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Sunday, October 2, 2022
Deborah had a brilliant idea. The towns along the Amalfi coast are all built high up on the hill. If we took the bus to them then we could explore starting at the top of the hill and then, once we were at the bottom, take the ferry back. No walking uphill! We were going to give it a try. The problem was that tickets on the municipal busses must be purchased before boarding and can only be obtained in tobacco shops. It was Sunday morning and all of the tobacco shops we went to were closed.
We did some Googling and found out that the main bus station was near the train station. Unfortunately we couldn’t remember exactly where the train station was. Google was no help in that regard. We changed tacks. We walked up the hill a bit to a nearby train station. Surely that would do as well. Nope. There were no trains to Amalfi from that station. Damn! This time we gybed (I think the nautical references are appropriate) and walked about 25 minutes to the pier. We’d take the ferry after all. Along the way we found a large fragment of a Medieval aqueduct. It was pretty interesting to see. Ferry tickets were €9.00 each for a one way. Credit cards are accepted. Surprisingly, they didn’t sell round trip tickets but said we could get another one way in Amalfi.
These ferries have open air seating on top and fully enclosed seating on the main level. It was a gorgeous, sunny, clear day and we would have loved to have been seated on top but there was no room. It was pretty crowded. Beside the extra Sunday traffic we had to contend with people from two cruise ships in the harbor. We settled for a seat on the main level on the starboard side near an open window so we would get a view of the coast as we motored along.
We passed a number of small towns all built high on the hills. There were remnants of old forts and castles everywhere. Amalfi extricated itself from Byzantine rule in 839. It was a great maritime power and it controlled coastal Italy from Salerno up to Pompei. Rule changed ownership several times over the years. After a tsunami destroyed most of the lower town in 1343 the town never recovered to be a major power again. Today it is a Mecca for tourists claiming to have some of the best beaches on the coast.
The ferry left us off right near the center of town and we began looking around. The Duomo, or Cathedral of Saint Andrew, can be seen from the waterfront and sits in a central square. We decided to do some exploring before checking it out. Basically there is one long, winding road that snakes its way up the hill. The street is packed full of shops and restaurants catering to the tourist crowd. Clothing, especially anything with a lemon print, dominate. Amalfi lemons are featured everywhere from the granitas, limoncello, sorbets, and gelato. As expected prices everywhere were rather high.
We continued up the road and walked into an interesting shop that was selling sweets. Immediately upon entering we were given samples of some of the candies. They were really good. Towards the back of the store they were giving away free shots of limoncello, too. Another person was making the rounds with cookies stuffed with gooey fillings. We decided to come back and buy some candies on our way down the hill so the chocolates would have less opportunity to melt.
Further up the hill, beyond where many of the tourists ventured, we found a cafe and had lunch. Their prices were the most reasonable that we’d seen. I ordered stuffed cannelloni and Deborah ordered a Margherita pizza. The cannelloni actually came in a cheese sauce rather than the expected tomato sauce. Every region in Italy does things a little differently.
One of the things that made Amalfi famous in the Middle Ages was its paper or Charta Bambagina. They have made high quality, handmade paper since the 1200s. It was considered valuable and was only used for the most important documents. Paper was invented by the Chinese in the first century AD. Amalfi traded far and wide. Sometime in the 13th Century they learned how to make paper from the Arabs. Originally paper was made by reducing old linen rags to pulp. They switched to using cellulose sometime in the 18th Century.
After lunch we continued up the hill and found the paper museum. The mill had produced commercial products since the 13th Century. It ceased operations in 1969 when it was converted into a museum. Entry costs €7.00 per person. Credit cards are accepted.
We figured a paper museum. Seriously? Maybe for €2.00 or so but we weren’t going to pay a lot of money for this tourist trap. We walked into the gift shop and fell in love. All around there were beautiful papers embossed with flowers, cards printed on fine stock, notebooks bound in leather with cut pages, and so much more. A woman came over to us and explained about the tour. We were definitely going to do this!
We walked downstairs to the ancient factory. As we descended the stairs we could see and hear water flowing everywhere. The woman explained that this was a mill run by water power. Initially she showed us a series of “hammers”. These were long wooden beams with spikes on the end. The linen would be run past these hammers and they would break the cloth down to its constituent fibers. Next we saw a later version of that same machine. She pulled a lever, water began to flow, and the 400+ year old machinery began to whirl. It was so much fun to watch. We also had a demonstration where the 18th Century machines produced cellulose based paper in large rolls. At the end of the tour we went over to a tank full of linen pulp and made our own paper. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Next we visited the Duomo. Entry cost €3.00 per person. Cash only. Construction began in the 9th Century. The original Arab-Norman decorations have been subsequently replaced by Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque stylings. You enter into the cloister. At one time there were altars along the walls. Most are in ruins although a few still had large remnants of frescos. Next you enter into the Basilica of the Crucifix. This church is used as a museum to display many religious objects, art works, and former design elements.
After that you are led to the crypt where Saint Andrew is interred. It is a large Gothic style vault with brightly colored frescos on the ceilings and fine paintings along the walls. Lastly you come into the Cathedral. It’s a fine old building in the Romanesque style. The side chapels are sparsely decorated but all seem to contain beautiful inlaid marble altars. No doubt they were once ornately decorated.
Finally we went back up the hill to the confectionary we’d seen before. Naturally we got even more samples before deciding to buy a box of lemon covered chocolates with liquid limoncello in the center as well as a box of pistachio covered chocolates with pistachio cream in the middle. They were our favorites.
On the ferry ride back we got to sit on the top level. It was a beautifully sunny day with a fresh breeze and an incredible view. It was a great trip.
Monday, October 3, 2022
Today’s objective was Positano. It would have been interesting to take the bus there and travel along the narrow, winding, mountainous road, but the trip would take almost two and half hours. We opted for the ferry. The cost was €14.00 per person each way. Credit cards are accepted.
Positano was settled earlier than most of the Amalfi coast. The first settlements were well over 12,000 years ago. During Roman times it was a favorite place for the rich to build villas. During the Medieval period it was part of the Amalfi Republic. By the mid 1800s the town had fallen on hard times. During this time a huge portion of its population migrated to the United States. It started to become a tourist attraction in the 1950s and became ever more popular after John Steinbeck’s essay about Positano was published in May, 1953: “It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.” Today it is a very popular tourist destination with high end hotels and fantastic beaches.
Positano is much larger than Amalfi. When you get off of the boat it’s hard to decide which way to go. All paths lead up hilly alleys with lots of stairs, but unlike Amalfi where there was just one main road, here the town was spread out over a much larger area and many diverging paths. Major scenes in one of our favorite movies, “Only You”, was filmed in Rome and Positano. We’d already tracked down where the scenes in Rome where shot and now we were going to do the same in Positano. Scavenger hunt!
One of the first restaurants we saw along the waterfront is called, “Covo dei Saraceni”. That’s the name of the restaurant that some of the characters in the movie ate at. Score one for us.
We wandered around the lower levels for a while just trying to get our bearings. It was very much like Amalfi. Lots of shops devoted to the tourist trade – with even higher prices for the same goods. Finally we took a winding path up the hill. We found a wonderful place that makes outdoor furniture out of volcanic rock with ceramic tops. They had some wonderful samples and will custom design any pattern you like in any color as part of their standard service. They offer free shipping worldwide for any orders over €500.00. From what we could tell that would be just about any order. If we owned a house we would almost certainly have placed an order.
Further up the hill there was art gallery after art gallery. The stores were definitely catering to a wealthier clientele than those in Amalfi. Eventually we ran out of stores. The rest of the way up the hill seemed to be for hotels and residences only. We turned back and took a side street up another part of the hill and found what we were looking for: Le Sirenuse, a five star hotel that also played a part in our movie. It was a lot smaller than it appeared on the big screen but it was definitely the same place. Two for two. Mission accomplished.
Now it was time to visit the main cathedral: Church of Santa Maria Assunta. The main altar contains a large Byzantine icon of the Virgin. It was brought to Positano in the 12th Century and according to the story its arrival was considered a miracle. The icon belonged to a cargo ship. When the ship came near the town the wind died and all attempts to move the ship failed. Suddenly the sailors heard a voice saying, “Posa, Posa”, which translates as “put me down, put me down”. The captain realized that the virgin wished to stop here. All of a sudden the ship began to move. The sailors donated the icon to the town, which in turn chose her as its patron and built this church in her honor. The town takes its name from this story.
Now all we had to do was find a place for lunch. We would have eaten at Covo dei Saraceni but it didn’t open until 3:00 pm. Instead we found a lovely restaurant one level above the waterfront with panoramic views of the sea. We sat in front of some open sliding glass doors and enjoyed unobstructed views and refreshing sea breezes. It was idyllic.
We started off with an order of fried, stuffed, zucchini blossoms. After that Deborah had the sea bass in lemon butter sauce with mashed potatoes and I had the seafood risotto. The food was great, the view was amazing and the breeze was refreshing.
The ferry for the trip back was a triple decker. Given the number of people waiting to board we only managed to get seating on the second tier. We were in the sun the entire way and after two full days in the hot sun it got to us. When the boat stopped in Amalfi we changed seats. We must have been pretty tired because we both napped most of the way back to Salerno.
When we got home we found that the hot water heater had been adjusted. Hot showers again. What a luxury.
