22 June 2011

Day 18: We earned our dinner (and other stories)

First, here's the view from our agriturismo during the daylight:
S and I intended to take a ferry to Capri for a fun day on the island, but we got too late a start. Instead, we took a trip into Amalfi for a fun-filled day of shopping and hiking. Amalfi is a lovely little seaside town. Moderately dirty, as befits a central bus terminal point:


But in general, lovely. We befriend Fred and Juttah, two Germans who are staying at our agritursimo, and the four of us took a bus down to Amalfi. From there, Fred told us that we'd be able to quickly take a bus to Agerola, where our hike started. The buses must have been on a different schedule, because our bus wouldn't leave for two hours. So, we wandered Amalfi:

S in front of a cathedral:

Narrow streets and things to buy!

When we finally got on our bus, we misunderstood where to get off, and finally deboarded in Agerola, a place that was in fact NOT where we needed to be. S and I tried to figure out where we were (and where we needed to go) by looking at a big brass map in the town square, and just as we were getting ready to get frustrated, we were approached by an old man who sensed that we were lost. It turns out that not only was he a resident of Agerola AND he knew that we needed to go to Bomerano, but he was a POW during WWII. He was held in Wyoming and also spent time in Maine. He told us a few stories about his POW days and sent us on our way.

When we finally got to Bomerano, we started our hike: it's so well-known that it's got a name: Sentiero Degli Dei, or the Pathway of the Gods. It's beautiful, and it leads through the hills all the way to Positano:

Lovely:
Also lovely:
Doesn't suck:
Wrapping up:
The hike took us about 3 hours, and the last part was 1700 steps straight down into Positano. When we got to Positano, we had about ten minutes before the last ferry back to Amalfi left. The ferry took about 25 minutes:

Back in Amalfi, we caught a bus to Ravello and hiked all the way back to the Agriturismo, where we took a shower (we were both drenched with sweat). Then, dinner! Our proprietress Filomena and her mama Elena made us a delicious dinner of pasta & pesto, sausage, roast eggplant, and biscotti. Of course, there was wine with dinner and limoncello after!

Tomorrow, we are getting up early to catch the 8.30 ferry to Capri! More photos then!

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