Amalfi Coast

Wednesday, May 23 - Friday, May 25

After a couple of very long and hectic 2 days in Berlin: the canceled flight, the room with no AC, the having to catch several trains and buses to get to Sorrento, etc; we finally arrived in the Amalfi Coast. It was at last our chance to relax, be close to the water and enjoy the small town atmosphere without rushing to visit museums and historical buildings and landmarks. We first arrived to Sorrento and went for a walk around town in flip-flops!!! Yes!!! What a great feeling to stroll down the streets in flip-flops. That night, the final of the “Champions League” (the most important soccer championship for European soccer clubs) was taking place. The two teams in the final were the A.C Milan from Italy and Liverpool from England. So of course with Italians being as passionate as they are about soccer everything that night revolved around the game. Most of the restaurants, bars, pubs and even coffee places had their TVs on so their customers could enjoy the game. Many stores even stayed open until the end of the game (around 11PM) so their owners and employees wouldn’t miss it. Milan won and Sorrento and its people celebrated all night long. Lots of fireworks, very excited Italians shouting, singing, honking and just enjoying the victory out in the streets.

The next 2 days were spent visiting a couple of towns near Sorrento that are also part of the Amalfi Coast. Here is a summary of what we did during those 2 days:

• Thursday: Took a boat to the town of Amalfi (population 7,000) to be able and enjoy the view of the coast from the Mediterranean. You can see some pictures taken from the boat. We walked around town and visited the Cathedral of Amalfi. Inside the cathedral you can visit (as we did) the Crypt of St. Andrew (the Apostle). The remains of the saint are preserved in this crypt.
  

View of the Amalfi Coast ---- Cathedral of Amalfi




• Took a second boat from Amalfi to Positano (population 3,000), which was my favorite place on the Amalfi coast. We walked around town, took lots of pictues and got started on the 1-italinan-gelato-a-day diet. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!! Unfortunately I did not find my mascarpone gelato here.
  
  
• Returned to Sorrento via boat
  
• Friday: Took a 20 minute boat from Sorrento to the island of Capri. We checked out of the hotel that morning and brought our luggage to Capri. Left the luggage in a little storage place inside a store so we could do some sightseeing. First we went to the blue grotto by boat. Just look at the picture to appreciate the beauty of this place. After coming back from the blue grotto we took a bus to the capital of the island: AnaCapri.

Island of Capri, on our way to the blue Grotto---Blue Grotto

• Got on a chair lift that takes you all the way to the top of the mountain in about 15 minutes. Up there you are supposed to have the best views of both cities and on clear days you should be able to see Mt. Vesuvius from there.
  

  

  

  View of the island of Capri from mountain top in Anacapri




• Took another boat trip for about 1 hour (with our luggage) to the city Naples
• Took a taxi from the port in Naples to the main train station. The taxi driver called himself “Speedy Gonzalez…andale andale”. So you can just picture how fast he was going, how many traffic violations he committed, and how many times we had a near encounter with death. Just to give you an illustration of what I’m talking about, while driving on a main road he ran into a police car (carabinieri) and he was disappointed because he couldn’t speed anymore. So what did he do? He quickly deviated to the entrance of a mini bus terminal, speeded along the streets where only buses are supposed to go, got back into the main road (ahead of the police) and continued on his merry way letting us know once again that he was “Speedy Gonzalez”
• Took a train from Naples to Rome
• Arrived in the eternal city around 11:30 at night