Somehow the days have gotten away from me, and it has been several days since the last post. I will therefore take the last few days in sections - first talking about our last day in the Sorrento area. As I mentioned before, we had hired Carmello for 2 days - the first was our trip to Pertosa, and the second was spending Saturday driving the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento is in the Bay of Naples, whereas the Amalfi Coast is in the Bay of Amalfi. This part of the country was more beautiful than Sorrento. You probably have heard about the winding and very narrow roads, and the towns that are built almost vertically. However, seeing it is even more impressive. In between the towns were little fisherman's villages that are tucked in the nook of the cliff with a small beach area, and no way to reach the town other than by water. It makes you imagine a very different lifestyle than what 
we are accustomed to.
We were so glad to have someone else driving so that we could enjoy the view. The road has more than 700 twists and turns from just south of Sorrento to Amalfi. We stopped several times along the way to take pictures, and again were blessed with perfect weather. This was actually the warmest day we have had yet - it was in the mid 60's. For the first time, I didn't need to wear a jacket! Carmello gave us lots of history and information as we drove along the road. The first town we stopped in was Positano. This is supposedly a very romantic city, but it didn't seem that different from the other towns - all of which are romantic in some way. Carmello told us that there is nothing that is made in Positano - all the items are brought in from other towns for the tourists. However, every town has it's own supply of fresh fruits and vegetables - there were gardens, olive and lemon trees everywhere we went. Although the towns were very small, you could imagine families walking hundreds of steps to get to the local market, and in fact we saw many locals carring bags of groceries and walking up the steep hills to get to their house.
Our next stop was to have lunch in Ravello. This town is up a very steep and even more narrow road - basically above Amalfi. Ravello is famous for the classical music concerts that o
ccur from April to October. Also, Ravello is famous because Jackie and Caroline Kennedy stayed there for 3 weeks one summer when Caroline was little. The house they stayed in was across the street from the restaurant where we ate lunch, and is actually abandoned right now, so if you're looking for some real estate in the area, we've got the spot for you.:)
The restaurant is right on the edge of a cliff, and provided beautiful views while we ate. We also had our first taste of lemoncello, which was very good, but very strong, and only accentuated our wine buzz.
The next stop was in Amalfi, where we spent some time walking around. As Carmello had predicted, most of the tourists had cleared out by the time we got back from lunch. We walked on the beach, dipped our feet in the very cold Mediterranean, and shopped. We also learned that this is where the compass originated. On the way to and from Amalfi, we got a glimpse of the 1,000 steps that were used in Medieval times to get from Amalfi to Ravello. It was interesting to hear about the long history of the region, and to see the castles and monestaries that have been there for centuries.
The drive back to Sorrento was less beautiful, because the light was fading, and the weather was taking a turn for the worse. In fact, we learned that it had been so windy in Sorrento that they had to stop running the boat to Capri, and the closer we got to Sorrento, the worse the weather got. But that didn't stop us from having Carmello drop us off at Davida Gelato for the best gelato in Sorrento. We had nearly 50 flavors to choose from, and with the bad weather, the place was almost empty. We watched as all the street venders chasing their things down the street from the wind. That night we stayed in and ordered room service. A crime to miss out on the wonderful local food, but after a day of traveling, and some bad weather, we couldn't muster up the desire to go back out.
we are accustomed to.We were so glad to have someone else driving so that we could enjoy the view. The road has more than 700 twists and turns from just south of Sorrento to Amalfi. We stopped several times along the way to take pictures, and again were blessed with perfect weather. This was actually the warmest day we have had yet - it was in the mid 60's. For the first time, I didn't need to wear a jacket! Carmello gave us lots of history and information as we drove along the road. The first town we stopped in was Positano. This is supposedly a very romantic city, but it didn't seem that different from the other towns - all of which are romantic in some way. Carmello told us that there is nothing that is made in Positano - all the items are brought in from other towns for the tourists. However, every town has it's own supply of fresh fruits and vegetables - there were gardens, olive and lemon trees everywhere we went. Although the towns were very small, you could imagine families walking hundreds of steps to get to the local market, and in fact we saw many locals carring bags of groceries and walking up the steep hills to get to their house.
Our next stop was to have lunch in Ravello. This town is up a very steep and even more narrow road - basically above Amalfi. Ravello is famous for the classical music concerts that o
ccur from April to October. Also, Ravello is famous because Jackie and Caroline Kennedy stayed there for 3 weeks one summer when Caroline was little. The house they stayed in was across the street from the restaurant where we ate lunch, and is actually abandoned right now, so if you're looking for some real estate in the area, we've got the spot for you.:)
The restaurant is right on the edge of a cliff, and provided beautiful views while we ate. We also had our first taste of lemoncello, which was very good, but very strong, and only accentuated our wine buzz.The next stop was in Amalfi, where we spent some time walking around. As Carmello had predicted, most of the tourists had cleared out by the time we got back from lunch. We walked on the beach, dipped our feet in the very cold Mediterranean, and shopped. We also learned that this is where the compass originated. On the way to and from Amalfi, we got a glimpse of the 1,000 steps that were used in Medieval times to get from Amalfi to Ravello. It was interesting to hear about the long history of the region, and to see the castles and monestaries that have been there for centuries.
The drive back to Sorrento was less beautiful, because the light was fading, and the weather was taking a turn for the worse. In fact, we learned that it had been so windy in Sorrento that they had to stop running the boat to Capri, and the closer we got to Sorrento, the worse the weather got. But that didn't stop us from having Carmello drop us off at Davida Gelato for the best gelato in Sorrento. We had nearly 50 flavors to choose from, and with the bad weather, the place was almost empty. We watched as all the street venders chasing their things down the street from the wind. That night we stayed in and ordered room service. A crime to miss out on the wonderful local food, but after a day of traveling, and some bad weather, we couldn't muster up the desire to go back out.
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