Salerno and the Amalfi Coast

From Naples, we got ourselves up very early to get the train to Salerno, where we planned to base ourselves for a few days of exploring the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, as soon as we got on the train Jess realised that she'd left her iPod at the hostel and ran back (literally, jogged for 20 minutes there and back through Naples!) to get it. Olivia and I got off the train, but it was still at the platform when Jess got back more than an hour later - it never left. We enjoyed the sunshine for a while sitting on the platform, and left two and a half hours later than we'd originally planned on the next train to leave - by the time we got to Salerno the rain had well and truly set in for the day, and we still had to spend about half an hour wandering around trying to find the hostel in the rain!

The HI Hostel in Salerno is a former convent and a decent place. I looked around in Salerno for a bit in the afternoon - the harbour would have been lovely on a sunny day! For dinner we had the dodgiest kebabs ever - they were in mini pita bread rolls, and they tried to put chips in with the rest of the ingredients! It only set us back $3 though. The search for the ultimate kebab continues... We did, however, find some amazing gelati - at Gerry's, all home-made, and only one euro for 2 scoops!


The next morning we headed to Positano, on the opposite end of the Amalfi Coast. We wanted to catch the ferry but none were running because of rough seas and rain all day (by now this was no surprise). Instead we took the bus, which goes through all the coastal towns and has stunning views of the coastline. It occured to me on the drive that the Amalfi Coast is quite similar to the Great Ocean Road, but in an Italian way - with picturesque villas, tumble-down houses, vine fields, ancient walls and roads that are WAY too small! The bus had to stop on almost every corner to let cars coming the other way go past, and meeting other buses and trucks was a nerve-wracking experience! The water was amazingly blue green, and everything is so GREEN!


Olivia and Jess spent time on the beach (nothing special, but they don't live near beaches!), while I looked around the town and walked to the next beach (via many, many steps!). On my way back I saw Gabe & Brittney (and then Logan and Lauren) on scooters! They had all hired scooters for the day and had ridden around the point of the peninsula from Sorrento (where we'd been 2 days before) to Positano (apparently an amazing drive!). We met up on the beach and the boys went for an (extremely quick) dip in the freezing cold water while the 3 girls decided to drive on to Amalfi.

In the afternoon the three of us and Gabe and Logan went for a walk along the coast and found a path winding through a gully from the road. We followed it a fair way along in and up the hill, and were puzzled by the sound of dogs barking in the distance - we figured it was just someone walking a dog or two in the distance until we saw that there were several dogs, barking from somewhere that was obviously some sort of gate, and a man dressed in shabby, ripped clothing, who opened the gate and let the dogs out after us! We ran pretty damn quickly down the path (that had taken us a good half an hour to walk) back to the road after that! We later asked a local about the guy, and as soon as he realised who we were talking about he had a chuckle. Apparently he's a really nice guy. O_o.


We also found the beginning of the 1700-step stairway to Nocelle and the Sentiero degli Dei (Trail of the Gods), a famous walking path that goes along the entire coast. We only got a few hundred steps up when the heavy rain, tiredness and hunger got the better of us, so we headed back to Positano to meet up with the girls.

Logan and Gabe offered to take us for a 'spin' on the scooters and Olivia and I couldn't refuse - even though by then it was incredibly cold and the rain was quite heavy. We went way up into the mountains above Positano (and the crazy dog-man's valley) - the rain was endless and there were rainclouds everywhere but despite that and the freezing cold, the view was amazing! Gabe and I came off the bikes within 5 minutes in a slide around the corner - but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds! While we were gone the other girls talked to a few locals about the weather - apparently they couldn't believe the rain, they said it only ever rains 5 days in a year, and never like that! Just our luck. By the time we got back to Salerno that night we were all thoroughly soaked; none of us dried out for many hours (and our clothes stayed wet for days!).


The next morning Olivia and Jess left early for Rome but I stayed an extra day for some walking. Catching the bus to Amalfi I met a nice family from Melbourne - we had a good chat about everything from Italy, the footy, and the drought! Amalfi is another very picturesque town, I wandered around a bit in the rain through lots of passageways under houses and stepped streets - very cool! I was planning to walk from Amalfi (at sea level) up to Ravello (way up in the mountains 350m above sea level) but as it was raining hard and I didn't really know the way, I ended up taking a bus about halfway, getting off where I saw a sign for a walk. Even though I only did about half of it, I was exhausted when I reached Ravello after god-knows-how many steps! The town is very cute, with even more steps that Amalfi and amazing views of the coast, the best of which were from Villa Cimbrone, a villa with extensive gardens which many celebrities have visited (including Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo!).


To get down from Ravello I walked down steps for almost an hour straight - by the end of it my legs were ready to drop off - to another town, Minori, and got the bus back to Salerno. That afternoon the weather was pretty reasonable, not much rain (!!!!). Shared a room that night with an American girl who was also, funnily enough, on exchange at Cattolica in Milan, as well as a German girl whose bags had been stolen the night before when she was camping!


Amalfi Coast is definitely somewhere I'll be returning to - it deserves at least a week, as there is plenty of walking to be done!