We left our amazing apartment in Rome and headed to the airport to pick up a car for the fifth road trip of our journey. First stop: Vietri Sul Mare on the beautiful Amalfi coast.
We arrived in Vietri Sul Mare and checked into our hotel. Our room overlooked the coast and the views were simply awesome. We headed straight to the pool, which conveniently had a pool bar in it. We decided to support the jobs of the two Italians behind the bar by ordering drinks. Just doing our part for the economy here. It was such a hardship floating around the pool with panoramic views over the Amalfi coast while sipping on cocktails. We sacrifice so much for the good of others.
That evening we booked at a restaurant that was set in a lemon grove. The restaurant organised a transfer from our hotel and an old guy in a tiny barina with a filthy windscreen picked us up and we squeezed into the car. He then tore around the narrow streets and tight corners to the restaurant. When we got there, we were seated outside. A trellis dripping with lemons hung over our heads while we ate our meals. It was a seafood restaurant and they had no vegetarian options for Alex, so we asked them to cook something up. They came back with a gnocchi in tomato sauce, which we all agreed was the best meal of the night.
The next morning we walked down into the town of Vietri Sul Mare. This is the ceramic capital of Italy and the town was decorated with ceramics. Pots, tiles and even fence posts were all made from ceramics painted in bright colours. There were many ceramic shops there and most of their products were painted with Mediterranean scenes or lemons, which grow prolifically in the area. We could have explored the shops for hours. They were fantastic.
We took the bus back to our hotel and checked out, then drove up to Ravello. Our AirBNB was set high up in the hills. The narrow road curved around the edge of the mountains and the drivers crazy, many of them overtaking on curves with no idea of what could be coming the other way. We had to breathe in more than once while squeezing past a bus or van.
The drive was totally worth it though. If we thought the views from Vietri Sul Mare were amazing, they had nothing on Ravello. Our apartment was high on the mountain and had a long balcony with the most spectacular panoramic view over the coast. We were booked in there for four nights and I reckon we could have spent the entire time just sitting on that balcony admiring the view. Mountains surrounding us, dotted with houses and villas on terraced lemon groves sweeping down to the black sand of the various small towns lining the coast. The ocean stretched out from the coast, littered with boats leaving white trails behind them in the sun-kissed, silvery-blue waters.
We walked up the 200 odd steps to the town square of Ravello. The town square was full of alfresco bars and was surrounded by terraced mountains. On one side of the square was a church and there were about three brides walking around. We chose a bar to enjoy a cocktail. There wasn't much room between the tables and I accidentally elbowed some poor Chinese dude in the head while I was pulling out my chair. A bride walked into the church with her 7 bridesmaids while we sat there soaking up the views and atmosphere.
We explored the ceramics shops around the town and then walked back down to our apartment. By the time we arrived at the apartment Tona's achilles was sticking out like a cowboy's spur and she was in a bit of pain.
The next morning, Tona wanted to rest her achilles and Lidia wanted to explore Ravello further. Alex and I decided to walk down the 1,500 steps to a tiny town called Minori. The views on the "Path of Lemons" were sensational and we loved it. When we arrived in Minori we took a turn about the town and then had a wonderful lunch at a small restaurant run by a father and daughter team. Alex loved her ravioli filled with smoky mozzarella. They gave us a limoncello as a digestivo and it was delicious.
Our intention was to take the bus back to Ravello, because online reviews of the walk back up the steps basically said that you would have to be crazy, stupid or both to attempt the gruelling climb. Turns out the buses don't run on weekends, so our choices were to try to source a taxi for 40 euros or bite the bullet and hike back up the 1,500 steps in 37 degree heat. So of course, we chose the hike.
We were about one third of the way up when a motorcyclist came driving up the steps. His timing was fantastic because Alex and I had just come across a crossroad with no signs and didn't know which way to go. He stopped, pointed us in the right direction and then kept driving up the steps. About 10 minutes later he came rolling down the steps. Crazy man.
Alex and I continued up our steps. We were happy in the knowledge that our apartment was actually about 270 steps before the top, so we should only have to walk 1,200 of the 1,500 steps. Turns out I took a wrong turn and suddenly we came through a tunnel and emerged into the town square at the top of the mountain. We had overshot our street and walked the entire 1,500 steps. Alex was quite prepared to kill me at this point. Anyway, we took the opportunity for Alex to buy a piece of ceramic art she had her eye on and then we went back down the 270 steps to our apartment.
That night we went to a concert that Alex had found. It was the Music Festival in Ravello at the time we were there and there were events on constantly. The concert was held in an old church. It was a trio of piano, violin and cello and they played arrangements from 70's music. They played a beautiful version of Billy Joel's Lullaby (Goodnight my Angel) and fantastic medleys to Abba and Michael Jackson. At the end of the concert they played brilliant arrangements of Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven which had everyone on their feet. We were particularly impressed with the violinist, a funky young Italian with a top-knot who was jumping around on his stool as he played.
The next day we took the car down to another coastal town called Maiori. The traffic was insane and there were very few places to park. We eventually went down a side street and drove for about a kilometre before we found a hotel car park. Alex ran in and found one park in the back corner, so we drove in and parked there.
We spent the next couple of hours walking around Maiori. It was very touristy and crowded and we much preferred Ravello and Minori. The church with it's tiled, mosaic domes was a highlight though.
We headed back to our apartment where Lidia cooked up a fantastic pesto pasta. Alex, Lidia and I went for a walk back up into the town for the afternoon while Tona stayed back to rest her manky foot. On the way up the steps, we ran into Toni Collette coming down the steps with her husband. She stopped and told us that coming down was easier. I wanted to thank her for Sixth Sense and Little Miss Sunshine and berate her for Wanderlust, but there wasn't time.
When we returned to the apartment, Tona was sitting drinking a tetra pack wine that she bought for 50c. Alex asked her if she wanted a shooter and she answered "Hell, yeah!" Then Lidia asked her if she wanted a champagne and she said "Hell, yeah!" Linda and Carmel both sent her messages before she came telling her she had to carry the baton for them in the drinking department. It's safe to say the baton is in safe hands. In fact, the baton could possibly be used as a cocktail straw by the end of this trip.
That night we went to another concert. This one was an orchestra perched on a platform overlooking the entire coast at a venue called Villa Rufolo. What a spectacular backdrop for a concert. The view, however, far outstripped the music. We thought it was going to be orchestral music, but it turned out to be a Wagner opera. Three singers came out and proceeded to sing in German for over an hour. It was excruciatingly boring. They were performing with slow motion overacting and the facial expressions were so overly dramatic it was almost laughable. We couldn't understand what they were singing about, but we can only imagine that it was something like "Fat old man meets fat old girl. Fat old girl's fat old father gets in the way. Fat old man becomes sad, then happy, then sad, then happy, etc. Fat old man inexplicably holds his fist in the air in gesture of rejoice. Fat old girl holds fat old mans fist in gesture of solidarity. Fat old girl gives fat old man revolting smooch, which seems impossible given the size of fat old man's gut and fat old lady's bust. Everyone is happy (except audience)."
By the end of the performance our butts were killing us almost as much as the boredom. Two people stood up for a standing ovation. One man yelled out "More!". He's lucky that obviously no-one in the audience was armed.
The next day was my birthday and we celebrated by spending the morning in the town of Amalfi. We had perhaps the best gelati of our stay and wandered around the shops before going for a swim in the Mediterranean sea. The water was clear and cold, which was great given it was probably around 38 degrees.
We drove back to Ravello, had some lunch in the apartment and then walked back up the steps to the town and visited Villa Rufolo, which was the venue for the opera the previous night. This time we walked around the gardens. Unfortunately, the best part of the gardens were temporarily underneath the concert arena seating, so there really wasn't much to see. The views from there over the coast were spectacular though.
There are a lot of stray cats in Ravello. Most of them are tiny and obviously underfed. Alex had taken to walking around with tins of tuna in her bag and fed a few of them along the way. Those kitties were pretty grateful. Most of them scoffed that tuna down in no time at all.
After the villa, Lidia bought a huge ceramic plate to hang on our wall at home and we wandered up to a restaurant that the girls had booked for my birthday. We had the best table in the place right on the edge of the balcony overlooking the coast, which stretched out before us. Simply stunning. The meals were fantastic as well. We all enjoyed our mains and the complimentary champagne!