After the lecture, we walk to the bus parking area and head towards Positano. Vincenzo joins us as the local guide, giving us some history and information along the way. The road is very winding and narrow. At one point we have to change from the big bus to smaller buses to even make it into Positano. The town itself is built into a hillside. The narrow streets are lined with small shops. Lemon products are popular, as the original orange groves were converted through grafting into lemon groves when Sicily started producing better oranges. This makes the area's lemons special and limoncello is a local specialty. There are also a lot of ceramics, linen clothing, as well as the usual tourist bait products.
I popped my head into a church dedicated to Black Madonna, but didn't linger as the priest was very stern and warned us all about messing with a wedding that was about to take place. I ran into a few of my fellow travelers having gelato by the water and so my first gelato of the trip is here, a pistachio which was decent, but not spectacular. Still, a nice treat as it's warm and very humid.
From Positano, we are taking a boat to Amalfi. This allows us to see the coastal towns from the water as well as avoid the road, which we will discover is a very good thing!
Amalfi is another tiny little town. We have lunch at Lo Smerelda right by the water. Starter is a salad, but when I mention I don't eat salad, they automatically offered a caprese, which had delicious mozzarella and okay tomatoes. The main was a wide flattened tube pasta with a local fish sauce. The pasta is al dente in the proper fashion and very chewy. I got the feeling from Vincenzo that American tourists must often complain to him about the texture of pasta here. Dessert is a delicious lemon cream with profiteroles. After lunch we have time to wander the town. I join a few ladies to hunt for a paper store (as the local handmade paper is supposed to be quite special) and to check out the rather remarkable church. The paper store turned out to be difficult to find but was right under our noses, next to the church. The location of the church has been a religious building for a very long time, dating back to pagan days. This area was not affected as much by warring, so was able to be built on top of layer by layer. The outside features some beautiful Byzantine mosaics, and the interior has gorgeous silver and jeweled treasures. The church interior is from the 18th century featuring beautiful marble patterns and painted coffered ceilings.
We meet at the water to catch our bus back to Sorrento and on the road back between Amalfi and Positano we discover how challenging it is to pass two large buses on curvy roads barely wide enough for 1 normal car! The bus drivers are truly remarkable, and we manage to make it through without taking out any parked scooters. It did make for a harrowing ride back.
After a short rest, I meet up with some folks for dinner at a restaurant recommended to one of them. It turns out to be an enchanting place, with tables in a canopied garden setting with fairy lights and lemons hanging overhead. Dinner was delicious and ridiculously reasonable in price. We all tried calamari, prosciutto and figs, caprese to start. My main was linguine with octopus and sea urchin sauce. The pasta had a faint scent of lemon and the octopus was perfectly cooked, but my stomach was jet lagged and refused to have any more. However I still had room for dessert! We tried the tiramisu (much dryer and less sweet than ones I've had in the US, delicious), ricotta cheese cake (interesting texture but I felt it lacked flavour) and a spiked mint and chocolate gelato. The sun had set by the time we left the restaurant and there were no cars. Some stores were still open (recall the long mid day break) and the whole ambiance almost felt like a Disneyworld version of an Italian city, except that this was the actual place those Disney cities are emulating. The atmosphere was just so magical it didn't feel real.
No comments:
Post a Comment