Amalfi Coast

Rome, Pompeii, and hanging out in the sunshine in a little Italian town were all well and good. What I'd really planned this vacation around though, was seeing the Amalfi Coast. Our last full day in Italy we did one of the boat tours that run from Sorrento. It was worth the wait.

The first part of the tour left Sorrento and headed to take us by the island of Capri. Such beautiful coastline. Staying in Capri and taking boats out everyday to take in all the cliffs and caves and coves would be a just lovely vacation.

Off the coast of Capri, the boat stopped to let us swim. I was set on doing it, more out of not missing a chance to swim in the Mediterranean than anticipating it being enjoyable. I'm a wimp when it comes to needing everything to be just right when it comes to swimming. But the water was surprisingly perfect! We all loved our quick swim and wished we could have had more time. 

I overcame my horror of posting a photo of myself in a bathing suit because I was so amused at seeing how ghostly white we all are after living in England for a year. Not a lot of tanning opportunities in Cambridge.

From Capri we headed over to the Amalfi Coast. The first "major" town we passed was Positano. Positano has one road, and all the rest of the town is so steep it's just stairs. We could have got off here, but we elected not to so we wouldn't miss the rest of the trip. Plus Anya was not impressed the idea of a town consisting almost entirely of stairs.

See the little stone bridge on the side of the cliff? There's a road that goes along the Amalfi Coast that's supposed to be a dramatically beautiful drive. After reading about southern Italian driving, I'd ruled out renting a car for this trip though. And I'm glad I did after our taxi ride in Rome - weaving in and out of lanes, high speeds, passing a few more cars moments before an exit, driving down roads and tramways clearly marked "no cars." Not for the faint of heart. The other option is taking a public bus that runs along the road between Sorrento and Positano and Amalfi. It's supposed to be one of the world's most beautiful bus rides, but with the possibility of not getting a view seat and even more possibly being car sick the whole way, I'm glad we chose the boat option.

The last town along our tour was Amalfi. 

The boat let us out at Amalfi for a quick hour and a half tour. It was just enough time for lunch, some gelato and a quick stroll through town. Does anybody else like the movie To Catch a Thief? Amalfi's beach (upper right photo) looked straight out of the movie to me. Even though the movie takes place in France.

What a glorious day we had. Don't you love it when things live up to your built-up expectations?