The Panini Press: One year ago: a miniseries of our trip (part 2)

.... One Year Ago....

Day Four (Oct 2): traveling

I left off with day four, which we spent traveling to Amalfi. It was quite a long day... we took a train from the Termini station in Rome to a town called Salerno, just south of the town of Amalfi, where we were headed. It took us forever to get tickets on the train because the booths weren't working. We ended up having to stand in line for a very long time before being able to get our tickets, but we did finally get them and board the train to our next destination. We were a little nervous about what came next because we weren't sure at all what to expect, but we did expect it to be easier than it actually was.

After a couple of hours on the train, we made it to Salerno. Unfortunately we didn't take into account that it was Sunday, and therefore, mostly everything would be closed in the town. All we needed was a bus and a bus ticket. Unfortunately, there were lots of different buses going various places and nowhere, it seemed, to buy a ticket. The train station didn't sell them, the bus drivers didn't sell them, and there were no booths or shops. We were slightly in a panic. Finally we went and asked in the only open shop- a Tabbachi shop. With our tiny bit of italian (Jordan's tiny bit, I should say) and the shop owners tiny bit of English, we figured out that we were supposed to buy the tickets there, in the Tabbachi shop. With a sigh of relief we went back to the station, where we managed to find the right bus and get on it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't relax for long, because the roads were unimaginably narrow and windy. And by that I mean: grip-the-sides-of-your-seat-and-pray-and-try-not-to-look. Those roads were NOT made for buses. On top of that, we still had to find the right town to stop off and find the office to get our key. Then we had to get back on a bus and go to the town of Amalfi and find our little flat that we were renting. We met delays along the way-the first being an accident, and the rest due to the fact that it was a Sunday and busy on the road, that was not made for anything but a single small car (in my opinion). Eventually, we made it to the little town of Maori, about an hour or more after we had estimated. And eventually, we got in touch with the woman who ran the rental agency we were to be getting the key at, and eventually we got another bus, and eventually we got to Amalfi.

Another Travel Tip: don't travel on a Sunday in Italy. Not only is it busy, because the locals are out, but everything is closed (including the rental agency where you are supposed to get your key.)

Once in Amalfi, we took the wrong road to find our flat. We didn't think would could take the wrong road, because there is only one. Or there was supposed to be only one. But we took the wrong one, so I guess there are two. Anyway, the road we took ended at the ocean and we realized our mistake. It was getting dark and we were tired from traveling, so we found a taxi and were dropped off at our little place (for a high price). All of that was more than worth it, but being weary from the long day, we didn't realize it until the next day when we woke up to this:

Day Five(Oct 3): Amalfi

After a long day of traveling, we chose to spend this day relaxing and exploring Amalfi a bit.

Amalfi is a small town located on the Tyrrhennian sea on the west coast of Italy. It is now a small tourist town, known for its lemons and hand carved shell cameos, but it was once a powerful and thriving sea power. I read numerous accounts of what happened to destroy it, some saying it was destroyed by a flood, others by an earthquake that caused the hill city to fall into the sea. I don't really know exactly, but I do know that what is left of the city certainly shows no signs of the power it once was. It is a lovely city, beautiful in a rustic way. The homes are built on top of another, on top of walkways, and underground chambers with no apparent plan. It is neat to wander off the main street through a crooked dark walkway which winds past little shops full of limoncello and tiny fish shops and find yourself in a little square, with a market and restaurants.

We wandered these narrow streets, walked through the shops and did our shopping at the market. We then came home to where we were staying and enjoyed some delicious home cooked Italian food in our little flat.

The view from our porch...

Ruins of old paper mills in Amalfi

The church in Amalfi

Lunch

Our apartment

Our apartment was located in the hills about the sea and the town of Amalfi. It was about a 10 minute walk (or less) down to the town and sea, with a beautiful view on the way.

Dinner

This was sort of a funny experience....

We set up our little table on the porch to enjoy our meal in the lovely warm evening. Jordan made everything nice and set up our ipod to play some Michael Buble (not Italian, I know, but nevertheless, it was fitting). We were partway into our dinner when all of a sudden, we were serenaded by a very loud female alto opera singer from the hotel next door. It was very loud, and we soon turned off our music and enjoyed our free Italian opera from our little flat.

Day Six(Oct 4): Hike through the paper mill ruins

We enjoyed a beautiful hike through the hills behind the town of Amalfi on our second full day there. It was a beautiful day for hiking. Amalfi is built on the hills surrounding a creek which winds its way up through the hills behind the city. This creek is full of the ruins of mills that gave Amalfi a livelihood for many years. The mills are no longer in use and their ruins are crumbling and quite dangerous for the explorer who leaves the trail, but are romantically beautiful for those who observe. The path which we hiked leaves Amalfi from its single main street which travels away from the sea and winds its way through the terraces of lemons which now make Amalfi famous. Along the path, there are many homes which seem to have no roads to reach them. We couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to cart groceries and things back and forth.