BUMPY
Italy is sometimes famous for being quite bumpy. In the case of the amalfitan coast this is more than true! To take an example: In Amalfi if you want to take a bus to reach your hotel you may ask a carabinieri how to do it and he says « You will find on that place ( crowded) a man in green. He is selling the tickets! » Indeed after a while we found a man with something green on him and people queing up in the street to buy tickets. Then you wait at the bus stop where all the bus indicate as destination Amalfi ( the place where you are) then you need to ask the driver or somebody who knows to find your bus!
OVER TOURISM Positano was the worst! In the small streets going down to the port and the small beach you have thousands of people who are there just for a few hours. They come with Pullman and leave after a short tour of the city. Bars and restaurants are quite empty and hotels are not that numerous. At night everything is much calmer !
GREEN
Arriving from Naples and going to Ravello you go up in the moutains which are beautiful and so green Going down to Ravello and discovering the vue of the sea in contrast with all that green is SPECTACULAR
NARROW ROADS
Driving along the coast is something of an exercise. The roads are very narrow and the motorbikes want absolutely to go without losing a second. You need to drive carefully along the coast which is BEAUTIFUL
I can only name the places and say that they are all so BEAUTIFUL: Ravello Maiori Vietri sul Mare Amalfi Positano Sorrente ( to a less extent) are so pleasant to see and visit. The VIEWS are impressive everywhere. I don’t know what I preferred but I will always remember the DAWN in Amalfi : The light blue of the see, the pink of the clouds, the grey blue of the sky!
Everything is beautiful and I remember having been there 25 years ago when it was much less crowded. I can only regret that over tourism is spoiling those places which are anyhow worth to visit
TO DO
POMPÉI
We landed in Naples and I had booked a charming hotel in the country side: Bosco dei Medici. Not expensive but charming with horses and flowers around. The restaurant was quite good and we were fresh in the morning to visit the ruins. I won’t comment to much about Pompéi because it’s so famous that I cannot add much to what has already been written. One word IMMENSE and I recommend watching the movie « The last days of Pompéi (1953) » and a film from Netflix called « Pompéi ». If not I would say that having one full day there is not really enough.
We had dîner at the grand hotel called HABITA and it was nice. The day after we took the road to Ravello. It was nice. Ravello is full of stairs, so be ready to climb in order to visit. I recommend to have a drink at the Caruso Hotel and for dîner to go to Villa Maria. I don’t recommend any hotel because I found them very expensive even for the high season.
Leaving Ravello we went first to the left to see the small towns near the sea : Maiori, Vietri sur Mare (Had a lunch there Medium !) After that we reached Amalfi which was quite bumpy because there was a party and at night fireworks.
It was spectacular and beautiful. I recommend our hotel Villa Felice which has a nice view a charming welcome and a good restaurant ? The day after we enjoyed watching a competition of rowing between 4 Italian cities which takes place once a year. Genova won this year!
We left to Positano which was disappointing because of the crowd of tourists. They walk in a herd ! They go down and then they go up and they leave. Restaurants are nice and quite empty and people are rather friendly despite that over tourism!
I stayed at Positano Art Hotel which was well located. Outside Positano you have the San Pietro which is much more luxurious.
Last stop was SORRENTO
Not so interesting even if hotel Vittoria is nice and well located and we could watch the Rolex cup with all the vessels in blue . Except for Positano most of the rich tourists are American.
On my way back I had lunch in Naples at La Scialuppa at the port on the other side of hotel Exelscior which I always liked. Lunch was ok.
We travelled with Easy Jet back to Catania in Sicily . Easy Jet was not that bad !
It was a nice but tiring journey full of beautiful views to remember.
