there was much discussion about where we should base ourselves for our visit to this part of Italy. Even though all three of these towns are beautiful we are very happy that we picked Sorrento. We have really enjoyed Sorrento, the only thing is is really missing is a nice walk along the water.

Back home after about 7.5 hours out. Limoncillo and tonic water with some cheese and crackers will get us through until supper.

Supper tonight is at a local place called la Cantinaccia del Poloco that the chef at the cooking school had recommended. Did not disappoint. I think we got the last table at this small restaurant at 6:30 PM, and when we left there was a lineup outside. We were sat right by the kitchen and all of us had a few laughs watching the plates come out. A great dinner, followed by free limonchello which is always a treat.