Tuesday, Oct. 25
Our day begins at another breakfast table loaded with delicious fruit from the hotel garden.  Our meal is delightfully punctuated with another visit with Mare and Evelyn who have become our La Perla friends. Mare's family has strong Italian roots and she comes here a couple of times a year to refresh her Italian soul.  Her knowledge of the local area has been very helpful when suggesting places to visit and where to eat. On top of that she is a stand up comedian and keeps us in stitches with her descriptions of family life in the USA and her observations about our group's choices in attire and head cover.

Don, Trent, Mare, Evelyn

Today our group heads off in different directions to explore on our own. The local birds continue to elude my shutter so I content myself with pictures of plants that cannot dart away.

Olives that missed picking and processing.

My walk carried me to a local marina, along a stony hiking path, through a residential area clinging to the rock face and back to the hotel. Along the way a towering rock called out to the little boy in me to climb up, push it over and watch the toppling peak careen down the mountain. Fortunately, my adult voice prevailed and I carried on.

Can you imagine pushing this stone pillar over.

I also discovered how smooth rocks are formed on beaches with lots of wave action.

This walk was so enjoyable that I returned to the hotel to get Cathy and we repeated the walk in reverse order.  Throughout our stay on the Amalfi coast we have observed full sized cars and busses negotiating the roads built for tinker toy cars.  Pat has commented on the regular appearance of the patented Amafi pin striping applied to many of the vehicles.

Note the Amalfi pin striping.

Further on we passed a restaurant  where a lady called out asking if we wanted something to eat.  At least that was our interpretation of the Italian sounds and gestures.  Our positive response turned into a satisfying episode of cappuccino drinking and cake eating.  Just what you should do for lunch in Italy.

How could you refuse cake made by this lady.

Three very handsome young boys dressed in rather formal clothes were tossing rocks into the sea as we sipped our coffee.  Our waiter informed us that the action on the beach was part of a photo shoot to advertise children's clothing.  Cathy was most fascinated by this and managed to capture a shot from above the photo shoot.  We are currently in negotiations with the advertising arm of Armani to secure the exclusive rights to this photo for an undisclosed 6 figure contract.

Eight hundred years ago a tower was built on a rocky outcropping just below our hotel.  Twenty years ago Paolo Sandulli opened his ceramic studio in this tower. Two hours ago we had the delight of touring this eye popping studio.

Paolo is a painter and ceramic artist who studied in Paris in the late 1970's in a studio used by famous painters such as Cézanne. This was a great inspiration to him over the years.  Our conversation with him was most delightful and included a discussion about his interest in coming to Canada to attend our biennial International Emma Collaboration. Here is a selection of the delightful ceramic pieces that were evident in the tower.

We are now preparing for our last supper at La Perla where we will share the repast with Mare and Evelyn.  Our sides will ache from the laughter in a few hours.  
Tomorrow we leave for Naples and then back to Saskatoon so this may be my last posting, especially if we are mugged and my computer stolen as we have been warned many times.

Monday Oct. 24
Today started out somewhat cloudy with a 20% chance of rain.  After another delicious breakfast at La Perla we headed out to walk into Praiano, explore, have lunch and relax for the afternoon.

Breakfast at Hotel La Perla 

The occasional drizzle of rain was no match for our collection of high tech rain gear that we whipped on and off as the sky sent us fickle moisture messages throughout the morning.  Our path once again included narrow passages edged with stone enhanced steps, canopies of overgrown garden produce, cement repairing workmen, colourful ceramic signs and the ever present astonishing landscape. I felt so lucky when Lynn pointed out a small European Robin that sat still long enough for me to capture a picture.  The birds here in Italy have the most annoying habit of being camera shy.

European Robin

Stone steps down, down, down.

Oranges nearly read for picking.

A quick walk of 300 odd steps led us down to the sea where we marvelled at the clear blue green water gently swelling over the rocks below the cliff.

Cathy and Trent with Positano in the background.

As we walked back up the steps to our restaurant for lunch a couple of kitties posed on a concrete step for a portrait.

La Brace turned out to be a great restaurant for our noon hour lunch stop.  Delicious pasta was plated at the table.

Cappuccinos and a chocolate dessert carried us into a wide ranging discussion of University funding and education.  The restaurant claimed ownership of a beautiful dog who adopted us as temporary family and walked all the way back to our hotel.  We gave him the temporary name of Brace (sounds like Brawchae) which is Italian for Grill since this restaurant is his home.

Brace leading us home.

After lunch we stopped at a most wonderfully decorated church.  We have been viewing the dome of this church for days always wondering what treasures it announced.

The floor was completely covered with colourful ceramic tiles in a style quite unlike other Italian churches we have seen.  The walls and ceilings held untold stories only hinted at by our casual observations.

Ceiling decorations with exquisite detail.

Back home we relax in uncharacteristic style with an afternoon to stare out at the foggy view where sea and sky unite in a thinly discernible line shattered by the occasional flash of lightning.

Sunday Oct. 23
Sunrise happened around 7:00 this morning. What a glorious sight with the rising globe illuminating a swath of gold as it splashed across the rippled water.

Sun rise over the Mediterranean.

Breakfast at Hotel La Perla was spectacular with lots of options including croissants with homemade marmalade, created by the mother of our server, Rafaela.  On our way to the bus we noticed a Pomegranate tree with fresh fruit hanging and a Morning Glory covered hillside that grew so fast it captured a scooter, tossed the rider off and stalled the bike in mid stride.

Pomegranate tree.

Watch out for fast growing Morning Glory.

Then we were off on an adventure on a local bus to Amalfi about 10 km. down the road.  Don thought the tickets at 2.40 Euro were quite inexpensive for a ride that completely destroys any midway ride at the local fair. The bus loaded with 40 to 50 people manoeuvres impossibly tight corners on roads riddled with scooters darting in and out of traffic, cars, vans and other buses brushing within  millimetres of each other. Here is a video Don took while standing at the front of the bus.

You can get a sense of the thrilling possibilities for a tumbling adventure if the bus misses a corner as it rounds the overhanging cliff.  All the while our eyes are popping and heads spinning as we view these ancient stone houses clinging to terraced cliffs on one side while the calm Mediterranean gently washes up on the shore below.

View from inside our bus.

Amalfi Coastline.

We landed safely in Amalfi and quickly crammed into a bus with 50 other tourists on an excursion from a cruise ship parked in the harbour.  Another midway ride up to the small town of Ravello.

Cruise ship in Amalfi.

Ravello is home to a spectacular concert hall designed by Oscar Niemeyer and only opened in the last year.  We were very fortunate to have a delightful young woman show us around the facility and answer all of our questions.

Linda sitting in a very expensive chair designed by Oscar Neimeyer.

Don took this video to help give a sense of this acoustically designed building.

We wandered Revello for awhile people watching, shopping and eating.  Groups of pigeons had been assigned areas for clean up in the public square and were dutifully carrying out their duties.

Two pussy cats with their staff of two.

Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

Our map director, Pat, then coached us onto the path that returns wayward pilgrims from Revello back to Amalfi. While not as hair raising as the bus ride up, this trek held it's own adventure as we used our sleuthing powers to imagine signs pointing us in the right direction. Passing by terraced fields with vineyards, munching goats, and clucking chickens juxtaposed with narrow passages between people's homes with washing hanging from lines nearly brushing the tops of our heads created a delight of sights and sounds.

Narrow walkway past beautiful wall decorations.

Pendulous gourds hanging from their vine.

We eventually arrived back to Amalfi, caught another bus back to our hotel, collapsed for awhile and then headed out to have a wonderful meal at a local restaurant.  Now it's off to bed.

Saturday, Oct. 22
Today started out with overcast skies, drizzling rain and very low clouds, modestly covering the surrounding hills.  Perfect for a travelling day except for switch back roads rendered invisible with a smearing of pea soup fog.  After an hour of driving the weather completely changed, readying us for a sun drenched time on the Amalfi coast.

Our last trip in the van. 

No problems returning the van so off we go now completely under our own steam and really pleased with ourselves that we have carry on luggage.  A lady at the information booth, tells us the boat is 30 minutes from leaving for our destination on the coast so we scramble out onto the street, brazenly cross in heavy Italian traffic and find the boat launch. Don assures us that he read you should just step out into traffic and they will stop. The theory goes that if you make eye contact drivers know that you know they are there and they will keep going, whereas if you just step out they will stop because they think you don't know they are there. In any event pushing Don onto the street in front of me seemed to work well.  We are soon loaded onto the boat and begin eating our lunch prepared the night before.

On the sunny upper deck of the boat to Positano.

Preparing to eat a Gherkin Pickle.

Unable to move our eyes off the spectacle of ancient houses clinging to solid rock and arched roadways moving tiny buses around impossibly tight corners we begin our journey on the Mediterranean.

Praiaino, the town where our hotel for the next few days is located.

We disembark from the boat in Positano and begin a steep walk up the hill to find our bus to Praiano.  Turns out we have three hours to kill before our bus arrives so the shoppers shop, the coffiers coffee and the  gelato eaters, well they eat gelato. We arrive at the most picturesque place you could imagine.  Storybook terrace with wrought iron railings overlooking small fishing boats bobbing on the aqua marine sea with the occasional gull doing a fly by.  Look behind, up the mountain and small castles grow from the bed rock miraculously transforming the granite foundation into buildings with real doors and windows.

Soon the sun begins to set and we gather to begin our evening of dining.  We meet the most interesting, entertaining woman from Connecticut that has Italian roots and has us in stitches talking about politics in the USA and her other life in Italy.