Amalfi

Observations:

My blogs are getting longer and longer (I'll work on that).  Pepperoni does not appear to exist in Italy.  There is spicy salami, which is similar, but not quite the same.  We have yet to see hot pepper flakes.  Most waiters are men.

Our longest stay in one place (4 nights) was in Almafi, our next stop.  Boy, am I glad this was our longest stop!  But getting there was no picnic.  (Are we detecting a pattern here?)  More narrow, curvy roads around mountain cliffs.  Cars coming directly at you, motorcycles passing you every 10 seconds, roads too narrow to accommodate 2 cars, vehicles parked along both sides, buses and trucks barreling along, pedestrians assuming the right of way, bicycles darting out in front of you.  But you’ve heard all this before so I won’t dwell…

 Now do you believe me?

 The trauma of the drive was all worth it because - - -

The view from our hotel

Breathtaking during the day and breathtaking at night

You can never tire of this view.  I loved watching the sea glisten in the morning sun.

 The town we see from our hotel is Amalfi, and we spent a good deal of time down there.

My family will understand my excitement when we found lemon sorbetto.  When I was a little girl my parents used to take us to a little stand in Plainfield, NJ for what we called su-prett.  It was lemon Italian ice, and nobody made it the way this old Italian man did.  It came in a little paper cup that you would squeeze when you got to the bottom to get every last bit out.  After he shut down his stand, we were always on a quest to find that kind of Italian ice again, and we never did.  Well, half way across the globe, I finally found it!  Oh the joy!  And a light bulb went on – su-prett is sorbetto.  The name morphed along the way.

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of “real” Italians. I love the culture and trying to capture it.  I have spared you this on the blog, but I just have to share these two pictures.  In the very same spot on the very same day within a period of about an hour we witnessed first

young boys hanging around playing cards.  (This picture in itself was priceless to me.)  Then, second, we witnessed

grown men hanging around playing cards. 

We took a walk out to the end of the pier

Our terrace

 Breakfast

On our last day in Amalfi we decided to rent a boat and drive (do you say drive?) north along the coast.  I am trying really, really hard to not include a hundred pictures, although I could because it was so (there are not enough adjectives) spectacular, breathtaking, picturesque.

Our boat

Captain Caprio – he did an outstanding job

The scenery was beautiful throughout

We stopped at a little town called Positano and just walked around.  By the way, when you want to dock, a guy in a small boat comes out to get you.  He secures your boat to a buoy and then he takes you in.

Positano

A little further north we stopped again.  This time in Nerano where we had lunch at a highly recommended restaurant called Il Cantuccio.  The food was very good, but … let me give a little background.  During the past few years I have really begun to enjoy eating fish.  So I was excited to be spending time in coastal areas where the fish was sure to be delicious.  But in Italy, when you order fish, you get a fish. Tails, bones, eyeballs, and all.  I’m going to include my funny pic of the day here because I think this is unbelievable.  And Chris thought it was wonderful.  Like little potato chips, he said.  I’m scowling.

Funny picture of the day:

 Look at how clear the water is!

Nerano

Captain Caprio, feeling good after downing lots of little fishies

We headed for the Island of Capri.  In researching Capri at home we learned about the Blue Grotto.  It’s a cave with a very small opening that you enter by rowboat, on your back, 3 people at a time (2 plus the rowboat driver).  Once inside you see the most brilliant, almost iridescent blue water.  We had considered doing that.  But now that we had our little boat, we decided to just go around the island.  Along the way we came across a small inlet that a few boats were entering.  We followed.  Well, we had our own blue grotto.  Perhaps not quite as brilliant, but it really how much better could it be!

Around the west side of Capri we were able to see Naples and Mt. Vesuvius in the distance.  You can just make it out in the picture.

Okay, another funny picture of the day, but with the same theme as the earlier one.  This was Chris’ dinner one night in Amalfi.  He didn’t even know what some of this stuff was.  He added the “necklace” around the one fish.  Nice touch.

Second funny picture of the day:

What’s even funnier about this is that our waiter, in his efforts to serve us well, and because we were sharing most of what we ordered, came along and personally split our dishes so that we could both enjoy all the food.  So here he is putting who knows what kinds of fish heads onto my plate!  Oh gosh.  I smiled graciously, and then as soon as he turned his back, which, I have to add, was not very often (he was a very attentive waiter), I would put a creature on Chris’ plate.  Chris tried to eat it as quickly as possible to avoid hurting our waiter’s feelings. 

Our waiter, Vincenzo, evening up the dishes!

I felt a little sad leaving Amalfi.  I’d have been sadder had I known what was to come...