An extra day

Day 16-
The day we were supposed to leave Positano was going to be the first sunny day since we had arrived. We decided to move some things around and stay an extra day so we could experience the coastal town at it's finest. We knew we wanted to go back to our private little beach from the night before and much to our surprise, it wasn't overcrowded at all. I soaked in some sunshine with my toes in the water while Ryan hiked around with his camera, snapping away. We decided to have lunch at the tiny restaurant where the fishermen we had seen brought their catches back to. Unfortunately, the short pasta with mushrooms turned out to be a very large portion of pasta with mussels, which we had just discovered the night before that neither one of us were fond of.

When we got back to Positano, we found a company that rented boats by the hour and allowed you to be your own skipper. The instructions consisted of how to make the boat go and how to make the boat stop, and next thing we knew, we were cruising in the sea just the two of us. It was extremely romantic, exhilarating, and slightly terrifying. We drove the boat all the way from Positano to Amalfi and then turned around, so we were able to see a new perspective of all the colorful homes arranged along the cliffside like patches on a quilt. When we got back to the harbor, one of the employees drove another little boat out to meet us and even kindly hopped on our boat to take our photograph. The sun was just beginning to set and we stayed down by the beach until dark, when the town takes on a whole different kind of beauty. We were a little bit sad to think that this would be our last brutally long walk up all those stairs to our room... but it was ALSO only the beginning of Italy for us!

Exploring Ravello

Day 15-
Our second day in Positano, it was overcast and drizzling so we decided to take the Sita bus to see the sequential towns. We started in Ravello, which is another town up on a hill with amazing views of the ocean. We found the most picturesque alleyways on the streets of Ravello, and Ryan subsequently took way too many photos of me. Next, we headed to the town of Amalfi, where we accidentally found a calzone with salsiccia e cime di rapa-- something Vanessa recommended that she could not remember the English word for, but likened to "sour spinach". Turns out broccoli rabe DOES taste an awful lot like sour spinach, and not in a good way either.

On the bus ride back to Positano, we got off when we spotted the most beautiful little beach to our right. We ended up having the Fiordo di Furore entirely to ourselves since it was a little wet and not at all sunny. Other than the Italian fishermen who were heading out to catch the next day's meal, we literally had the place to ourselves and it really could not have been more magical. After dark, we headed back to the main road and waited what seemed like hours for the next bus to arrive. We kind of thought after a while that we would be forced to walk along that narrow little road that winds between the coasts of those towns so we were very relieved when a bus did finally come. But I didn't go without entertainment while we waited-- Ryan was oh so generous to serenade me with his infamous Otis renditions, and I felt right at home.

Getting to Amalfi

Day 13-
Of all the places we travelled to, figuring out how to get to Amalfi without hiring a private charter was by far the most difficult. We had a flight to Naples, a shuttle to the train station, a train to Sorrento, and a bus to Positano. A full day of travelling but with a little research on the front end and two weeks of experience with European transportation, we made it to our private hostel with an ocean view from the balcony without a hitch.

Day 14-
Our first day in Amalfi, we took a boat to Capri, which turned out to be a much different experience than we were expecting. As the boat pulled away, the sky darkened and the wind picked up and we were beginning to wonder if we were actually going to make it to the island. We (along with about a dozen other passengers) huddled close under our jackets and tried not to worry. Miraculously, as the boat pulled up to Capri, the clouds parted and we had blue skies and sunshine for the rest of the day. The only down side was that we were not able to take many pictures from sea like we were hoping to. We shared a cab to the top of the mountain so we could enjoy the view, walked around the crowded island, sneaking down all the alleyways, enjoyed some pasta and gelato, and then got back on the boat for a better-late-than-never tour around Capri. The water was still a little too rough to stop at the usual swimming spots and the rain had brought with it cooler weather. Yet when they found a cove that was calm enough to anchor, the turquoise water was too great a temptation to resist. By the time we made it back to Positano, and hiked up the what seemed like miles of stairs to our room, it was all we could do to stay awake for dinner at the little restaurant next door.