Chapter 7 - The Rest of the Amalfi Coast, especially Ravello

Along the Road from Positano

This day was scheduled to be an all-day driving tour of the Coast. Given the nature of the roads and drivers, we decided we would prefer to apply our attention to the scenery and sights as well as our sanity by having a driver. Here is a map to show you our path.


If you have read the previous chapters, you know that we took the train from Rome to Naples, toured Pompeii and had our hotel in Positano as our touring base. In Chapter 6, we took the ferry from Positano to check out the town of Amalfi.

This day we would go as far East as Maiori and visit Ravello as well as other places on the coastal road. The scenery along the coast driving a road that makes the Pacific Coast Highway look like a superhighway. Each turn was more beautiful than the previous.

As you drive from Positano toward Amalfi, the view of the coast from above is different, but just as astonishing, as that from a boat.

You get a different perspective on the cliffs,

and the watchtowers.

You see how people live on them in splendor...

 

Talk about "rooms with a view"....

While other homes can be barely discerned from the rock around them.

But there were new things to catch the eye, like this sculpture outside a Praiano hotel.

Or the Praiano church tower.

About half way between Praiano and Amalfi lies a curious "tourist attraction", Grotta dello Smeraldo or the "Green Grotto". Our driver said it was touristy, but fun, so what the heck!
You buy a ticket and take an elevator down below the cliffs and walk to a small grotto....where you get on a rowboat with a guide.

The colored lights make for a bit of fun and the shapes, as in most caves, are amazing.

But the real attraction is the natural green lighted water, caused by the peculiar interaction of the minerals in the rocks, sunlight and the shape of the opening - the effect is quite eerie. It looks blue here from the camera, but it was definitely more green in person.

We did not stop in Amalfi as we had been there the day before (see Chapter 6). Our next stop was in Minori, yet another pretty town.

 You can see here how the coast road just runs along the edge of the cliffs.

In Minori, we stopped to see the ruins of a Roman villa, Villa Marittini. The site included a museum with relics, including pieces of frescoes,

sculptures,

and restored pottery.

Outside the small museum were the villa ruins, like a small, intimate version of the mass buildings in Rome.

The villa even had its own elaborate baths.

We continued down the coast. This was a stunning villa and typical Mediterranean garden along the road that screamed out for pictures.

Maiori was our only disappointment this day, and perhaps, the biggest of the trip. There is supposed to be an interesting castle there. Unfortunately, our driver did not know exactly where it was or how to get there. He told us we could just walk a few blocks up there, look around and then meet him to drive to lunch as the afternoon was moving on. So, we started walking in the right direction...We did a bit of the town, but had nowhere near the time to get to the castle (which he could have driven us to). Lesson folks, always try to ensure your driver knows the local area - this was a bit of a fluke, as our other drivers during the whole trip were great. 

Maiori is another picture-perfect coast town with the characteristic tiled roof church. If you look in the distance in this picture, you can just see that MIA castle...

As in all Italian towns, the alleys just lure your eyes and feet to see more.

Just as we were leaving, we came across this very touching memorial to World War I soldiers.

After Maiori, we headed up a bit from the coast to Ravello, beginning with lunch. We ate on a balcony overlooking the ocean.

There was quite a view.

The food highlights were pasta with artichokes and stuffed squid - yummy.

Ravello was our big surprise on the Amalfi Coast (it is not exactly ON the coast, but a bit uphill, as shown on the map at the beginning of this chapter). It was beautiful, not too touristy, but had some really great things to do. 

To start with, it has one of the loveliest town squares you will ever see, opening to views of the hills and the sea.

The sights are two amazing villas, both with beautiful gardens and views. We did Villa Cimbrone first, a steep and long walk up steps and paths from the square. This is one view along the way.

At last, you get to the entrance.

The buildings have beautiful details.

 

 

The gardens are lush and adorned with statuary.

And on the seaside, the view...

Perhaps, the most memorable feature of this villa was the courtyard garden, seen here from the outside entry.

Inside, the courtyard interior was just flat out beautiful...

Then it was down, down back to the town square. We took a slightly different route and passed the most interesting wine store we saw in all of Italy. We didn't understand the "and" part... :)

To replenish ourselves after all that walking, we got a "hit" - of gelato! Then it was on to Villa Ruffulo, not far from the town square.

The villa was lovely with a stately tower.

There was an unusual outdoor garden space with sort of an open dome.

The walls had beautiful patterns.

Like Villa Cibrone, it had a peaceful inner garden.

You felt like you just wanted to whisper.

The outside gardens were formal, but lush.

But, as at Villa Cibrone, the sight was off the back of the property facing the sea. There was a kind of broad patio. And there we spotted a painter at work...a quirky pic.

But there was nothing quirky about the view beyond him...

We ended the day with a trip to a small quaint museum in the hills above Amalfi. Amalfi was once a key Italian center for making paper before the process became mechanized.The museum was in one of the "factories" that has been preserved, powered by water The guided tour was very informative in showing the whole process, including changes that happened as mechanization slowly took over. 

The water was diverted into different channels for the different machines.

The "plant" was in a cave-like area, filled with old tools and mechanical devices.

The docent manually created a piece of paper the ancient way, 

showing us the origin of the term "watermark" - this is a real one, made by water!

The earliest machinery was fairly primitive.

Then along came industrialization...

Since our dinner reservation was a couple of miles west of Positano, we had the driver drop us there instead of returning to the hotel before dinner. It was next to a wonderful custom ceramics studio/shop. They specialize in custom table ware and table tops out of terra cotta and volcanic rock. While very traditional they were beautiful. 

The restaurant was a pizzeria with great food.  We got there early just as it was starting to rain—perfect timing.  We had a great bottle of white wine from the area followed by what turned out to be the best pizza of our trip—four cheeses. Then we just had a delicious simple grilled fish.

A long, but wonderful day taking in the Amalfi Coast. Tomorrow it was back to Naples for a train to Florence and the wonder of Tuscany.