So where we left off earlier was just before a trip to the Almalfi coast with Amy’s Dad and Uncle. The Almalfi coast is just a little bit South of Naples and is well known for it’s beauty and the absolutely insane coastal road that is perched on the edge of the cliffs. So obviously, we have to go.
On the way we made a stop at a spot that’s actually close to Matera (or at least it’s on the way), which is actually a Greek ruin. You see, Taranto (a city close to where we live) was actually founded by the Spartans along with another city a little further South. The Athenians got a little worried and decided to start a couple of cities of their own in between the two. One of them was where this old temple ruin was found. There’s not a whole lot left but it is interesting to find Greek ruins not in Greece. As a side note apparently it was near where Pythagoras (the guy that came up with the mathematical “Pythagorean Therum) was sent during the later part of his life (because they needed Athenians to live in those cities…lucky him).
After leaving there we continued toward the opposite coast from where we live and picked our route so that we would drive the Almalfi coast from the South end up towards the city of Almalfi instead of down from Naples. I have to say that while I really enjoy driving in Italy, this particular road requires something in the way of medication or experience to drive it without feeling like you’re going to die. It is literally resting on the carved out edge of a cliff. Fortunately, coming from the South we were in the inside lane, which has the benefit of not being butted up against the railing that separates you from a sheer drop and a sudden stop in the ocean and rocks below. However, it does mean that when you go around a curve in the coastline you have NO idea what you’re going to find. A bus, a truck, a moped, whatever (the moped wouldn’t be so bad…at least not for me).
Ultimately the drive there only gave the driver (me) grey hair and a few years off my life while everytbody else Ooo’d and Ahhh’d and took pictures (or it could have been screaming, I can’t remember). Thanks guys…
Anyway, the city of Almalfi is essentially a place where human beings looked at a crack between two cliffs and said, “…Yeah, we could probably make it work…) and settled there. Like Matera there is up, and there is down but there is precious little in between. That includes spacious roads. We discovered when we got there that our GPS wanted to take us through an opening in some buildings that dumped into the middle of a Piazza so we parked somewhere else and decided to walk to the hotel and see what our options where. I honestly don’t know why I even question things like this in Italy anymore. Sure enough, it turns out that you can drive in there but you have to sit at the bottom of a hill and wait for a light to turn green so you can drive up the street that only takes one lane of traffic at a time until you get a little ways up there (not to mention dodging all the pedestrians, and cafe tables, shop stands, etc….).
Upon finding the hotel we discovered that we could drive our car up there to unload and then the hotel owner would park the car for us. Of course, there’s no way to really know that at the BOTTOM of the hill, so I went back down and drove it up the hill. Mmmmmm, more stress…but I’m not bitter. It turned out to be all worth it. As we walked up onto the patio in front of the entrance we turned to our left and saw a nearly perfect view down to the water.
At the time it was not “in” season so we got some really nice rooms right next to the patio with a view. After dropping our stuff in the rooms and saying goodnight to our host (after he got done explaining to a neighbor why our car was in front of her place…she was not happy) we headed back down the hill to find some dinner. Seafood as it turns out (don’t look so shocked, I can see it through the internet). By the time we were done it was dark and we made our way out onto a walkway along the boat docks to get a picture of Almafi at night. It’s a truly beautiful place.
The next day we hopped a bus and rode it up to a town at the top of the cliffs where there is a large residence that can be toured. The original owner was pretty ambitious and had quite a house. Now it’s being restored and is used for weddings, tourism, and concerts. After walking around the town and the grounds of the huge residence we headed back down. Only we had decided that we were going to walk down. You see, before Mussolini, there were no roads in Almalfi that would accommodate cars. There were all footpath and stairway “roads” that lead up along the cliffs and we were going to take one down. I don’t know how many steps there were. I lost count. Down, of course, is much better than up but you just don’t realize how many steps it takes to go down something like that until you’re doing it. To top it all off there are people that actually live on these “roads” and have addresses there. I’d hate to be a mailman in this town.
The walk took long enough that it was past lunch time when we popped out of the “street” right into a piazza with some cafes in it. This made picking lunch easy…it was the place with the closest chairs. After a bite to eat, but before we could fall asleep in the chairs, we headed back to the hotel for some relaxation where I’m pretty sure all of us collapsed into mini-coma’s for the afternoon.
We only had the weekend there so the following day we had to get back in our car and head towards home. Only this time we headed towards Naples so we could make a stop at Pompeii to see the ruins. That, however, is another blog post.
