Gently being rocked in and out of sleep, I feel the train come a full stop- "Is this us?" I ask, and both without total certainty of whether we were at the Salerno station or not jumped off just as the train began moving away- our timing is the best!
Pepe, from Piano (another town along the Amalfo coast) picked us up and we were treated to the service from the "best driver in all Amalfi" by his own regard! The drive was AMAZING. The scenery as we hugged the hairpin curves of the perilous amalfi highway almost made you feel like you were flying. All the drivers ar respectful of the dangers of the tight quarters, but there is no regard for personal space as they squeeze past eachother on a two-way highway only considered wide enough for one vehicle at high speeds here in America. The motorcyclists seem to have no care for their own safety, whipping around the vehicles and the curves without ever knowing what is actually coming towards them around the bend! CRAZY! Yet, with all this wild driving, you are transported into this other world nestled in amongst the cliffs on the mediterranean. You feel light years away from the hustle and bustle of italy's big cities and you take in the hundreds of gardening terraces, lemons at road-side market carts as big as your head, and the moody shifts in blue of the sea. Pepe allowed us a photo opportunity at tone of the market stands. He also stopped the car on a bridge and let us get out to see the oldest fishing town in Amalfi- tucked back in a small, narrow cove (couldn't have been more than 150 feet across from cliff to cliff) were these cliffside homes where only a community of 100 people live now. I think every resident was down on their private beach just below the bridge we stood on, enjoying the sunshine and gentle waves hitting their shore.
Pepe drops us off along the one and only driving road that curves through Positano. One of the 7 signs on this curve in the road indicates that "La Rosa Dei Venti", our B&B for the next few days is only accessible from here by foot by an arrow pointing down the stone-paved pathway through the buldings and down the stairs. Luckily it's only about 120 paces and 15 stairs down to our quaint accomodations. There is something absolutely wonderful about how the "kitchy" decor that we would snicker at in America seems to feel nothing but absolutely perfect in this quiet B&B. The one thing that no one could ever take away from this place is the view!!!
Around 8 we decided to venture out to find dinner- ten minutes down the stone-paved pathway and stairs through other hotels/ B&Bs/ residences and we reach the beach. We walk along and find the happiest dog in the world- we watch him as he darts out from a sea-side bar, which is closing for the evening, staright for the water. He ives in head first, paddles around for a minute. then swims back out onto the rocky shore, he shakes out and rolls onto his back, allowing the stones to give him a good scratch. I swear John and I both detect a smile on his face as we turn our attention away from him and back to our mission for food. We find a little private cove with a beach that only about a dozen people could enjoy together, and I can't help myself from taking a moment to kick off my sandles to enjoy running along the water's edge. After recovering from this moment of bliss, we climb another set of stairs and that happiest of all dogs bounds past us as if to say "If you lived here, you could take all these stairs with ease like I do." A challenge I would delightfully submit to.
We finally find a great restaurant with an outdoor veranda overlooking the sea. We split an antipasti with a sampling of local cheeses. grilled eggplant, roasted red and yellow peppers, cappicola,salami,prosciutto, and a pizza with tomato, capers, fresh ground tuna, and mozzarella on a thin, crisp crust. At the end of our meal we ask for "vino porta via"- wine for the road, and our young waiter smiles and brings us back wine in a liter- sized water bottle and tells us to enjoy! Our hike back up the stairs to our B&B was much harder than going down to the beach- later, we would find out that from the beach to the top if the stairs along the cliff it is 900 from bottom to top give or take a few- luckily we were probably around 300 (still pretty steep I might add). CLIMB, CLIMB, HUFF, HUFF, SIP SIP! The wine kept us company and we laughed as we struggled on the hike up!
No comments:
Post a Comment