Day 7 - Ravello and Amalfi (Part 1)

Ravello and Amalfi is the part of the trip where the new camera was really broken in! I took about 200 pictures in four, maybe five hours, so I've decided to break this post up into two just so you can get the grand scale of the fun that we had on this day.

The plan was to get a quick breakfast at our hotel (delicious again), and then catch the SITA bus up to the town of Ravello which was about ten miles east and stright up a hillside. Ravello sits out on the edge of the mountain over looking the bay and the surrounding hilltop towns. Apparently in the summer, it is a huge hit with the tourists and rich and famous, which made it perfect for Molly and I. She of course is a tourist and I'm rich and infamous.

So, it was off to the SITA Fermatta for the long (45 min.) bus ride . . .

The views of the Mediterranean where amazing . . . Again! Once we got to Amalfi, we had to catch another bus that would take us up the mountain to Ravello.

This was a day of close calls for us, transportation-wise. We had to sprint to catch the bus in Positano and then again when we reached Amalfi. As we were enjoying our leisurely trip up the mountain side, the bus driver stopped and proceeded to kick all of us off the bus (some locals, us, and a French group). Molly and I followed the locals closely as they started walking up the hill and through a gas station and local tire repair shop. To our amazement, on the other side of the station were more stairs and another SITA bus wating for us?!?

We jumped on and off we went again, up to the top of the mountain and to the doorstep of Ravello. It was one of those strange trips that you look back on and say, "How in the hell did we get up here?"

Ravello is a very small town, or a large village, not sure which, but it was definitely low tourist season. A lot of the time, Molly and I felt like we were intruding on the few days that the locals may have to themselves. We pressed on no matter and took a whole lotta pictures. Above is a picture of Church number one, in the only town square.

Some very old building with trees growing out of the roof.

Since most thing were closed we decided to take a walk. We chose a direction and went for it. My hope was to get some cool views of the bay from way up high. Molly bought some plates with lemons on them from the only tourista shop open. He was a nice guy though and was more than willing to sell us everything in his shop.

Who know what that is, but those trees are cool! It was kind of tough to walk around and not take pictures of everything.

This was somebody backyard vineyard.

Again, how could you not stop and take pictures. The tower in the background was right next to the first church in the main square.

Even though I was stopping every two steps to take a picture, Molly was patient with me. She just hung back and said "Yes Cody, that sure is cool, take a picture." And I did.

This was the interior of Church number two. Nice, cozy, and with a crazy statue of David (as in Goliath) at the doorway. He looked like Walt Disney had carved him.

Outside, I was checking out the front of the building while Molly was taking pictures. Damn, I'm a handsome man.

Molly decided that it would be a good idea to break into someone's house and wander around their yard. Acutally, it was some fancy wedding reception place. Molly's bright idea was to tell them that we were a couple looking for a place to have a wedding if we got caught. I wasn't sure how she planned to communicate this to the police when we were arrested, since no one in this small town spoke English, but what the hell. Getting arrested in Italy couldn't be that bad?

The place did have one great view of the coast!

We made it out of the place unbenonst to anyone, so we continued with our walk.

We were getting close to the end of our little walk when we came upon this huge garden carved into the hill side. The hard work that must have gone into building the village is amazing. Everything was chiseled out of the hill side.

The garden ended up having roosters. And that guy eating the melon was taunting me. I shook my fist furiously at him! Take that Rooster Boy!

Looking back up the hill. Imagine using that path everyday. No wonder Italians fit into their funny looking pants.

We soon reached a dead end and were forced to walk the road back without my grand picture of the Sea that I was hoping for. No big deal though, I guess we will have to go back to the Amalfi Coast. Back at the main piazza, there was a cafe open for lunch. We had a bite and planned our next move...