The Amalfi Coast - Clinging to the hillside

April 26, 2015

The Amalfi Coast - Clinging to the hillside

On our second full day in Sorrento we decide to do the bus ride down the coast to Amalfi, and then take a second short bus ride up to Ravello. Again we turn to Mr. Steves with some commentary....The bus trip from Sorrento to Salerno (note- we went as far as Amalfi) along the breathtaking Amalfi coast is one of the world's great bus rides, and one of the all time great white knuckle rides.

We agree on all accounts. We had a beautiful day for our bus trip, and we were sitting on the right side (i.e. ocean side) of the bus on the way down and on the left (i.e. ocean side) on the way back. There are 500 foot cliffs dropping to the sea, and the road is ridiculously narrow, so you just assume that the bus driver has done this a thousand times, and he wants to live as much as you do. So just sit back and enjoy the ride, which is what we did. There were many curves where only one car (bus) in one direction could go through at any one time, and the bus driver honked prior to entering all of these warning anyone coming the other way. Other drivers had to back up several times on our trip. Often the distance between the bus and the road edge, cliff edge and other vehicles was literally only inches. I was never nervous though, and the scenery was beautiful indeed.

We got out and walked the last half mile or so coming into Amalfi, as there was construction that had us sitting on the bus for an eternity, until we all started to say the heck with it and walked into town. Another bus brought us straight up about a thousand feet to the town of Ravello. Wandered around town, purchased a locally made olive oil container (that lasted only a short time in our possession as you shall see), and had lunch in the town piazza.

Make no mistake, this is a beautiful area with a number of famous folks calling it home over the years such as Gore Vidal, Richard Wagner, D. H. Lawrence, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Greta Garbo among the notables.

Our bus went through Positano coming and going, but we did not have any time to get out and explore the town, nor did we go the isle of Capri while in Sorrento (again not enough time), so if we are ever fortunate enough to return there is definitely more to explore in this beautiful part of Italy.

Unfortunately, upon our return to Sorrento, we made a quick exit from the bus, when I decided that we needed to get out "here" rather than going all the way to the end, thus saving us some walking. In her haste leaving the bus, Donna neglected to pick up her backpack....I didn't notice she wasn't wearing it until about a half hour later while walking around Sorrento - a trip back to the bus terminus discovered no lost and found, got a number from a bus driver with much hand waving (spoke almost no English, and our Italian was rudimentary at best), got a phone number...our b and b guy (Pasquale) called on our behalf several times after we left the next day for Assisi, but alas the backpack (along with our newly purchased olive container, a library book from home, and several miscellaneous items, but no cash, or passport or anything critical) was gone. Every trip has its hiccups, and this proved to be our "disaster" - not so bad as disasters go.

Photos, if you please.