Ravello
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2008
1
7
21
Trip End
Sep 29, 2008
Ravello,
Campania,
Italy
Thursday, September 18, 2008
close quarters-about 6" to spare
. We walked through what was at one time a monastery, and walking through it find a large stage cantilevered out over nothingness and a few hundred seats for the Annual Ravello Days concerts. I walked all around the square and out some side streets where the shops are, many very nice and some very touristy! They do make a beautiful pottery at a factory here in town. It is a beautiful warm and blue day so after all my exploring I sat in the square at a table under a cover and drank a limoncello- the local lemon liqueur. Our guide Angela sat with me and we talked for a while- she lives here in Ravello and I also chatted with a foursome from England who were driving the coastline. Somehow we got to talking about Austin Healy cars - I had a 1960 one - Just enjoyed sitting and watching life in the square-lots of tourists but enough locals to make it interesting. Now to tell you about the road up here and back down. I don't think I can ever convey to you what it was like! But it was the highlight of my day-both up and down! It is a 7 mile switchback road from the harbor. You can also walk to Ravello via stone steps of over 1000 steps, and there were times we wondered if that might have been the better route! Back to our bus which is a conventional passenger bus- I would guess about 10 ft wide and will use that number for illustration. A few times there was a parking lane and sometimes there were 2 driving lanes-each 10 ft wide! The switchbacks, and there were many, required the bus to back several times to make the turn, the motorbikes were zipping in and out and how we didn't kill someone is beyond me
parked bikes
! The cars also just zipped around us-anywhere, curves, switchbacks, everywhere and it is a 2 way 'road'! Occasionally cars had to back up to find a place we could get around them, occasionally we did the backing. Coming back down we were at a narrow place, not even a turn and met 4 buses coming up the hill- It is 2 'lanes' wide at this point with a car parked on one side - we backed, people shouted directions to all and motorbikes kept zipping around us as this was going on. The buses finally passed each other with no more than 3 inches clearance-we were against the rocky wall, traffic coming up was against a concrete ledge about 10 inches tall with a nothing but the sea several hundred feet below and the parked car will never know how lucky he is! His bumper was brushed by several of the buses but they managed-these drivers are fantastic! This seems to be common occurrence and all accept it. There are a lot of the small electric SMART Cars here, even some 4 door ones, and small as they are they still have problems negotiating this road. By the time I arrived back in Amalfi I didn't have time to explore as we had a dinner reservation at The Polo Grill at 6:30. I got onto the first tender and rushed to our room to dress for dinner and relax just a bit. We were in the first seating and were seated with the only couple we know and have repeatedly run into them on and off ship. The meal was indeed a 5 star experience, no question of that. Our server was perfect, as were all 4 of our meals-we all had different appetizers, Ceaser Salad for all, 3 filet mignons and one lamb rack finishing with 2 desserts each and coffee. We really enjoyed the couple, whose names we cannot recall - they made our dining experience special. On to the Sun Deck for a All Request Disco Night Dance Party - more fun than we expected. Carol and I danced our feet off and had a wonderful time. We did the twist, the swim and all those dances that really were just after I left school - but we did our best! Then, back to the room to crash. No need for a sleeping pill tonight!
