A Walking Tour of the Amalfi Coast - Day 3 - Monday

After some very restorative sleep, we headed downstairs to the beautiful dining room here at the Hotel Residence for breakfast. So much delicious food! We love breakfast in Europe because there are always wonderful, unusual fruits and fabulous coffee.

Meeting across the street from the hotel on the promenade that overlooks the beach and the sea promptly at 9:00 a.m., we began our day as we usually do on these OLLI trips with a brief lecture from our wonderful instructor, Bill Walter. As a humanities teacher, a studio artist, and a maker of fine paper, Bill's knowledge and skills are perfect for this part of the world.  Amalfi was once home to many paper mills and some beautiful paper and paper artisanal products are still made here. There's even a paper museum!

We started, as Bill often does, with a discussion of color: the history of the use of color made from natural materials and the significance of some colors in ancient civilizations and in many religious practices. We have all been given some color samples (as well as drawings of various types of crosses and different architectural details), and we will look for examples of all of these as we tour around the Amalfi Coast.

We walked all the way to the end of the jetty that stretches some yards out into the Mediterranean. Here private boats are waiting for the day's customers. These are small boats (we even saw a cigarette boat) whose owners offer passengers a tour of the waters along the coast, providing a perspective of the towns from a truly different angle.  Along the edges of the jetty are gigantic stone objects that are manufactured to create a breakwater protecting the structure from the fury of the sea. They look like giant jacks straight from a monster child's game - all that is missing is a huge bouncy ball.  We learned that these are made in this shape quite purposefully; they don't roll with the tide at all.

Bill led the group on a walk through a portion of the town that gave us a bit of a different view, through some small piazzas and, of course, up and down inclines and stairways. These narrow passageways are actually the streets and alleys of the neighborhoods in Amalfi. There are no yards or lawns or gardens (although many may have internal atriums or garden areas, and there are many rooftop gardens at the highest levels.)  All I can think of is one would never buy many items at any store simply because they would have to be hauled up and down so many stairs!

We had ample time for lunch, which we enjoyed with friends, and after a brief rest period we set out to visit the little town of Atrani, just south and around a huge rock outcropping from Amalfi.  The plan was to take a city bus; after a lot of waiting and missing a couple of buses (they fill quickly), the hubs and I decided to walk.  The trip entailed hundreds of steps up and around and through the streets and alleys to the very top of the outcropping, then just as many steps down the other side to the little town. What a challenge! We figured, with the help of our trusty Fitbits, that this gave us at least 5,000 extra steps today. THEN - after a look around Atrani and a beer for the hubs and a Prosecco for me (because some sort of reward seemed appropriate), we walked back.  This time we took the lower route, which is much less strenuous but a lot more frightening - part of the walk entailed our hugging the railing along the main road while cars and buses roared by inches away.  Pedestrians get very little respect here.

And then, after another little rest, dinner.  What a treat! We tried one of Rick Steves' recommended restaurants, Taverna degli Apostoli (Tavern of the Apostles). It nestles just under the watchful eye of the cathedral, and probably was part of the cloister at one time. It certainly functioned as an art gallery in the first half of the 20th century, and has been operated by the same family as a restaurant since 1952. A small dining room (upstairs, of course) with art-covered walls and quiet jazz music, was a perfect setting for a remarkable meal with good friends.

Now, to bed. We have an early start tomorrow, when we will visit Pompeii.