Day 16 Positano, Italy

I survived the drive!!!  From Positano to Salerno we drove the length of the Amalfi coast and back today without incident.  There were plenty of chances and we avoided them all, some by a very small margin.  My nomination for the worst job in the world is to be a bus driver along the Amalfi coast road.  I had my concerns with small car I was driving, but to drive a bus on that stretch of road would be torture.  Your insurance premium would be sky high.
We looked for places to park at a few of the towns along the way but were unable to find any easily noticeable ones.  We did make it a point to stop at Ravello on our return from Salerno.  We spent the best part of the day there enjoying the villas and having a nice lunch.  Ravello, like all of the other towns along this highway, is tucked into the hillside above the highway and provides wonderful vistas of the rugged coastline.   The villas we visited were not as ornate as the ones we saw in Tuscany but then again the ones in Tuscany did not have the views these do.  As we looked along the hillsides the terraces stretched in all directions.  It was difficult to tell what they grow on these flattened areas.  We did see many lemon trees and some orange trees as well.  The lemons they grow here are as big as volleyballs.  Limoncello is one of the products this area is famous for.  I purchased a small bottle and also plan on a nightcap tomorrow to try the stuff while we are still able to load up if I really like it.  They are also known for their buffalo mozzarella which I had for dinner tonight with some sliced tomatoes and it was fabulous.
I know I mentioned this earlier yesterday but I can't imagine this drive when their tourist season is in full swing.  One of the very best benefits of our hotel is that they provide parking.  The roads are jammed with cars parked in every place imaginable and some other places too.  So if you had to find your own parking you would have to look for a long time.   Arrivederci until tomorrow.

Chris - Riding in the "death seat" I too was relieved we survived the drive with no incident. It wasn't as dangerous as I worried, from a road standpoint, as there are stonewall "guard rails" about 4' high all  along the way so you don't worry about going over the edge at all. However, there are a number of tight turns and lots of narrow places that provide lots of driving challenges. Paul did a great job of dodging people, bikes, motorcycles, cars and buses ... thank goodness it's off season. There were a couple of towns I'd like to have stopped in had we seen a parking spot immediately... but I saved my determination for finding parking for the hillside town of Ravello. Ravello overlooks the seaside towns of Atrani and Amalfi and is the one town today that I wanted for sure to go to. It had two villas I wanted to see, for their gardens, not so much their villas. The first Villa was Cimbrone  that was originally built in the 15th century and  restored in the early 1900's by a very wealthy man from London who entertained people there like; Ibsen, Virginia Wolf, Greta Garbo, Tennessee Williams, etc. You couldn't go through the house as it's used as a hotel, but it's in the Moorish style, that predominates in Ravello. The English gardens are set about with classical temples, lots of statues and spectacular views. Any pictures with grottos or statues are from there. The other villa, Villa Rufolo, was an 800 year-old Arab-style palace that was really just shells of rooms, or empty stone rooms. You actually can only look in a few rooms as, once again, the focus were the gardens with the view. These gardens were full of pansies, impatiences and other flowers set about in various geometric designs. The views, once again, were incredible and from a little different angle. I loved Ravello and it far exceeded my expectations for views!! Back in Positano, the restaurant I researched for dinner tonight, "Campa Cosimo," came highly recommended for lobster linguine, so of course I had to do it!!

The weather is fabulous...mid 60's and sunny! I have really enjoyed eating on the terraces that hang on the sides of these cliffs and provide gorgeous views. Our hotel has a beautiful terrace where we eat breakfast every morning that overlooks both the town and the water. An observation....you know how nobody knew where Greta Garbo was and she was such a recluse?  Well... she was here on the Amalfi Coast, as almost everywhere claims she stayed or ate there...who knew?????

Tomorrow - Taking a bus up the coast. I thought we should take a bus so Paul could actually see something along the coast other then his white knuckled hands gripping the steering wheel!