Naples and Positano

[Pauline]

Today we left the car in the garage and took the SITA bus from Positano to Amalfi. We got seats, but that bus was packed with many people standing. I had a headache from the perfume of the woman in front of us. We had a fabulous walk then wanted to take the boat back, but the water was rough and boats were cancelled! So we waited in a long line. Didn't get on the first bus but got on the next one, even got a seat, but I still feel seasick from the ride two hours later!

The car is coming out of the garage! That bus is worse than driving.

It was misty and drizzling this morning so we cancelled plans to take the boat to Capri. Instead we took the bus to Amalfi and did the Valle dei Mulini walk from the Circone book.

Walk 23 Valle dei Mulini and Pontone, 260m ascent/descent, 2hr 10min

Amalfi was packed. Tour bus groups and school outings. We went into the church. Then started on the hike at 12:30. We finished at 3pm - 2.5 hours (book said 2hrs). The hike was fantastic. My second favorite hike of the trip. Thanks to @Kathy (Trekcapri) for recommending it! We walked up out of Amalfi, back along the valley, following a river and passing abandoned paper mills. We had our sandwiches by the river. There were other people on the trail, but not as many as we saw that first day of hiking on the Path of the Gods.

It was an easy ascent to the end of the valley, much in shade. It was feeling very muggy. No sun, but warm and sticky. From the end of the valley it was an easy ascent to Ponotone, the village we walked to yesterday, but from the other side this time.

We talked to a man digging out his vegetable garden on a high, narrow terrace, planning to plant tomatoes, eggplants and beans. Just before Pontone a young man had a stand right on the path offering fresh squeezed lemon and orange juice. We had some. He even had chairs.

From Pontone it was about an hour downhill on stairs. I am getting used to this. Earlier in the trip I was waking up in the night with leg cramps, but that is not happening now. We make sure to drink a lot of water when walking and to eat lightly.

As I may have mentioned the bus ride back was horrible. I am laying in bed as I tap this out listening to the 7pm church bells. This has been a fantastic vacation. These walks have been outstanding.

The path out of Amalfi (and Steve). The lemon groves are covered in plastic netting! Ugh! But higher up they aren't.

Interesting wood pile.

Old paper mill.

Lemon and orange juice stand.

View to Amalfi from Pontone's lemon groves.

 

[Pauline]

Italy really takes you out of your routine, doesn't it? I had email today from the thatcher who has finished repairing the roof and someone who is fixing our garage floor, and I thought, oh yeah, the new house!

 

[Pauline]

Weather. When we arrived on April 30 we had a few colder days and some light rain. Then the sun came out and temps were mid 60s to mid 70s for 7 days at least. Yesterday (Wednesday) was cloudy and muggy. Today the clouds are back and it is raining hard - but the weather forecast said sun, some cloud, maybe a thundershower.

We had planned to go to Capri yesterday but changed our plans because it was overcast. We cancelled again today. I don't think we will go tomorrow, our last day. I was surprised that the friends who were with us last week didn't want to go to Capri, but I guess if you just finished your 3rd cruise in a row, getting on a boat to do a day trip to an island is not interesting.

We have been to Capri before and I have reached my limit with the crowds here, so am not that disappointed to miss it. We also didn't get to those minor sites near Pompeii. I guess we will have to plan another trip and maybe stay on Capri

Feeling lazy today after hiking the last 4 days. When the rain stops we will do some walking around town (stairs, stairs, stairs - it is like being at the top of a high rise building).

View from the bedroom (the only room where we get wifi).

 

[Sharon J]

Love your report and pictures. Such a beautiful area. Hopefully, we'll find our way back next year.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Loving your report, Pauline. Brings back good memories. We were there in March and it snowed! Locals were wearing puffy jackets. We were totally unprepared. We stayed in one of the worst apartments we've ever stayed in but a great location. Sounds like it was close to you. We did the exchange of keys at Bar Internaziolane. I don't keep a diary but think it was around 2001 or 2002.

I loved Capri. I found it incredibly beautiful. We were there before the tourist rush and many places were still closed. We managed to avoid the main square with all of the high end shops for the most part. But when we did go by, I thought that I would die there in the high season. I think we stayed for 1 or 2 nights. I remember loving our hotel. I believe it was Hotel Capri. It was small and they brought breakfast to your room. I remember eating it sitting on a balcony facing the dazzling blue water. Happy memories.

I also liked the bus rides along the mountainous and scary coast. It's weird b/c I get carsick and didn't like similar rides in Madeira.

 

[Pauline]

The sun came out around noon but we were both tired and napped or read until 5pm! Then we walked down the western part of town to Fornillo Beach. We walked to it the other day with Valerie and Bryan, but this time we had more of a look. There is a house built into the rock at the end of the beach that we can see from our terrace and we wanted to see it closeup. Fornillo Beach is quieter than the main beach. The stairs down to it are very steep, but you can also get there on a pathway along the water from the main beach.

We walked back to the main beach, said hello to a friend of Gail Hecko from ST (she runs tours here with Gail's Great Escapes), took the bus back to the top and had crodinos (non-alcohol aperitif that I learned about on these forums). We've only had a few meals out and tonight we checked out a restaurant in our area. After making a reservation, walking back along the coast road to the very busy and narrow intersection where you turn into Positano, we watched a big SITA bus trying to make the corner and cars in the other lane inching past him, when the bus and a car scraped sides. They were each going about 2 miles an hour. We watched the bus driver stop the bus, get out, go to the car. Much shrugging and then both went their opposite ways.

This intersection of ours. It is the coast road, the only road along the Amalfi Coast, and the one way road into Positano. It is almost at the top of the town, only one small neighborhood is higher. On the coast road is Bar Internazionale, a very good alimentari run by Giovanni (we see him every day), a fruit and vegetable shop, the Municipal offices, Post Office, a bank, a butcher, a restaurant where we had dinner tonight and a pizza place where we got takeout twice. Also the SITA bus stops and a stop for local buses.

During the day a traffic officer is there. During the busy times there are two or three of them. The road is too narrow for two buses to pass, so they stop traffic to get the buses through.

Even with all this traffic, it is still the Main Street of a town. Locals park outside the shop, leaving their lights flashing and causing more traffic problems. People walk along both sides of the road. They meet each other and stand chatting and obstructing traffic. Tourists are crossing the road, waiting for the bus, having a drink at a table that is almost in the road or across the road sitting on a low wall. Some dragging their suitcases to the bus stop. Motorcycles everywhere, driving, passing, parked. Hikers starting the trail beside the bar - stairs straight up to Chiesa Nuova, then more stairs and a trail zigzagging up the mountain.

I could stand there all day long just watching! Our house is one block down, right on the corner.

Cloudy this morning. This is the view from the bedroom!

Steve walking along the coast road.

Me with Gail's friend Andrea, a cook at Buca de Bacco on the beach.

It rained this morning, so even after it warmed up these Italian women are dressed for winter.

Around 6pm the sun goes behind the cliffs and Positano is in shadow for the rest of the evening. On the main beach looking up at this sculpture of a town.

 

[Pauline]

The last day. We had planned to drive 1hr 15min to Bomarano above the Amalfi Coast and walk out and back on the part of the Path of the Gods that we did not get to last week when we walked out and back from the Nocelle side, but the clouds were hanging down over the mountains. Sunny and cooler today. The water is still a bit rough. Ferries were cancelled yesterday and the day before.

Instead we did a mid level walk. We did the walk we did last Sunday with Valerie and Bryan but in reverse. We started climbing from Bar Internazionale for 1hr 15min (a nice gentle climb, just under 300m), had lunch where we had lunch before, then an easy 1hr walk, mostly level, to Montepertuso. We saw rock climbers again. There seemed to be even more wildflowers. The sun came and went. A beautiful walk and a nice way to end our vacation.

We got to Montepertuso just in time for the 3pm bus and talked to some travelling Aussies as we waited, then watched as a car had to back uphill on the narrow road with cars parked along it to make room for the bus, but the bus was packed and the driver gave the universal sign for get the next one. In an hour! The bus was full of people who did the Path of the Gods trail.

Everyone does the Path of the Gods trail. This is the one this area is known for. But it is bloody awkward to do. From Positano you take the SITA bus to Amalfi, the another bus to Bomerano. You can probably transfer somewhere before Amalfi, but it is a long ride. Then, on the trail, it is crowded. We walked part of it and passed people going the Bomarano to Nocelle direction constantly. It would be easier to get to from Amalfi I think.

There are many other trails and not many people are on them. And they are easier to get to.

We got a late start today waiting to see what the weather would do. If we had left earlier the bus would not have been full on our return. But I had been looking for an excuse to walk the 1500 stairs from Montepertuso to Positano and that is what we did. It was perfectly delightful! We walked out of the town on narrow lanes, then down steep steps through terraces with olive trees, lemons, vegetable gardens. All with beautiful views to Positano. We reached the coast road and took the Positano bus back to our part of town.

After this week of hiking I will never complain about walking up Golden Cap near Bridport again. Golden Cap is a 500 foot climb. Today's easy climb was almost 1000 feet. The longer hike we did was twice that. Positano is very vertical. Thank goodness for the buses!

Along the trail.

On the steps going down to Positano.

There was a wedding going on in the garden of this villa above Positano.

Time to get packing. Due to my bad planning, we leave at 7am tomorrow for an 11am flight from Naples. At least it gets us home in good time. It is a 3hr drive from Gatwick to Bridport.

 

[Valerie]

Looks like we lucked out with the weather for our weekend! What a fun time, and great hike.

Next time, spend some time on Capri and then when you get tired of the crowds come to Basilicata! There are lots of hikes you can do around here!

Buon viaggio, safe travels back home!

 

[Pauline]

Yes! Next trip a few nights in Naples to see the ancient Roman site we did not get to, a few nights on Capri, a week in Amalfi because there are even more hikes there, then Basilicata!

 

[Pauline]

I was woken up by huge lightening and thunder last night, then heavy rain. We left Positano at 7am. One last exciting incident with a SITA bus on the coast road. Steve pulled over to make room for the bus but it came so close that the bus touched our side mirror, then stopped to let Steve pull in the mirror. Yikes!!

To everyone who told me to NOT RENT A CAR - you were right!

Home now after a 3hr drive from Gatwick. We were closer to the airports when we lived in the Cotswolds. Arrived home at 6pm. The UK roads that I complain about now seem wide, empty of traffic, calm.

 

[jonathan]

Welcome home! As ever, it's been lovely following along with you - and a very good reminder that there's more to Amalfi Coast than the Sentiero degli Dei. You've definitely made me want to return!

 

[Kathy (Trekcapri)]

Hi Pauline, I have really enjoyed following along on your visit to Positano. It brought back some wonderful memories of my 3 weeks in Praiano and walking the Sentiero degli Dei. Your photos were also very beautiful. I hope to someday make it back there again to try to check out the other hiking paths in the area. Sorry about the car incidents.

 

[Pauline]

I wrote my review of Villa Eunice. Highly recommended.

The money we paid because of the accident (1300Euro which was part of the deductible) was refunded to us by our car rental excess insurance (insurance4carhire).

We had a great trip and I think we will go back either this fall or next spring. This time we will stay in Amalfi or Atrani and do the hikes there. I loved Positano, but there are more hikes near Amalfi, and they are steep but not as steep.

 

[Pati]

We have been cooking all our meals this week in Positano but today had lunch in Sorrento. I used the Summer in Italy recommendations and we had a very good lunch, just a few steps from the Sorrento tourist madness.

Pauline, could you tell me the name of the restaurant? I'm always looking for a good lunch.

 

[Pauline]

Here is the Summer in Italy restaurant list for the Sorrento area:
https://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/sorrento-coast_restaurants

We had lunch at La Laterna, Via San Cesareo, 23, Sorrento.

In Positano we had dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach and it was very good. There are three restaurants along the beach. All are recommended.

 

[Kalpana]

Pauline,
great trip report.I will be in Positano in June & staying at villa Eunice.don't plan to have car.so hopefully we can visit Amalfi using public transport & do couple of hikes from Positano.your report is of great help.Thanks
for all you do for the forum

 

[Pauline]

We loved that trip so much that we returned a year and a half later. I have that trip report here: https://www.sloweurope.com/community/threads/positano-in-november-2017.2714/

Villa Eunice was wonderful - huge! - with an incredible terrace and view.

There are two hikes from Positano that I recommend.

1. Bus to Montepertuso, walk across the middle of the mountain to the path that leads down to Positano.

2. From Villa Eunice, walk straight up (on the same path you come down on hike 1), but keep going up to the top, then you can take a high path down to Montepertuso and bus back.

Or if you don't want to do that much climbing, take the bus to Nocelle (same bus as to Montepertuso) and walk out on the Path of the Gods (well signed). Walk out and back.

The Cicerone Guide to Walks on the Amalfi Coast has all 3 of these walks in it. You will need some type of guide because 1 and 2 are not well signed. Start a thread in the Italy forum if you need help figuring out the hikes.

 

[Kalpana]

Pauline & others who have stayed at Villa Eunice,
I need help. I plan to take ferry from Salerno to Positano & reach Villa Eunice from Boat dock. My husband & myself are good walker & will have only carry on size bags.Is there a bus from center of Positano to uphill near Billa Eunice. Thanks in advance