2024-04-12 Crystal Amalfi Wessex Rose : Apr 29

Today we were picked up at the hotel by a guide and driver for our drive along the Amalfi Coast, long a bucket list item. The drive took us winding up through the hills and across the peninsula to the Amalfi Coast. We will be seeing many of the same sights as we saw from the cruise…just from a different angle.

The Amalfi Coast is only 34 miles long with Ravello (our farthest point) just another 3 or 4 miles beyond the town of Amalfi itself. The drive is very dramatic with some of the cliffs rising 500 feet above sea level and the road hugging the coastline with sheer drops at time.

One of the first things we saw from our cruise were the Li Galli Islands. They look very different from above.

Views of Positano from the road.

We drove down into Positano and our driver dropped us off at a parking garage that was a good ways down the hillside. From there we walked around the upper part of the town.

Lots of narrow, windy, cobblestone streets lined with souvenir shops.

We went as far down as the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption.

Our walk to the church took us almost down to the plaza and waterfront where we had been the day before. But we decided not to go down any farther as we had spent time there already. So we headed back up to the car and headed off again.

There was this interesting miniature village (the guide called it a nativity) tucked into a space beside the road).

The little town of Furoro. It was very much below the road level. We didn't stop but got a partial photo as we drove through.

Views of Amalfi from the road. The drive actually took us through town.

We drove past Amalfi and headed inland up the hills (almost 1,200 feet) to the town of Ravello. It is a narrow, windy road and they had a traffic light that controlled the one way traffic. We had quite a wait before we were able to proceed up the hill. Photos from the hillside drive.

Ravello was founded in the 5^th century when coastal residents moved up into the mountains to escape the barbarian invasions. It has since been invaded by movie stars, politicians, artists and composers…a veritable who’s who of the rich and famous (Greta Garbo, Woody Harrelson, Dwight Eisenhower [planning part of the Italy campaign], Jackie Kennedy, Richard Wagner, Tennessee Williams, DH Lawrence, Henrik Ibsen, Virginia Woolf, Maurits Cornelis Escher [who took inspiration from some of the Villa Rufolo architecture for some of his graphics], Truman Capote and many more).

One of the main attractions here is the Villa Rufolo. The villa construction was started in the 12^th century, and it was one of the largest and most expensive villas of the time. It has Moorish towers, lovely gardens, interesting stone buildings and was a treat to visit.

We saw a bride being photographed in one of the Moorish towers.

And we enjoyed some time on the terrace with its spectacular views.

The gardens here were the inspiration for the garden of Klingsor in the second act of the opera Parsifal. And every year they have a Wagnerian concert on terrace of the lower gardens of the villa.

We headed up through the windy streets and our guide took us to his favorite restaurant where we had lunch.

From there we headed back to the car and down to Amalfi. We were running out of time for this tour so instead of heading into the main part of Amalfi, which we had visited two days ago, our guide took us to an elevator that took us up to a viewing platform high above town so we could see the town, harbor and coastline from above.