Amalfi Coast Day 1
So I am a bit behind because the last 3 days I've literally come home so exhausted that I just showered and went to bed so I'm going to do some catch up tonight.
Where I left off I was on that awful bus, well it dropped me off at like 6:15am in Salerno which is the closest city essentially to the Amalfi coast. Luckily I had done enough pre-research to know where to then get the local bus into Amalfi proper and I had already downloaded the maps for the entire region but then it was 6:15am an I had no clue when the first bus was going to be. I walked, tired and hungry, to the bus stop and just kind of sat there lost in almost sleep until busses started coming up. I asked one driver if he went to Amalfi and he said no. Finally a bus came around that SAID Amalfi so I asked how to buy a ticket and the super nice bus driver told me 2.40 euro and gave me a ticket.
It's funny when you're traveling because you can so obviously tell who cares about you and who doesn't. The grand majority of people, especially in tourist areas, do not care about you. They aren't mean but they won't go out of their way. One of the bus drivers on the long bus ride and now this current driver both took an interest in me and were especially nice. You can tell because the nice bus driver on the long bus took time to wave at me goodbye as they were driving by and actually smiled, this new bus driver was super nice and spelled out the ticket and how the bus worked so nicely to me rather than being brusque or brushing me off (as both of their counterparts kind of did). Some people are just so nice and luckily I've found they aren't hard to find.
Finally I made it into Amalfi. The bus ride was long and treacherous. These Grayhound sized city busses go through the nastiest, thinnest, most dangerous twists and turns and constantly honk before going around because two cars can barely pass on them let alone a bus. The few times our bus did have to pass another bus there were mere inches between them. You can see below the bus beginning the pass and then during the pass. We were literally on top of them.
I was able to find my hostel reasonably easily. The bus drops you off on street level and in Atrani (the specific city I am staying in) the main square is actually below the road and you walk under an arch under the road to get to the small beach. The beaches here are dark and pebbly probably because of their proximity to Mount Vesuvius. The absolute nicest hosts greeted me and offered me a free breakfast. They are they sweetest, cutest, little old Italian brothers and they are wonderful hosts. I was given my lovely breakfast of a peach or apricot croissant, a roll, tea (other got coffee), and orange juice, and then taken to my room where I got the last bed of 4 (also a top bunk, yuck). It didn't really matter to me though. I was so freaking tired after that awful bus ride mixed with being hungry the entire time as well that I passed out until about 2pm.
After my nap I went for a "hike" with a girl from my dorm. This is a weird hostel because the guys own several different properties and so while we all eat breakfast in the same place no one see's each other. We all are in different buildings tucked away in the town and there's no common area or bar so I really only get to meet the girls in my room. There are three, one is Jackie from Minnesota, one is from Sydney, Australia, and the last is Renee from Texas. Well anyway the girl from Australia and I were supposed to go on a "hike" up to Ravello which is a beautiful town literally above Atrani. The beautiful mountain range out here along the coast means that Ravello really is quite literally above Atrani by about an hour's hike up many stairs. We never made it however as we spent a little more than an hour getting completely lost and having no clue where we were.
The thing is that Atrani is a mountain curve away from its neighboring city the beautiful Amalfi. Amalfi is much more touristic than Atrani and larger with a nicer beach however the walk between is beautiful and about 10 minutes. We had a nice time walking though.
That night I also had dinner on the cliffside between Atrani and Amalfi at a beautiful little restaurant and while I thought I was getting linguini with shrimp I actually got a culinary masterpiece of linguini and huge actually fully shelled shrimp which I had to channel my inner Gordon Ramsey to de-shell with only my fork and knife (no hands I was determined). It was quite the ordeal. here are also some nice photos of Amalfi at night as well as me and my monster filled pasta.
That night I got home exhausted (and happy because I ate more gelato) and fell asleep quickly still tired from a bad nights sleep before and ready for the next day as Renee, Jackie, and I were taking an 8:45am ferry the next day for Capri Island!
Also I don't remember if I said this before but the big thing about the Amalfi coast is that it has geo-terracing of its mountain sides for the immense amount of lemons that are grown here. It is an agricultural and structural masterpiece and I've only seen something similar in the rice paddies of Vietnam. They were larger in scope and breadth but this place has it along the coast so it is also amazing. Besides being a beautiful and warm souther coast line, the Amalfi coast has its beautiful lemon gardens to thank for its beauty and popularity. I also managed to arrive in a rather peak lemon time as all of the trees are simply overflowing with yellow lemons and it is a beautiful sight.