#298: The Amalfi Coast (pg 185); 2nd Ed, pg 175

 

First stop after leaving Salerno:  Ravello

We went to visit the gardens of Villa Cimbrone.

As the 1000 Places to See book states, Ravello has been described as "closer to heaven than to the sea."  I couldn't agree more.

I challenge you to find a more breathtakingly beautiful spot than this.

From Ravello, we found a parking garage carved into the mountain.  If you go out the path one way from the garage.....

You are in Atrani!

And if you go out the other way, you are in Amalfi!

I loved all these lemon-themed shops.

The Duomo di Sant'Andrea.

Then from there, we went to Positano.

Hello, Positano!

The pathway down to the beach.

Looking up into the town from the beach.

I am told that in this summer, you can hardly find a place to sit.  It is wall to wall people everywhere. But in November..... we had the whole place to ourselves!

Thumbs up for that!

If you're not already in love before you come here, you will fall in love before you leave!

Lunch time!

Chez Black was recommended to us by a friend who has spent a lot of time here.  It is situated right on the beach.  The food was delicious!!

And, for the record, the best pizza diavalo we had anywhere of the entire trip was at this restaurant.  You can skip the grilled vegetables, but everything else on this menu was amazing!!

Sunset in Positano on the Amalfi coast?  Yes, please!! 

Verdict: Yes, yes, yes, YES!  If you only do 100 things before you die (instead of 1000), make this one of them!  It is an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful stretch of water-front beauty surrounded by cliffside towns where one is more charming than the next.

There are many ways this can be experienced.  We chose to rent a car and start in the South (Salerno) and then work our way up making stops in Ravello, Atrani, Amalfi and Positano and then ending in Sorrento on the Northern end of the Amalfi coast.  You may choose to take a tram.  You may choose to stay in one of these towns as your home base and just make day trips every day.  You may choose to take ferries or other boats.  However you choose to experience this piece of the world is fine, just make sure to do it!