Amalfi Coast

Well it was another gorgeous sunny day when our little ship the Nautica dropped anchor just off Amalfi, Italy. Larger ships would not likely be able to do this as easily, if at all. We were in for a treat: the Amalfi Coast.

The Amalfi coast connects several picturesque towns perched on a steep cliff with a narrow winding road in between them. It is located on Italy’s west coast in the southern Province of Salerno overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. A popular tourist destination and World Heritage Site, author Gore Vidal lived here and John Steinbeck wrote a short story called Positano. The area is known for production of limoncello liqueur made from lemons grown in terraced gardens all along the coast. It was truly a beautiful place to visit and explore.

We decided to do our own thing today. We walked off the tender boat and explored the town of Amalfi. It starts with a small beach, colourful boats and then one heads steeply up hill. We enjoyed seeing the quaint houses and how people lived on a day to day basis. We kept going up and up and found a discount market to shop in. Turning around we slowly descended to the town piazza and gazed at the magnificent late baroque styled Duomo di Amalfi (St. Andrew’s Cathedral).

It was time for some adventure. We hopped on the local bus for a ride to Positano about 10 km away. This was one of the narrowest insanely picturesque highways we have ever been on. The bus roars along at full speed honking its horn as it enters each corner so whoever is coming the other hears it coming and moves over just in time! On and on when we went honking our way to ever more gorgeous views!

Finally we came to Positano with its beautiful little beach, restaurants and shops. Truly a picturesque town, we wandered around and had lunch in the warm sunshine at a spot overlooking the beach. We thought we could see the Isle of Capri in the distance. We wanted to spend a lot of time here just soaking it all in.

However, it was soon time to head back so we took a water taxi and enjoyed looking up at the steep sights. Another day was almost over. We had loved every minute of it and were filled with much gratitude and amazement.