Amalfi Town . . . and More

On Wednesday, October 15th, we found our way to the marina in Sorrento and purchased tickets to Amalfi. The “jet ferry” was scheduled to leave at 9:25 a.m. and we were the last to board, barely making it before they pulled up the gangplank (they had called ahead for us, as a matter of fact). What a wonderful trip we had along the Amalfi coast!

Upon arriving in Amalfi, we strolled up the cobblestone walkway, getting a feel for the seaside community.

We wound our way up the street, ending at the Museo della Carta Amalfi, the handmade paper museum. We bought tickets for a tour (there were only four of us on the tour) and Howard got to try his hand at making paper! And I never even knew that Amalfi was known for its handmade paper.

We stopped for more damn coffee (the only way to rest our poor aching feet!):

After our museum tour (and the purchase of a gift for Joni), and our stop for a cup of delicious foam, we wound our way back down the hill to the Cathedral of Amalfi, where the remains of St. Andrews (of fishers of men fame – yes, from the Bible) are housed. It was a beautiful cathedral.

Okay, okay, maybe a cathedral isn't the place for tomfoolery, but can you find my head?

Art is the meeting place with mystery, because the beauty of created things stirs up God’s emotions, nostalgia. (John Paul II in “Letter to Artists”).

Okay, so we saw Amalfi Town and Howard mentions a village that is located about a 15-minute walk south of Amalfi: Atrani. To get there we walked. Walked. Walked along the highway Rick Steves refers to as a “white-knuckled” adventure when driving along it (in a bus or otherwise). Now understand, we took the boat to Amalfi because I didn’t want to be in a vehicle to get there (I’m not very fond of white-knuckled anything and I don’t do rides at the fair!). But here we were walking along the Amalfi coastline. We did arrive in Atrani (I'm writing this, after all), found an outdoor ristorante, where we shared a bottle of aqua minerale and a caprese salad. We had a couple of great Italian servers, too. Here is our little walking adventure:

Howard wanted to dip his feet in the Mediterranean Sea (imagine that) before we started our return trip to Amalfi. While doing this, he discovered what we have dubbed the GLORIOUS GLASS BEACH. Hundreds of bits of polished sea glass. I have walked miles in search of two or three pebbles of polished beach glass and here it was by the handful! Truly glorious – and all of my art friends out there will understand!

Our ferry was departing from Amalfi at 3:45, so we made our way back, our pockets and bag bulging with glass (and a small piece of cobblestone), hopped on the ferry, and enjoyed the hour long ferry ride back to Sorrento and enjoying once again the beautiful view of POSITANO (the ferryman bellowed this name out in his deep bass robust voice about four times upon each approach – such a lovely auditory memory).

After returning to Sorrento, we began the long climb up to the city. At one juncture of the stairs, there was a little outcrop, which I needed to explore . . . what a funny (and unexplainable) discovery I made!