NOTE: this is a looooonnnnnnnng post. If you just want to see how spectacular this place is, skip to the bottom where I've posted a 2-part German video---it's beautifully done and gives you the gist, though not our exact personal experience.
First, the lay of the land:
Agropoli, at the bottom in pink.
We took the ferry [blue line] from there to Positano, far left, in pink.
Then drove the coast by bus [red line] to Salerno.
Finally, by train [yellow line] back to our hotel in Paestum [black dot]
Heinrich drove us to Agropoli early in the morning. We bought tickets for the crossing to Positano, which cost €11 each (about $14.) We sat on the dock waiting for the ship to arrive and got a glimpse of life as it's been for centuries for people who make a living from the sea. The dock wasn't crowded, but there were maybe a dozen people walking around, repairing nets, fishing, fueling boats, etc. I saw one guy walking around carrying a fresh octopus by the head...it was about 18 inches long from the top of its head to the tip of its tentacles.
While I wandered around taking pictures, B sat on a bench. An old lady walked up to her, carrying a small bag of seafood she'd just purchased from one of the fishermen. The lady just started talking to B as if they were old friends. I'd guess her to be about 80; she was a tiny woman, wearing a simple dress, but dignified, tanned, with crooked teeth and a friendly smile. Her face looked vaguely Native American. She showed us where she lived, pointing to an apartment above a nearby pizzeria facing the harbor. After about ten minutes she wished us a good day and walked home. Later I spotted her on her balcony, looking down on the harbor from the third floor.
I got a photo of B and the lady talking, but because we don't like our faces on the Web, you'll have to settle for my description.
Fishing boats. Already by 9 AM the fishermen were back, repairing and re-spooling their nets.
I don't know what this guy was after, but among his gear was a small hammer, I guess to crack shells.
Quiet, sunny morning on the dock in Agropoli.
The only woman I saw on the fishing boats.
The boat arrived about ten minutes late. It was a large vessel with two decks. There were already people on board---I'm not really sure where the boat had come from, but everyone was on the way to Positano so the good seats, on the side facing the shore as the ship traveled northwest, were already taken. The ship loaded quickly---I'd say within three minutes, they cast off again.
We sat on the upper deck, which was covered but open-windowed, so it was just a tad chilly in the wind. The boat moved along at a good clip, its powerful engines roaring and kicking up a long wake. Looking over the side into the blue water, I saw a lot of jellyfish---sometimes singly, sometimes in groups of a dozen or more. Their bodies were light brown and about the size of a dinner plate. Ugly bastards.
We stayed a mile or two off shore for most of the trip, so I couldn't get any good pics of the towns until we got close to Positano. From time to time I'd walk to the stern for some sun and to take pics, but almost none of them were good because of the haze. Oddly, there were no seagulls following the boat---or really, anywhere to be seen.
I guess the distance from Agropoli to Positano must be 25 miles or so, and the voyage took about 90 minutes.
Closer to our destination, the villages were easier to see / photograph.
Positano----a beautiful old town with houses stacked ever higher and higher atop one another. We climbed and climbed and climbed and still never reached the top. The Wikipedia link says Mick and Keith wrote "Midnight Rambler" in the cafes of Positano while on vacation; I can just imagine Positano at night. A great place to stroll.
Positano from the harbor, just after disembarking.
We came upon a lot of scenes like this---locals strolling through the steep, narrow streets.
Almost invariably we were politely greeted with a friendly "Buon giorno."
The higher you climb, the higher you get.
Nothing about being up here sucked.
We came upon a little restaurant with a patio and a great view of the bay. It was lunchtime. We were the first customers of the day. For whatever reason, the guy wouldn't let us sit on the patio. That was OK...the view from inside was good, too. The waiter was quiet and polite, as was always the case with the Italians we encountered. The pizza looked good but as I discovered, the Italians are masters of suggestive up-selling, so instead of paying about €6 for a great pizza, I ended up spending €12 for a decent but not spectacular pasta / salmon dish, because the guy assured me the pasta was freshly made. Taking a piece of B's pizza, though, convinced me that she got the better lunch. Still, the Italian beer was cold and refreshing so no harm done in any of it.
The waiter also saved us a hell of a disappointment. Our plan was to walk back down to the harbor, where we assumed we could catch a bus to our next stop, Amalfi. But the guy said to B: No, signora---walk 100 meters down the street, go into the bar and buy a bus ticket, then wait for the bus there. Had we walked all the way back down, we'd have just had to walk back up again.
And the lady at the bar saved us some money. She showed us a bus ticket for €7.20, which was good for all bus transportation anywhere along the coast, all the way to Salerno, for 24 hours after the ticket was first stamped.
This is a pretty decent video of Positano---gives you a bit of the flavor of the place.
The bus ride was interesting. As beautiful as this coastal road is, I'd never want to actually drive it, except maybe on a scooter. The road winds like a squirming snake and is pretty narrow in places---the bus drivers honk their air horns at certain points in the road so the driver around the curve, coming the other way and seeing nothing, knows to stop---because if both guys try to fit onto the road or into a tunnel at the same time, fuhgeddaboutit! More than once we came to a dead stop, nose to nose with somebody else, and somebody had to back up----causing much honking on the part of the drivers behind the backer-upper, and much cursing on the part of the bus driver. I heard the word "Bastardo!" a couple of times from our different drivers, but almost never shouted---just quietly spoken with maybe a little wave of the gesture-hand. And, of course, during these standoffs, if a scooter or two or three could zip between the two vehicles during a lull in the action---or around them (pretty risky given the height of the road above the ocean)---they would. And did. Fuckin' Italians....!!!
While not the best RE: scenery, it gives you an idea of actually driving the road.
If nothing else, skip ahead to about 30 seconds from the end for a sample of motorini insanity.
We arrived in Amalfi, another beautiful town. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time here----we decided to take a bus even further up the mountain to the village of Ravello, not realizing that though the trip was short in distance, it would eat up a lot of our time due to unexpected stops, both up and back----the road is narrow and traffic stops for ten minutes or so to let oncoming traffic have the road. We thought we could go up, look around, then come down and tour Amalfi but it didn't work out that way.
Ravello was stunning. Of course, there was a Shiite-load of touristas up there, but the view was fantastic and I'd say it was worth missing Amalfi for.
Somewhere around the bend: Salerno. A view from Ravello.
The higher you go, the higher you get. But maybe I already said that.
We caught an over-stuffed bus back down to Amalfi. Some people had to stand. Again, halfway down the moutnain we got the red light for about ten minutes so traffic coming the other way on this one-lane stretch of road could drive up. The driver stepped off for a smoke and a cell phone call---yes, he waved his free hand around while talking. It's just what they do.
In Amalfi, we had maybe ten minutes for a quick look around before catching the bus to Salerno. We bought some limoncello from a touristy souvenir stand, then walked back to the bus---which was already so full we couldn't get seats together. But at least we got seats----again, by the time the bus pulled away, there were plenty of people standing.
Unfortunately I didn't get a window seat, but I was sitting on the side facing the ocean and I saw some magnificent scenery, though I couldn't photograph any of it. Sometimes being a few minutes late can really make a difference for the worse...still, I don't need to photograph everything I see. Some things linger in the mind for decades.
Curvy, winding, curvy, winding, blue ocean, yachts far below, super-expensive cliff-side villas, private swimming coves, olive trees, stupid oncoming drivers who thought both they and the bus could fit into a tunnel---though Salerno was only about 20 kilometers away, we were (forgive me) on a long and winding road, so the trip took a while.
But finally we got into Salerno, passed the port with the shipping containers stacked eight or ten high, and into the heart of town. As always, the buses never announce upcoming stops so B had to ask someone which stop was closest to the train station...
It was about 5 PM by this time and the train station was packed. The lines at the ticket counters were long, and the woman in line ahead of us was doing some sort of complicated transaction that took a long time. Then B had questions that took a few minutes and the crowd started getting antsy---but as B said, they hadn't said shit when an Italian took ten minutes to do her business. Let a tourist take that long, though, and hey----
But we got our tickets. And, predictably, the 20-minute trip took almost an hour. Why? A few stops from ours, the train suddenly lost its connection with the overhead wire. The electricity went out twice, basically killing the train until they could get connected again. None of the Italians acted as if they even noticed the delay----it was just business as usual with southern Italian train travel.
B's very nice father met us at the station with the rental car, and drove us back to the hotel.
As I said at the top of this post, this day ranks as one of the most memorable of my life. The videos below are in German, but it doesn't matter----watch and be transported.
Thanks to B for making this day possible for me. It was great sharing it with her.
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