Magical Amalfi
Trip Start
May 31, 2009
1
15
49
Trip End
Oct 31, 2009
What a drive. After about 6hours of flying down the highway we finally reach Sorrento the town just north of the Amalfi Coast. It is now 6pm and we have nowhere to stay. Oh forgot to mention that it is 6pm on Sunday and the entire South of Italy is leaving the Amalfi to head home from the weekend. You would think this wouldn't effect us since we are heading in but all the roads are so narrow and the crazy bastards on Vespers don't believe in keeping to one side of the road. The come right at your car 10 at a clip and play chicken with you, Not only that but they have the balls to beep at you to get out of their way...on your side of the dotted line. After about 30 minutes of this we were dreaming about just opening the door and watching them all domino to the ground at 50mph - but decided against it. Once we finally get in town the GPS goes crazy and I am on literally what seems like a side walk face to face with another car. We have a standoff for a good minute telling one another to back up. I finally relent because I am too exhausted and he drives by with this smug ass look on his face shaking his head. Come to find out that the street behind where he came from is to narrow for a car to go through and he was actually helping us - oh well. We find a place we saw online that looks decent so we try there and they give us a decent enough rate on a room so we jump on it. We head upstairs and then go to search for some food. We try to ask if there is anywhere we can get a hamburger - we are sick of Italian food and want something quick and greasy. The staff looks at us like we 5 heads and says there are no McDonald's in Sorrento (not exactly what we had in mind). We search around finally find a snack bar that will do a burger (then we have to explain burger with no meat for Jen - which confuses the hell out of them but they finally get it). We are exhausted and after food and couple beers we head back to the room to crash. We only have the room for one night and we are sleeping in. I call at 10am to see if we can extend the room another night afterwords we sleep until 12pm. The next day we just cruise around Sorrento get some lunch and then sit by the pool to recharge after our miserable drive. After a nice relaxing day we decide to hit Isle of Capri the next morning. We hitch a boat to the island which is ridiculously expensive but that is just a sign of things to come on the island. Get there and are immediately lost as to what to do now. We find out that the cheapest way up to Capri town is this gondola thing so we buy tickets and get in line. It is about 100 degrees out so we are sweltering. The Gondola only lets about 70 people at a time so we are waiting for at least a half hour. When we finally get up and walk around we think that it is very nice and there is all the big name shopping with nice restaurants but I think it is a good day trip and not worth the exorbitant charges for hotel rooms. We keep walking the town and stumble across this park with the most amazing views of the rest of the island. Then head to lunch randomly and end up in this restaurant with a ton of celebrities on the wall who have eaten there. So after a solid lunch and a day of trekking around we are ready to go see the Blue Grotto (Grotto Azure) before heading back to the coast. We take a boat out and then get in a row boat to go through this tiny opening in the rock face. The oarsman has to hold a chain waiting for the water level to lower for a second before pulling us through. Once inside we get all the hype. It is crystal clear water with a white sand bottom and the effect of the light coming through the cave opening makes the whole place glow blue. It is pitch black with just the blue light of the water - photos do not do it justice it is almost spiritual. We leave and get harassed by the guy because we won't tip him...just paid 30euro for ten minutes in this place and all the books say don't tip them. We get back hitch the boat home for some dinner and relaxation. So far for 2 mornings straight we had extended our stay another night because we could not get out of bed so today we do and head to Positano - where we hope to stay next. We get there and check it out it is very nice but we can't find a hotel that is worth the money they want. We then go to Amalfi and it is very nice - has the best beach out of all of them. Lastly we hit Ravella but it feels more like Tuscany than the Amalfi. So we now need to decide between Sorrento and day trips or stay at one of these places. We are buggerred and figure we head back to Sorrento if we can't find a nicer place we will just stay in our trusty place that we have been extending every day. We stumble across Hotel Plaza which Jen likes from the photos even though it is number 38 on Tripadvisor - We check it out and it is great. They give us a better rate than the last place and even throw in parking. We are pumped this is one of the nicest hotels we stayed in but we are a little bummed that we paid more for 3 nights at the place down the road that was not nearly as nice. Oh well after touring Amalfi Coast all day the day before the next day is another relax by the pool day. We are in the room at noon and hear fire works going off in broad daylight, They go on for 10 minutes so this is no ordinary test but a full broad daylight show. Come to find out that they were meant to go off at midnight that night during this festival with music and food but went off at noon - only in Italy. We get up the next morning and head into Naples on our way up towards Rimini. You will notice no photos of Naples and that is because we did not get out of the car long enough to take any. The place is dirty and crazy. We probably had the shortest tour through the city anyone has ever had. We hit Pompeii for a couple hours before shoving off...
