The Amalfi Coast and Perhaps the Most Photos EVER!

We are still making our way through that 2008 Mediterranean cruise.  Today we are stopping at Naples, Italy. Naples is home to several military bases.  I know that because I have several friends who were either born there or lived there for several years as children.  I'm not sure how you would get anything done if you lived there knowing that the Amalfi Coast is so nearby.  I guess it just takes military discipline.

On the day we were there we did a bus tour of the Amalfi Coast with lunch in Sorrento and stops in Positano, Amalfi and Salerno to name a few.  Then we wrapped up the day with a stop at a cameo factory where we were able to watch an artisan at work and purchase cameos to take home.  As we left Naples in the bus, we went past Mt. Vesuvius.  I have a few regrets about the stop in Naples all of which center around the fact that it was not long enough.  I would have liked to go to Mt. Vesuvius and visit Pompeii.  I also would have liked visiting Capri and it would have been nice to do all of it in a warmer month when I could have spent time on the beach and in the water.  Otherwise, it was perfect.

Mt. Vesuvius

So, after passing Mt. Vesuvius we drove for 45 minutes or so before arriving at Sorrento.  There we were taken to a shop which sold hand crafted woodwork and beautiful Italian table and bed linens.  I still have a card from the place.  One of these days, I am going to get a piece of that linen.  It was amazing.  After listening to their spiel on the handcrafted woodwork, we were given time to walk around Sorrento before lunch.  The village is beautiful and it was such a pretty day.  You could see Mt. Vesuvius across the bay and I must have taken 100 pictures.

Sorrento

I think I mentioned last week how amazing the bougainvillea along the Mediterranean was.  Here is an example to the right.  It is a tree that they trim back to keep it from getting out of hand.  I've never needed to trim bougainvillea.  Usually, when I get it, the fact that it dies just a few weeks later, keeps in in check just fine.  Also, I mentioned last week, we were on the trip over Thanksgiving, so Christmas decorations were going up everywhere.  Below are some of the Christmas decorations in Sorrento.

We walked around for an hour or so, taking photos and shopping.  It was such a nice village.  The photo of the dog below is one of my favorite photos from the trip.  The composition isn't great and the color isn't spectacular or anything.  I just loved the dog and the way he seemed so interested in seeing what was going on down on the street.  He sat in a second story window just watching the happenings.  What a great life for a dog.

Another view of Mt. Vesuvius

 I don't know who the guy in the blue jacket is.  He wasn't the subject of the photo.  He just happened to be in the way and looking directly into my camera.  I really just wanted a photo of the palm trees and the building decorated for Christmas.  To the right is a man trimming bougainvillea from the top of an outdoor cafe.  It is growing all the way across the roof of the dining area and I guess someone must trim it to keep it in control.  Seriously, they could just cut a sprig of it for me and then the entire thing would immediately start dying.  All of that trimming is really not necessary.

 This is just another beautiful view from a bridge in Sorrento.  Get used to it, you are going to be seeing views like this throughout today's blog.  The place is nothing but one location after another for taking postcard photos.

Speaking of postcard photos.... here you can see me at lunch in the little restaurant they took us to.  The lunch was included in our excursion.  Wine, pasta, fresh baked bread in Italy...  It really doesn't get much better than that.

Another shot of the guy trimming the bougainvillea, I really couldn't get over it.

 Here I am outside of the restaurant where we had lunch.  It was pretty good.  Again, it was an Italian restaurant actually in Italy, you couldn't really go wrong.  Below you can see Jenny agreeing that Italian restaurants in Italy are the best.  She is even drinking Chardonnay for the occasion and she is not a fan of Chardonnay.  But who are we kidding.  It is wine, she can suffer through it.

After leaving Sorrento we got back on the bus and headed down the coast.  The lunch was early so we still had almost an entire day ahead of us.  As we went along the coast, the tour guide pointed out the homes of the rich and famous.  We went past Elton John's house.  I think I took a picture of it, but if you asked me which house it is in any of the hundreds of photos I took, I couldn't tell you.  Elton and I go way back though.  We attended the same play once in NYC.  It was his production of Aida and he was sitting in the orchestra level and I was sitting in the balcony.  But I'm pretty sure he felt my presence.

 Most of the day was spent on the bus.  So, when we got off the bus, you had to hurry up and take as many pictures as you could.  We did take a lot from the bus as we drove but with the tint of the windows and sometimes the glare those photos left a lot to be desired.  So, anyway, here is one of those photos that I took quickly while we were stopped.  I had to have proof that I was actually there on the Amalfi coast.  So, it may not be pretty, but here I am....

 The sheer drops from the side of the road are unbelievable.  Then when you think about all of the homes that are built down the cliffs and the fact that there are no roadways so that you can drive to them.  That must make for some pretty powerful quads.  Can you imagine carrying groceries to a house at the bottom of the cliff pictured above?

And look out below - guess what?  More bougainvillea.  I was obsessed with it.  I don't think anybody was spending time trimming this patch of it though.

If you live in a place like this you can't help but be skinny.  If you aren't skinny enough to walk up and down stairs all day, you would probably just have to lay in bed and waste away.  I don't think you could leave home without getting a massive stair climbing workout.

I love the photo below because it shows one of the roads that our enormous bus was driving on.  There are no switchbacks in this stretch.  But let me assure you, there were switchbacks everywhere and I don't know how we got around some of the corners.  We were sitting in the back seat of the bus on the side closest to the water.  There were times when you looked down out of the window and couldn't see road, you only saw water several hundred feet below you.

There were really no bad views as we made our way around the coastline.  It seemed like every time we went around a corner, the entire bus oooohhh'd and ahhhh'd.  By the end of the day you were like, eh, just another million dollar view.

We went through the tunnel in the photo above.  As you come out of that tunnel you are in Amalfi.  There we were able to walk around for an hour or so.  So we did a little shopping.  Then we met back up with the tour guide near the Amalfi Cathedral for a little information on the area before re-boarding the bus.

The tower n the center of the picture is the Amalfi Cathedral.

The front of the Amalfi Cathedral

The photo to the left was a man who was working on the street and stopped to take a sip of water from the fountain.  I was so amazed that people would just stick there heads in the fountain and take a drink of water.

There were a lot of nice shops and restaurants here. I think it would be nice to spend about a week on the Amalfi coast so that you could really do it justice.  We sort of sped through it.  In about a week, you could sit in enough cafes and walk through enough streets to say that you had really done the Amalfi Coast right.

The two photos below were taken through a bus window, but I love them so much, that I don't even care about the tint that it gives the shots.   It has nothing to do with the photographer.  I just love the way the city is built so directly above the water.  It is a truly amazing thing to see.

I wonder what it would be like to live in the apartment just above this tunnel.  At night do you hear traffic below you?  It seems crazy to me.  But I suppose anywhere on the Amalfi coast is a good place to be.

By the end of the day I think most people were oooohhh'd and ahhhh'd out.  But we were still really excited to go to the cameo factory back in Naples.  When we got there it was nearly dark but we still had a little time before we had to be back on the ship and we weren't willing to waste any time.

After a few minutes of listening to the cameo shops owner explain the process to us and watching the artisan work for a few more minutes, we were able to shop around and Jenny and I both got cameos.  Mine is both a broach and pendant in one.  I love it and wear it often as a pendant.  I don't think I have ever actually pinned it to anything though.

When we got back to the ship that night, it was late and we had to rush to get ready for dinner.  But it was worth it.  I can't remember if I told you already about our dinner companions.  But they all went to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii while we were riding in our bus along the Amalfi coast.  You can actually go up Mt. Vesuvius.  I guess it is like Diamond Head which Jenny and I hiked up a year and a half ago.  If I can do Diamond Head, surely, I can do Vesuvius too, right?  So, that is my goal.  When I go back, I want to hike up Mt. Vesuvius.

Tomorrow we head to Sicily, (insert Godfather theme here) where the local people are very proud of the whole Godfather connection.  Go figure.  Anyway, have a terrific Tuesday.  I'll try to post earlier tomorrow.