Amalfi Coast - written by Marvin

Given the reputation of driving the  Amalfi coast we decided to leave early, I didn’t fancy meeting too many tour coaches on narrow roads hundreds of metres above the sea.  We left at 7am and the first stage is to wind our way out of Sorrento heading up and over to the south coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula.   The aim was to have breakfast at Positano, which is the first town of the coast proper.  We hadn’t really thought about the lack of parking, which seems obvious now!  About two kilometres out from the town centre, the parked cars made the unbelievably narrow roads even more narrow.  We missed the one turn down to town centre, so that was it we carried on with no opportunity to turn around. 

The scenery is breath taking (as is the local driving), incredible sheer cliffs with houses perched on the edge, stacked upon one another like cupcakes.   In a few kms we came across Priano, which was smaller, and yes, it had paid parking on the main road, so we stopped and risked life and limb to walk about 200m back along the road to a café.  There is something surreal about sitting at a table on the edge of a road with cars whizzing past with the hair on your arms bristling.  All the usual daily activities take place, the local bus was making its way around, small delivery trucks double parking to rush fresh produce in shops, and at one point there was a car reversing back down the narrow lane.

The locals treat the road as a one way according to their direction of travel, and only move over when car comes the other way.  Still something I can’t get used to.  Overtaking anywhere, anytime is a national past time.  Also talking on a mobile phone while driving a scooter appears popular, as is smoking.  We arrived at Amalfi about 10-30am and parked near the port, where local market was on.  Amalfi was already alive with tour buses and groups of travellers.  The temperature was just right for strolling along the breakwater, then exploring the town.  Being a tourist town, it had the usual assortment of food and knick-knack shops.  We had an early lunch in a tavern with pizza and cannelloni. 

We headed further inland to Ravello, a hilltop village, the decided to carry on back to the autostrada and on to Sorrento, rather than going back along the coast.  The Amalfi road takes about two years off your life every time you drive it, there is no time to relax while driving, although I would rather drive than be in one of the buses.  Still not sure how the car managed to stay unscathed.