So sorry to leave Rossana and Vatican Vista B&B, with all her stories and advice (as an ex-Roma-guide, what she didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. She and her husband knew where all the light switches and locks were in the Vatican. She also talked a lot and loved imparting her knowledge – she joked that she should have paid the tourists to listen to her, rather than be paid to talk to them!)
We took the Metro to Termini ; the train to Salerno ; the ferry to Positano ; the scala (steps) in Positano to ; the bus to Monterpertuso ; the final 114 steps of the Sentiero degli Dei to our B&B. We left at 8.30 and arrived at 6.00. A long day and we were grateful to finally arrive. The train out of Rome travelled through vineyards, then to Napoli and lots of tenements, then Salerno with a very different Duomo, dating to Norman times. Salerno was a staging post for pilgrims, so the Duomo had Norman arches with multi coloured bands, and the remains of frescoes of knights, who came here to have their swords blessed before the crusade.
On to the ferry up the coast to Positano, past some wonderful scenery of rocky coastline, with little villages perched precariously on every ridge line. Dotted along the coast were towers and fortifications on every cape. It looked glorious from the water, especially Amalfi with its famous Duomo, and dome in green and gold, a feature of churches in this are. It was a town of 70,000 people at the height of the Amalfi Empire, which is hard to believe, given the unforgiving nature of the landsacpe.
Finally Positano, which was BUSY (and not a cruise ship in sight, and not even the height of the tourist season). M described it as a ZOO. We had to catch a local bus up the hill to our B&B, and the driving was AMAZING. I would not be able to drive here. The roads are too narrow, with a sheer drop off one side and stone walls on the other and I would never be able to park. A nice man directed us to our bus stop for the B&B where Salvatore sprang out and carried both our bags up the steps to our accommodation. Home for the next 5 nights. Also home cooking for a few days as we have a kitchen and are too stuffed to get dressed up to go out. Watch the night descent over the sea looking out to the island where Nureyev lived, and drinking a lovely red wine as we decide our plans for the next day … the path of the gods.
No comments:
Post a Comment