Day #266 - Amalfi Coast, Italy

Amalfi

Amalfi - near sunset

Atop cliffs of Ravello

Reading a book with this view

Amalfi

Sunday, December 5th

Well, I didn't jump to conclusions -- this place is as good as advertised.

Today I took a bus ride along the Amalfi Coast. I left Sorrento around 10am. I visited the towns of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. The bus trip alone was worth the journey. We were on these extremely narrow roads hanging off steep cliffs which ascended above the Mediterranean Sea. Good thing the brakes worked. The road had these small guard rails - not so sure they would have kept us from plummeting into the sea. (It took a little while to be OK with this)

Great day trip. I spent the most time in the town of Ravello. Peaceful. I walked around and then read for a while on a bench overlooking the ocean below. (see picture).

The towns were interesting - but today was all about the views. They really have a great bus/rail system in this area. Several buses provided options for travel throughout the day. I was surprised to see this in the off season. And, I was just as surprised to see the number of tourists. It's an easy to reach destination from Naples - and I think that's the draw.

When I got back into Sorrento, the town was booming. The main street was packed with people. It was awesome. This town appears like it was made for Christmas. Throw some snow on the streets - it could be Bedford Falls.

It's late here - about 1:30am. I've been working the past 5 hours on my finances and spreadsheets. I was dreading this - as I had fallen behind somewhat. All good now. In addition to the blog, I'm keeping this record of all the hotels I've been to on a daily basis. I have the name of the hotel, the city/country, and the nightly price.

I'm still working with my 2 credit cards and 1 ATM card. In recent weeks, I'm glad I had a backup as 2 of my cards were temporarily placed on hold. This was done as precaution because I had been to areas like Israel and Egypt. I contacted all my companies before the trip and filled them in on my plan. I guess the movements I had made recently were not so typical and in sketchier areas. I certainly appreciate somebody looking out for me.

I found out how to make phone calls on Skype - real ones. I bought $10 worth of credit and now I can call people when needed. The other day I went to use an ATM machine. Everything seemed fine and the money came out of the slot. I went to grab it - and the machine sucked it back in. I had never seen that before - I was in Belgrade, Serbia. I decided to call my bank and discuss it with them. I was on Skype 15 minutes later, talking to my bank in the US. They told me they would cancel the transaction if it showed on my statement. Not having a phone this year has been great - but under certain situations, it would be nice to have. Skype has eliminated this need.

Tomorrow I head north. Not sure where my final destination will be. I plan to wing it - based on the train schedule out of Rome. Unitl then - keep the faith!