Liz and Frank: Amalfi Coast Road

Antonio picked us up mid morning to drive us via the twists and curls of the Amalfi Coast Road to the town of Amalfi. Spectacular scenery, we were hanging off the side of a cliff some of the time, and didn't have too many opportunities to stop, but when we did, it was wonderful. (Unfortunately my photos are a little hazy though)

First real stop was above the town of Positano

Looking sideways to the upper part of Positano crawling up the sides of these cliffs!!

We drove down into Positano, this is where a sailor, Falvio Gioia was born, he reportedly created the first compass in the 1500's, however, Amalfi Town claims the same (they have a large statue in the Piazza of Falvio), and then of course some say he came from Naples and then there are those that say he never existed - the compass had to come from somewhere!!

While driving through the upper street/lane, we spotted our first set of Positano stairs??

Antonio dropped us off at the lowest part he could get the car too

and we started to wander

Hydrangeas were in full bloom

Piazza's statue

And further down

To the Duomo's "angel"

The Duomo (church) from its own Piazza

And looking up at it from Positano Beach

Positano's beach

We move back up hill to the car

Antonio suggests we drive up into these great hills to his friend's Trattoria

We settle in for a suprise menu at Taverna La Taglieta

basically we ate whatever they put in front of us - superb.

and so reasonable.

we were accompanied by stunning scenery - low and high

Another stop on this incredible road

Don't remember the name of this place, just that people pay quite a few euros to lay on this beach, that is after they walk down hundreds of stone steps, then to complete their day they climb back up those same steps. (I do love Burleigh even more now).

A few kilometres from Amalfi town, we drove down to the entrance to the Emerald Grotto, it was quiet and we enjoyed our 15 minutes floating around in this wonderful cave of colour, with some italian grotto serenades from our boat captain. Took a few photos, this is the best of a very bad bunch.

Our last stop was the approach to Amalfi town.

Amalfi looked wonderful from a distance - our hotel is the white one on the very low left of the photo below.

This hotel was nothing grand, but it was on the flat harbour part of Amalfi, a five minute walk from the centre of town. Most other hotels are situated on the Coast Road where one must share the road (no prominent footpaths) with all the buses and cars to get to town, then climb back up to get out - or in town where they can enjoy the constant sound of those young italian boys hammering around on their beloved Vespas. Peace and easy walking was our choice.

This hotel had only been open for 2 days, as it closes for winter, and the Manager gave us the choice of 3 rooms, we took the one with the best views of this active harbour. You couldn't swing a cat in the room, and there was no beloved bath, but we gave preference to what was happening on this harbour for the next 8 days, and the staff were such a happy bunch, so things were lookin' good.