So right now, Amanda and I are chilling a little cafe in Capri… I just saw these great Lacoste sunglasses that I am going to get! So to kinda recap the day so far after our drunken midnight picnic on the Amalfi Jetty.

• Woke up late this morning, like about 10 am and then had breakfast with the girls. Beth was already up and about and we proceeded to recap the night.
• After breakfast and Amanda flirting with Francesco….(why havent I met a crazy girl in Italy?? Who speaks English?), Beth decided to take th bus ride up the Amalfi coast and we decided to do the day trip to Positano
• Amanda and I get the 11€ ticket to Positano and proceeded to shoot and photograph the whole stunning vista. Ok, well I did that, Amanda maybe took 4 pics.
• We got to Positano and then Amanda went to shoe and sandal heaven. It truly is a ridiculous place for footwear, I am getting two pairs of italian shoes to go with my italian belts, I had customized for me. Positano is gorgeous, seriously all the places so far on the coast have been stunning. Anyway, while there we see the day trip to Capri. So I enquired about how long it would take to get to Capri and what time we would get back to Capri.. in the end we, found something that would leave at 2pm and return from Capri at 7pm. We went ahead and did this on the spur of the moment and Amanda was eventually convinced to get on the boat!
• Once we got to Capri, we bought tickets for the main Grotto tour…. which is a like a little big thing. Of course, we were happy with our tickets, then this little Italian guy Alphonso approached us about a private tour. Normally, I dont do these because they are usually a rip off but something in my head said we should go along….. well it was a great decision!!!! And the price of 35€ was a bargain, since we did the following:
  - Coral Grotto
  - Blue Grotto
  - Mini Blue Grotto
  - Great Arch
  - White Grotto with all the Stalactites
  -Mussolinis House This is in comparison to the 21€ for the grotto alone, with all the people! Anyway, time to let Amanda online.. since I have to go buy those sunglasses!! Pronto!!!

So some pics to add to the experience… outside on the jetty at Positano

my usual on the jetty

More Positano

More Positano with Amanda!!

now heading to Capri…..

And on our way to the Blue Grotto..

with all the little boats that take you inside

Inside the Blue Grotto now

Amanda and I heading out after…

with the little welcome man outside Capri

Then on to the White Grotto

and then the Mini Blue Grotto

Some sepia of the Faraglioni Islands : Faraglioni is the collective name for three stacks located off the island of Capri in the Bay of Naples. The stacks have been given their own names: Stella (still attached to the main island), Mezzo (after Stella), and Scopolo (or Fuori).

And passing the Arco Naturale

Leaving faraglioni and other stuff now

anyway leaving all this and back to Positano

and on to more of Amalfi!!!

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Amalfi Coast, Blue Grotto, capri italy, Coral Grotto, great arch, how much for a boat tour of capri, how to get from amalfi to capri, mini blue grotto, Mussolinis House, pictures of blue grotto, white grotto

A note one should take with them:
When you ask people, how to get somewhere and they point up…like I mean they point directly up to a far off point in the mountains, then they snicker and look at you and snicker again, it doesn’t matter what language you speak… this is universal for

“stupid tourist, no one does what you are thinking about doing, but I will guide you, so I can tell my friends over limoncello and gelati, that I sent two crazy kids up the mountain on shits and giggles”

So it was with this thinking that Beth and I decided to walk up the mountains to Scala through Pontone and Minuta.

Scala is divided into six different hamlets with precise identities: from north to south, Santa Caterina, Campoleone, Campidoglio, Scala, Minuta and Pontone. Attractions include:

• Santa Caterina: Porta Urbana, church of Santa Caterina, chapels of St. Paul and Santa Maria della Porta
• Campoleone: church of San Pietro, in Angevine-Gothic style.
• Campidoglio: church of San Giovanni Battista, with a Moresque bell tower.
• The Duomo of Scalea, modified in Baroque times. It has maintained the medieval crypt, the Angevine sepulchre of Marinella Rufolo, and an episcopal mitre and a Crucifix from the 13th century. Also notable is the Bishops’ Palace.
• Minuta: Romanesque church of Annunziata
• Pontone: church of San Giovanni Battista and the remains of the basilica of Sant’Eustachio

Now the thing here is that Scala unknowing to us, has roads leading to it, but the path up the mountain is known as the Path of the Gods. Now its not that I dont like my mythology, anyone that knows me, pretty much knows that I always have a couple books on Greek and Roman mythology lying around, but this was just ridiculous.

Since we started on the path, like any normal other walk…

With nice sets of lemon trees and what not… which by the way, these people seriously are into their lemons. Like they make everything with the venerable Lemon. I am impressed when you only have lemons on an island, how you can make everything out of the damn things!

So anyway, we got to the some steps….

which led to more steps…

which also led to some great views

Eventually though after an hour and 45 mins of climbing… I had to give up… my legs and calves had to turned to mush and we still had the walk down to finish. Thankfully, going down for me was pretty decent. Beth wanted to continue for a bit more, but the walk and climb just seemed to be never ending. Seriously!

So after we returned to the hotel and got laughed at by the Francesco…(is every male in italy named Francesco or Franco or Luigi or Super Mario??), Amanda at this time had gone to the market and gotten some nice bread, proscuitto, olives and cheese, while Beth and I had gotten the Vino and Limoncello!

Drink Mixing note: Limoncello and a decent flavored vodka, served cold as a shot is a great pick me up! Equal parts of Limoncello and Flavored Vodka (Cranberry, Raspberry, Black Cherry or even Lemon would be a great mix). Shake with two parts ice and strain into a shotglass with some cherry liqueur, you can’t go wrong!!

So anyway our friend George was diligently working away on his laptop and we invited him along for our little midnight picnic with drinks! So the pictures below have been sanitized for human consumption, since things got a little rowdy by the end! With Beth doing drunken yoga poses, which amazed me and George and I getting into a heated discussion on photography, politics (americans vs the world) and gadgets! Amanda was just having a great old time listening and poking us along!! All in all, an all star night on the Jetty! You really can’t beat that for an amazing time!!

More of Amanda’s food and her food pictures.

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Amalfi Coast, how to do the walk of the gods, how to get to the walk of the gods, walk of the gods

May 26^th 2008

7.30am: Buono sera from the Amalfi Coast! I’m just having breakfast here on the amazing open area of our hotel overlooking the Amalfi Coast and beach. Coming here from Salerno last night, I happened to look over the view in the dark and this drive is stunning beyond belief. Even in the dark, a couple things came to mind

·         The ride from Salerno to Amalfi is about 1.5 hours

·         The sheer drops over the cliffs and looking over the water is breathtaking, even in the dark

·         I am now convinced that everyone who drives to Amalfi is a Ninja or has gone to Ninja Jedi car school, since the gaps between cars will be an inch or two sometimes passing, and when two buses can pass each on other on this road, then I know why Italy has good race drivers.

·         At 1.5 Euros for the one way ride – this is a frigging bargain if I ever saw one! Will post details on how to catch the Amalfi (SITA) bus from Salerno to Amalfi. I think It deserves its own little tutorial.

This morning, I’m trying to plan my day as we speak, of course Internet access is very spotty around these parts due to the geographic location and proximity, yet it doesn’t matter here. Of course, this is what I try to be early in the mornings

10.30am: Well after a short nap after breakfast and shooting pictures, we decided to take to go and do a cruise on the coast. Well it definitely was worth it… pictures to come!!!

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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