Landscape / Italy / Amalfi by ?CubaGallery

Our final day in the Amalfi coast began with a series of bus rides — to get us from Sorrento to the town of Amalfi, and then from Amalfi to Bomerano, the high end of the Sentiero degli Dei. Our books said if there was one hike to do along the Amalfi Coast, it was the Path of the Gods. And we also gleaned that doing it “backwards” means walking primarily down hill. Ha, “primarily” was a bit of a joke, but after five straight days of tromping around Pompei, Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Anacapri, and everywhere in between, our legs had become invincible! Or so we thought.

(Mt. Vesuvius, en route)

(This town is most likely… I have no idea, we were on a bus. It’s cute though!)

Duomo di Amalfi (a.k.a. St. Andrew’s Cathedral)

St. Andrew’s fountain

God-like view!

Weird thing, but my calves got burnt that day.

Oh hey, remember Chris? He came too.

This picture rocks.

By the way, it’s called the path of the gods because it’s an average height of 500 meters above sea level, thus giving the daring adventruers a teriffic view!

Li Galli are three little islands that can be seen off the coast. They served as the inspiration for Homer’s mythical sirens, who lured poor sailors with their singing and beauty to crash upon the rough rocks and often hidden rocks in the area.

The Path finally ends in Positano, but not before going though the minuscule town of Nocelle. We sat and picnicked there, after the nearly three hour descent from Bomerano, because the last leg of the trail greeted us with a warning — “1700 steps to Positano.”

Yes, you read that correctly — seventeen hundred. I mean, at least we weren’t walking UP that many stairs, but if you ever really want to know what it’s like to have your legs turn to jelly as slowly, every muscle set you own from the waist down becomes worn to the point of non-functionality, try the Bomerano-Positano descent. We started out carefully controlling our steps; as our quads gave out, we began glidings on bent knees an calf muscles; by the last 500 steps, we were no more than falling, letting gravity to the work, trying any way possible to keep our legs beneath us. Finally, the stairs spit us out near Arienzo on the main road that winds along the coast. Of course, at that point, all anyone would want to do is sit down and give his/her legs a break, but we know from experience that’s actually the worst thing to do — the get off your legs completely. So, we slowly kept putting one foot in front of the other, willing the numbness to wear off.

From Positano, we went back to Sorrento on a bus, back to Naples on the Circumvesuviana, and then on to Rome via train.

(Taken on the bus of Montepertuso. I’m not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the mountain has a hole right through the middle of it! This occurred naturally in only three locations in the entire world — the other two are in India.)

Here’s a better picture, but I didn’t take it:

It was well passed midnight when Chris and I arrived in the Eternal City, both having slept on the train. Half way out of the station, we realized we had left my messenger bag on the train, which wasn’t holding too many valuables, but did have our maps, sunscreen, my bathing suit, and Chris’s Ray Bans and Island of Capri towel. But we were too late. Chris practically got locked on the train, trying to relocate it. We checked with security in the event they had collected it, but to no avail. And we don’t even know if the bag made it so far as Rome, because there’s a small chance it could have been stolen while we were sleeping.

Regardless, we knew we had to cut our losses and find our hostel. It was only a few blocks away, so we checked in and settled down, and with a simultaneous look, decided we were way too wound up to sleep (loosing a bag on a train is kind of like almost having your wallet stolen in Naples…) So, not even needing a map, we hit the streets of Rome at one in the morning, wandering around until well after 3.

Honestly, strolling around Rome with all of the sites to yourselves is an experience I highly recommend. This was my third time to Rome and I’d never seen so few people at the Trevi Fountain. College students were milling about the Colosseum, going to/from/in between various clubs or parties. The American exchange students were drinking outside the still-open bars near the Pantheon. 

Finally, having seen a good fill of the iconic Roman sights, we pointed our toes back in the direction of our hostel and eventually fell asleep, vaguely wondering how we possibly could have walked the Sentiero degli Dei and a good portion of Rome in less than a day…

Landscape / Italy / Amalfi by ?CubaGallery