Naps In Naples

Unfortunately that summed up our day in Naples. Thus this post will be the briefest of briefs. 

We sadly had to farewell our agriturismo and new friends to head back to Naples. We were dropped off at Napoli Centrale, where it was a short walk to Five Rooms Napoli, our lodging for the night. It was an easy walk to the station, reasonably priced, had a lift, with clean and comfortable rooms and it came with good air-conditioning. All the ticks. Luckily for us, our room was ready by the time we arrived at 11:30am!

Today the heat had returned with a vengeance. The lungs were protesting with my asthma flaring up. Plans to explore Naples were abandoned and we took the opportunity to enjoy our rest day in our comfortably cool room. Tomorrow we would begin our journey north to begin the next round of activities...

I will miss having my breakfast to this view

The last time I will enjoy this view whilst going up and down the stairs

The common area of Five Rooms Napoli

Our room

Very BIG bathroom

Grey doors are the entrance to the building

Last minute goodbyes to our friends

Besides we had to try the pistacchio McFlurry!

The outdoor sitting area. I drank my coke here in the heat just to take this photo...the sacrifice

Last Day Last Hike

View back towards Agerola

Temperatures had returned to pre-storm highs of mid-thirties. Coupled with the humidity, we could really feel it this morning on the hike. It probably didn't help that by now, various body parts were more than tired, and that the first 30 minutes was a constant steep ascent. Our destination today was Rifugio Santa Maria dei Monti. Our aim was to get views of both sides of the Sorrento Peninsula, namely one of Vesuvius and Pompeii, and one back down the Amalfi Coast.

After the initial struggle with the ascent, the rest of the hike was rather pleasant and mostly level in the shade. Our lunch at the Rifugio was as usual, simple and tasty. It was fun and a lovely way to end our hiking tour. Having said that, we were all glad to be back in the comfort of the agriturismo! My asthma was playing up today so I opted to stay back whilst the party people headed down to Praiano after dinner to watch a band at a music club in Praiano. 

A few quick words before we officially end the tour and return to Naples tomorrow morning...

I've thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The agriturismo was a gem. You see the photos but the reality exceeded my expectations. Vincenzo, our guide, has been wonderful. One can never underestimate the knowledge and tips from a local! The two things I was concerned about prior to trip was the difficulty of hiking in the heat, as well as how much I would enjoy the group setting. As a natural introvert, I was unsure of how I would cope outside the comfort of travelling with my own family or friends. 

The hikes turned out to be amazing. Were they difficult? Yes. Hiking in warm weather with flies and mosquitoes, and being drenched in sweat and sunscreen was challenging. However, it was also extremely rewarding. The views were spectacular and we got to see a side of the Amalfi Coast that 90% of tourists would never see. 

As for our group, we hit the jackpot! What a fun, friendly and cool bunch of 14 people to be stuck with! It really did make the trip more enjoyable and I never thought that it would be something I would say!

The beginning of the tough climb

That's a big ding-a-ling or ding-a-long

Um...still going up...

Finally! Shade!

Behind me, under that cloud cap is Mt Vesuvius. 

Last little bit...

...before we were greeted by this fella!

Rifugio Santa Maria ai Monti

View down the other side of the Sorrento Peninsula. You can see Ravello and just make out Maiori in the distance

Water and wine were waiting for us

Our lunch. Everything from their farm

What an amazing group!

I don't know what this is but it is so yummy (not arancini because it is not risotto inside)

A gift from Vincenzo, a symbol of good fortune in the region

Capri

 

View from Anacapri

After so many days of walking, the legs were relieved to finally get a break. Today would be a sea day! It was our "free" day and 12 out of the group of 16 agreed to rent a private boat together for an excursion to the island of Capri. It was reasonable price working out at 125 euros per person for use of the boat from 9-5pm which included drinks and towels. The return transfers from the agriturismo was ann additional 10 euros per person return. These prices would depend on numbers obviously. Another option would be taking the local buses.

We were dropped off at the pier in Amalfi. While we were buying sandwiches for lunch (which were excellent by the way!) we got the bad news that there was a problem with the original boat we had hired. Vincenzo scrambled to find a replacement and thankfully found one reasonably quickly. We had a slight delay in departure time but because the boat was an "upgrade" we moved faster and made up most of the time. 

Capri, unfortunately, felt purely like a tickbox. Whilst the views were stunning, our time on the island was marred by our taxi experiences. We had opted to go to Anacapri as it was reported to have a more low-key feel in comparison to Capri which was high end everything. The charge from the Marina Grande to Anacapri was meant to be flat rate of 28 euros. Vincenzo warned us that the rate is determined by the government and not to pay more as the taxi drivers try to extort passengers. Both the taxi drivers for our group tried to charge us 35 euros. We just threw 30 euros at them and walked away. On the way back though, half of our party was stuck in a cab with a driver who had major attitude problems. He insisted on 60 euros, bargained down to 35 then took them intentionally to the wrong marina and demanded another 30 euros. The drop off included arguments and threats for the police to be involved! Stress for everyone...

Back to the island itself! We gave ourselves 2.5 hours on the island which was just enough to catch a cab (which fits up to 6) to Anacapri, take the chairlift up to the viewpoint, walk around for 45 minutes and make our way back. The taxi debacle stole 30 minutes of water time for us which was frustrating because being in the water was the best part of the day! Our skipper, Cosimo, was amazing. He was from Furore, where our agriturismo is and showed us his favourite spots both to and from Capri. After our land time, he took us around Capri by boat showing us important landmarks before giving us swimming time. The water was bliss! 

Back to hiking tomorrow!

Our ride! The Cuor di Leone. None of us were brave enough to use the sunbeds at the front whilst moving...

Leaving Amalfi behind

Fiordo di Furore. Apparently an instragram spot, also where they do redbull cliff diving. 

Positano

Approaching Capri

The cab ride itself was actually pleasant. All were open air with a top. 

Us 2 at the back

The line for the chairlift. The wait from here was about 15 min

You get on just like a ski lift but you have to run off to dismount rather than just gliding off at the end. And yes it takes suitcases too

Great views!

The town of Capri down the bottom

View of the boats down below. We would be one of those later...

From a shop called Luisa's in Amalfi. Definitely worth going too!

The back of the boat. It was really comfortable. We were all glad to be back on it!

Our boat included floaties with beer holders and noodles!

Faraglioni, the 3 iconic rocks of Capri

Appetiser tonight. The fried pizza on the bottom right is absolutely YUMMY! So is the broccoli tart on the top left. I know...broccoli tart who would have thought!

Deconstructed cheesecake. Great way to end the evening

The Path Of The Gods & Positano

 

A little hazy but all the way down the end is Capri

It was time to do the iconic hike of the Amalfi. As I knew we would have a guide, I was guilty of not really researching too much before hand. For those interested in DIY, lonely planet gives a great description as well as information for logisitcs, and one the photos of the view is of our agriturismo

!We started earlier today to beat the sun, Vincenzo timed it so that we had enough shade for a good chunk of the 6-7km hike. There was a path right from the agriturismo to the start of trail head near the village of Agerola. It was described as 30 minutes of pure cardio with steps all the up. Um...pass. I happily paid my 5 euros to be shuttled up by a bus. These older legs could only do so much! 

We started hiking at around 8:15am and I was pleasantly surprised by how much shade we had. It would definitely be horrible when the sun was high in the sky. We chose the higher path when there was a split. Thankfully the path was not as difficult as I feared, and nowhere near as treacherous as some of the ones I did with my then 70 year old mother in Cinque Terre. Vincenzo said that he had to make it sound harder so people were prepared. Fair enough. Better to be pleasantly surprised then unpleasantly surprised! Certain sections towards the end have been upgraded with proper steps cut in and railings erected which probably helped. A few important notes to others contemplating the hike. There are no springs to refill water bottles along the path, nor are there any toilets.

The views along the hike were nothing short of spectacular. It truly was breathtaking. It felt like we reached Nocelle in no time! We were greeted by the Kiosk of the Path of the Gods right at the "official" end of the path where we stopped for a lemon granita and a toilet break. Here the group split into those taking the public bus down to Positano and those who wanted to complete the trip on foot. Nocelle was a village only connected by road not too long ago and residents used to have to lug everything here on foot from Montepertuso, the next town we walked to. Yes we chose to go on foot...

The start of our hike

Goats!

Working mules

And off we go. As you see, still pretty shaded

That blip of an umbrella tree about 1/3 of the way down the left slope is our agriturismo! The photo on the lonely planet link above is a better photo...

Glimpses of the view that would stay with us for most of the path

Our destination

Apparently an instagram point people would come here complete with suitcases filled with clothes to change ito and camera people to take photos

An indication of how vertical it was

She only said yes to be in the photo because someone else offered to take the photo

These steps and railings are a recent-ish upgrade

Right at the end of the trail. Looks ordinary on the outside...

But on the inside...

Check out this view!

And we keep going!

At Montepertuso, we stopped a lovely quiet church square overlooking the cliffside and ate the picnic lunch that the agriturismo had packed for us. The next "step" would be the 1500 odd steps straight down to Positano. If possible, the crowds at Positano was worse than Amalfi. Because of the narrow streets and funnel shape of the town, it felt so packed and was downright unpleasant. As pretty as Positano was, it was hard to appreciate. We were fortunate enough to have visited before and so we simply sat down in any shade that we could find, enjoyed our gelato and waited for our group meet up time to ferry back to Amalfi. From there it was a bus ride back to the agriturismo for a much needed shower and rest time for the legs!

The family who owns the agristurismo gave a super sweet cooking demonstration with their 11 year old son, Luigi, doing the translating and practicing his English (which was already very good). He had been to New York recently with his sister as part of an organised English course and reported that he didn't like the food because it was only every chicken nuggets and chips. Bless the child. Tell it like it is!

Our really nice lunch spot. I wish we had stayed here longer and had less time at Positano

View of Positano below

The many many never ending steps going straight down to Positano

The beach of Positano

This made wandering down to the beach worth the effort

Gelato time

Yeah that was our ferry experience! Vincenzo said stay close and be Italian, push in!

Positano as seen from the water

View of Amalfi from the water

The gorgeous family - Nicola, Luigi and Michaela