Part Two: Positano and the Amalfi Coast Drive

So I made it to Sorrento. It was beautiful and sun drenched and there were lemon trees everywhere. I mean all over the place and so pretty I have resolved to try to grow my own lemon trees. My adventure continued, it was about 2:30 by now and I needed to find a bus. I was at a tiny little rail station and had to find the SITA bus to Amalfi and Positano. With a little difficulty, I bought a ticket, got on the bus and sat on the right hand side. This is very important. The bus to Positano is along the most beautiful highway in the world. Yes, I'll be bold and make that claim. It winds along with a mountain on one side and, on the right side, the sea. It was gorgeous, a few of my many pictures are below.

The bus makes two unannounced stops in Positano. I didn't really know which was which and in fear of being driven to the next town I got off the bus. In the middle of a mountain road. With the town way far down below. By myself. With a few random italians starting at me. So I started wandering in a general downhill direction. Then I found a teeny tiny stair well. So I carried my bag all the way down, thinking I might just pass out or die before reaching my hotel. Anyway, eventually I came to a square and my street! It was a miracle. I shortly found my cute little hotel. It is a family run B&B that has balconies looking out over the water. I was ushered into my lovely room and promptly sat outside enjoying the view.

Positano is a very small town, only 4,000 people actually live there. There are two other major towns on the Amalfi Coast, being Sorrento and Amalfi. Positano is the smallest and most picturesque. There are no big busses allowed so it is not overrun with crazy tourists. It consists of little clothing shops, limoncello stores, a fabulous ceramics, lots of wisteria and generally happy, nice people. There is a little beach that has pebbles instead of sand and very blue water. It has a beach town pace, and everyone leisurely walks, eats ice cream, and window shops. Very different from the craziness of Rome. I sat on my terrace, then walked to the beach and people watched. Then went back to my hotel, enjoyed the sunset and set out to find some diner.

I went to a place right on the beach and prepared to have dinner alone. But I wasn't really alone, all the waiters kept me company. Apparently men in southern italy are um, nice. They kept asking me how I was, how the food was, where I was from etc. I enjoyed myself. I had a lovely table looking over the beach and every 10 minutes someone came by to talk to me. I went ahead and splurged a little and order the pasta specialty of the night, pasta and seafood. It was amazing, picture below. I order a glass of wine and generally treated myself to a "first week in italy" dinner.

Then it got interesting. I finished my wine, and all of a sudden without asking they brought me another glass. I said thank you and they said "justta fore you" When I had finished all that, they brought me a huge piece of tiramisu. Again, didn't ask for it. By this point the waiters were trying to talk me into going dancing in Sorrento. I politely declined but thanked them for the excellent cake. Then, yes then, they brought me a glass of limoncello, again "justta fore you". I exclaimed that this was too much but there was no arguing. So I happily drank my limoncello and ate my cake and felt a little bit like the queen of the world. People and dogs and babies and teenagers strolled in front of the restaurant, and I enjoyed watching everyone. At this point I had been at dinner for about 2 hours. It was getting late and I was getting tired. I had a little difficulty getting my check, which was only for my pasta and a glass of wine. I paid, and then assured my new friends that I was in fact going to sleep and couldn't make it dancing. Ha. It was all very entertaining.

Today, I awoke in paradise. Seriously. Look at these pictures, it is heaven. I asked to have breakfast which included a cappuccino, two croissants, and a glass of orange juice. Oh and it was served to me on my terrace. Yep. Best day ever. Almost an hour later, after a long breakfast, I ventured to the beach again. And then I did some souvenir shopping. I bought a beautiful table cloth with lemons on it, some watercolor postcards to frame, and some ceramics from a famous ceramic shop in town. The box should arrive in about two weeks, hopefully, with nothing broken and all presents intact. Sadly, it was time to go. I check out of my very nice hotel said goodbye to the mother/daughter team that ran it and hiked up hill to the bus stop.

From here, nothing was as romantic. I bused back to Sorrento, getting a little sick on the winding road, grabbed the commuter train back to Naples, and the super speedy one to Rome. It was about 4 hours of traveling in all. There was one exciting event on the commuter train. Soccer (futbol) is a huge deal in italy, I mean HUGE. Almost bigger than football in the states. Anyway, all of a sudden about 50 soccer fans boarded my train car. They had scarves, 5 foot flags, and drums. They sung and chanted and sung the entire way. And I mean they shouted, whistled, banged on the train windows. It was all very exciting, several of them said Ciao and apologized to me for such a raucous ride.

So I am back in Rome, refreshed and ready for another week of classes. I can't believe I have already been here one week.