Wednesday October 19th
We stayed in Maratea last night, and this was our first stop of the morning. We decided to get an early jump on the day as we had a lot of ground to cover. We set the alarm for 6am, and amazingly everyone got up and was ready to go. Unfortunately there was nobody at the front desk. We finally found an employee but they let us know that we couldn’t pay until 8, so that plan totally backfired. So at 8 we set out for the Gigantic statue of Christ that sits on the mountain above Maratea. I haven’t been able to find an exact # for how tall he is, but I’m going to guess that it’s somewhere in the realm of 75 to 100 feet. There is a charming medieval historic center, but the hidden treasure here is the beach. Not of course in October, but it is purported to have some of the cleanest water in Europe. Thanks to a state of the art purification system, which I didn’t even know existed. The beach appeared to be equally clean, and there was much more space to swim and sunbath than in most of the places we’ve seen.
The greek ruins at Paestum are in such good condition that you almost can’t call them ruins. Malaria infested mosquitos are to thank for this. The area was uninhabitable, so there wasn’t anyone around to dismantle this temple for other uses. As far as completeness of the structure, Paestum blows the Sicilian temples out of the water. It’s a brief stopover, but definitely worth the time. It’s a fairly short drive to the world famous Amalfi Coast from here.
It is this very stretch of road that I’ve been looking forward to from day one. It is considered my many to be the most beautiful road in the world. It is considered by everyone else to be the most dangerous. I’ve been on it in a car, in a minivan, and in a full sized van, and each one was obviously progressively worse. The road sits perilously perched a couple hundred feet above the sea, with jutting rock faces lining the other side. Add to that the tour buses and public transport that zooms around the hairpin turns, and you can see why most people would rather take the long way around. Even at the cost of a couple of hours. On the other hand, the Amalfi Coast on a Vespa is a completely different story. You have room to breath, curves to lean into, and beauty all around you. You go through stretches of just rock, then trees, then a tiny town, then a bigger town. You really couldn’t ask for a better place to ride.
The first place we were going to stop was called Atrani, which is the smallest town in all of Italy. But before I even realized we were there, we had already passed it. So we contiued on to the Coast’s namesake. If you have never seen Amalfi, picture a crevice in the mountain with a couple of buildings making a false facade. You walk through the portal and you see that it just keeps going deeper. However, as far as a traveler is concerned it doesn’t go too much further than the main piazza. At one time the paper made here was very important, and it was what the upper class used for their wedding invitations. If I ever find the right girl, maybe we’ll get ours here. The stairs leading down from the very elevated Cathedral are an absolutely perfect place to sit and people watch. Amalfi is also home to what I rate as some of the best gelato in all of Italy. I’ve had it all over the country, and none has ever come close to being this good. I know exactly where it is, but bonehead that I am I forgot to note the name of the place, so you’ll have to search your way, cone by cone, through the many gelaterias here.
It was a long ride to get to this point, and the day was drawing in on us much quicker than we wanted. We bypassed the next couple of towns in favor of getting to our B&B. Villa Pane www.villapane.it is in the hills just above Sorrento. I didn’t realize when I made my reservation that they would be closed for renovations when we arrived. They haven’t had guests since the 3rd of October, but Anna Maria couldn’t have done more to take care of us. She met us in town and lead us to the Villa Pane, then went immediately to get us Coffee and Wine. She explained everything that they were in the middle of doing. In it’s current state it is already a very nice place, but when they finish their work it will be much much more so. The view from our window is the nicest that we’ve had so far. Down over the town of Sorrento and out across the Bay of Naples. The rooms were exactly as we’ve come to expect, and based on what an average hotel in Sorrento runs, extremely nice for the price. The extra mile is what puts this place on a different level. They run shuttles all day long for their guests, they have a giant table that seats 32 people where they include guests in family and friend celebrations, and in a city somewhat short on parking they provide a private lot just outside of the main square. They’ve recently added a pool in the middle of various types of fruit trees, and the new paint job and garden will only enhance the place. Top notch recommendation!