While we were asleep last night, the heavens opened up. The sound of thunder and lightening was so intense we both woke up - the echo of the sound of thunder on all the cliffs here really amplifies the sounds. Regardless, we decided to brave the rain and return to the Amalfi Coast. To avoid the crowds like we failed to do yesterday, we woke up to catch the 7 AM bus - but of course there is a bus at 6:30 AM and the next one isn't until 8:30 AM. So we experienced the first downpour of the day as we waited.
We arrived in Amalfi and started our tour by taking another bus to Ravello - a town located up in the hills. Here we saw the main piazza, cathedral, and some famous villas. Ravello is famous for being a musical town with many concerts during the year, as well a place where famous people like to live/visit. Luckily, the sun came out for a while and we were able to see the great views down to the water. Taking advantage of the good weather, we hiked back to Amalfi instead of taking the bus. The hike down was crazy - over 300 very steep steps down and through an adjacent town of Alfani. (Crazier yet was the guy running up the trail.)
Back in the center of Amalfi, we met up with Mike's friends Nick and Elisa for lunch. It was nice to see some familiar faces! We split up with them after lunch to go on another hike while they went to check out Ravello. We started on our way, and things were going well until the hiking trails stopped being clearly marked. Even though we had a map, we ended up climbing up ridiculously steep rock steps through tree-covered area only to get to the top and find that it was not a trail - it was someone's house. The last thing I wanted to do was climb down those steps...but there was only one way back. It was so humid and we got about 10 mosquito bites between the two of us during the hike that we decided to screw it and head back to civilization.
We stopped off at a paper-making museum - the paper industry has existed in Amalfi since the middle ages. Our tour book said to expect a 25 minute tour and we received about a 6 minute tour, but at least we got to see how they made paper out of cotton (which they still sell to the Vatican). On the way back to the town center, we experienced our second downpour. The rain was so heavy the streets were flooding, and we were lucky enough to find a roof to wait out the storm under.
Back in town, we experienced yet another torrential downpour - you could see the sheets of rain. It was amazing to see so much rain in such a short time (especially coming from California)! Then we got on the bus back to Sorrento, which was again, crowded beyond belief, muggy, and exhausting. Everyone was hot, sweaty, and cranky (and some were on the verge of getting car-sick). The highlight of the trip was driving over the hills and seeing all the storm clouds on the Amalfi Coast side, and clear skies on the Sorrento side. From the road we could see the lightening continue to strike the Amalfi Coast all the way home.
Oh, and here is a frog we came across:
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Pistacchio
Aviva - Mente (Mint)
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