Just a little road by the sea

For our last full day in Sorrento Christine and I decided to take a drive down the Amalfi Coast, a famous stretch of seaside road that runs from Sorrento south to Salerno. I was here once a few years ago and I had taken a bus down the coast from Sorrento south, and since then I have always wanted to ride a motorcycle down the twisty narrow road that hugs the cliffs. I planned to do that on my last ride but the rain got in the way. Unfortunately, when I suggested renting a bike and riding the coast to Christine she was less than enthusiastic about the idea. Apparently her dad has a motorcycle and he falls off a lot, so she was a little apprehensive. I can understand that, but I didn't want to be waiting on a bus again all day so I talked her into renting a car. We got a cute little blue European car and headed out.

The road leaving Sorrento immediately turns twisty with falling cliffs and beautiful sea views on the right. Then it turns inland a bit and heads over a hill before meeting the sea once again. For anyone who has ever been on the California coast between Monterey and San Simeon it's a lot like that, with mountains that drop nearly straight into the sea and the feeling of being at the edge of the world. However, while the cliffs are mostly bare with nobody around in California, these cliffs are covered with lush green vegetation and lemon groves and small villages every few miles with houses clinging to the hillsides.

One of the most famous of these villages is called Positano. It is situated in a crevasse where two hills seem to come together, or more likely one was split apart. The houses line the hills on both sides and flow down to the small pebbly beach. It's a big tourist attraction so it's always packed with people in the summer months and even now in late September. The road runs above the town and cars are parked all along it in every available space since only locals may drive down the one or two streets into the town. We found an open space and parked the car so we could walk down the hill into the town. Like I said there are a lot of tourists and the town is very small, so we only spent about a half hour looking around. We bought some tasty crushed lemon ice from a lady with a small icebox on the street (lemons are the local specialty) and walked back up to the car. When we got there we found a nice little note that the local polizia left for us on the car, a parking ticket! I really couldn't believe it since there were cars parked everywhere, including each side of our car, but one thing I will never do is try to understand the Italian authorities, they do things that just defy logic sometimes. Oh well, we were not going to let a little ticket ruin our day. It was another perfect warm sunny day so what could be better? I was having a good time driving the car on the twisty road, however Christine wasn't too impressed with my authentic Italian driving style so I had to take it easy. Even with all my travels this was actually the first time I've driven a car in Italy. I really do enjoy driving here more than in the States, it's a lot more fun. We made a brief stop at the town of Amalfi. I have been there before and there was no place to park so I told Christine what it was like as we kept going.

A few miles past Amalfi we decided to take a detour from the coast and find the little mountain town called Ravello. It's located a few miles up into the hills above the sea surrounded by trees and green mountains. We found a parking lot (pay when you leave) and walked around a bit. It was very nice, quiet and very relaxing with spectacular views.

We only stayed a little while because we wanted to find a beach before it got too late. There are a few beaches on the coast, but since it's mostly cliffs dropping into the sea they aren't everywhere. We found a nice one in front of another small town so we stopped there for a while. I went swimming a bit and we just relaxed on the beach taking in the last bit of warm sun before moving on. We found our way down to Salerno with the sun going down. It's another very old city with a big port and definitely worth spending some time, but I wanted to get the car back to the rental place before they closed. We had to leave town fairly early the next day and I didn't want to mess with it in the morning, not to mention pay to park it overnight, so we just had a quick bite to eat and found our way to the autostrada. We made good time getting back to Sorrento with about a half hour left before the rental place closed. I stopped and put some gas in the car and we proceeded to follow the signs into the city. Despite all the signs pointing us to Sorrento we somehow couldn't the center and main street. We even found a sign declaring we were in Sorrento but still had no idea where we were. It was dark and for some reason I was very disoriented. We literally drove in circles for close to an hour trying to find the city center which should not have been hard since it's a fairly small town and I am a bit familiar with it. It was very frustrating and we were not going to make it in time to return the car so we called the shop. The man there said he'd wait for us, so we drove around some more, still lost, called him again and he was still waiting. After a while we somehow turned up at our hotel, on the opposite side of town from the rental. At least I knew where we were now, so we called the rental place again and he said he would only wait 10 more minutes. Now the only problem was that the main street was closed to cars in the evenings so we had to find another way through town, down one-way streets and more circles. We asked a cop how to get to the train station, which was next to the rental place, and she told us. We went exactly where she said but could only find some very narrow alley that did not look like something a car could go down much less a street leading to the main train station. However after passing it a couple times we saw some cars going down so I followed them and there it was. I have to say that was the most annoying, frustrating, utterly insane thing I've ever been through. It was like being in a fun-house with mirrors and spinning rooms, trying to escape, just crazy. We finally arrived around 9:00 and the guy was actually still waiting for us almost an hour after closing time and he wasn't even mad. He was very nice and I thanked him and offered him some money but he wouldn't accept it. Despite the stories about Italians not wanting to help you only a minute past closing time or just because they are smoking a cigarette at the moment (which are true by the way), I have found more people like this guy who will do almost anything to help you out. When it comes down to it they really are kind-hearted people.

Earlier in the week I had called our Mexican friend William, the guy Christine and I both met in Rimini, and he was spending some time in Spain at the moment. So, with another week to kill before I could return to my house in Rome I decided to fly over to Spain and meet him. Christine had plans to meet another friend in another town in Italy as she headed back up north, so the timing was good. The next morning we gathered our things and walked down to the train station to catch a train to Napoli. We went in to buy a ticket and when we did the lady told us we had to hurry so we could catch the last train. Last train? They run back and forth from Sorrento to Napoli all day. So we ran up to the platform and into the train and sat down right before it took off. We were sitting across from some English people and they told me that there was a rail workers strike going on and that we were on the last train of the day. Wow, talk about luck. We could have been stuck there another day and I would have missed my plane flight from Rome to Valencia if we had been just ONE MINUTE LATER. Good thing that guy waited for us the night before.

About an hour later we arrived at the train station in Napoli where we were to part ways. My train departed first so I said goodbye to Christine and left her at the train station. Yet another goodbye without knowing when I may see that person again. I have had many farewells during my travels, and while I'm always sad to see my friends go, I always feels fortunate to at least have someone there waving goodbye as I board the train, it's a nice feeling. Ci vediamo amici.