Day 33 – May 18 Wednesday

6am wake up, 7am brekkie, depart at 7.30am for Sorrento.  We spent most of the day in the bus on the motorway heading south from Florence, out of the Tuscany area, bypassing Rome & ending at Sorrento, just past Naples, on the Bay of Naples.  The Tuscan countryside is beautiful, lots of farms, restored stone farmhouses & farmhouses in the process of restoration, complete with small crane to lift the heavy stone blocks.  There are also lots of “renovator’s delights” awaiting a hapless soul with lots of money & patience.  We passed many  beautiful villages clinging to a mountain top, complete with tall church spire, with the occasional fortified wall around it.  These Italians were certainly a feisty lot, continually fighting each other.  We stopped for the obligatory morning tea & lunch at road houses before arriving at our hotel in Sorrento around 3.30pm.

The Grand Hotel La Pace is absolutely beautiful, 1950’s style, marble floors (including a beautiful blue marble in the entrance), art nouveau chandeliers, huge rooms, marble bathroom, marble floored bedroom, inlaid wooden furniture everywhere.  A quick break then onto a smaller bus & off to Positano & the Amalfi coast.  The drive to nearby Positano is both breathtaking & scary, clinging to the cliff face, switching back & forth, climbing higher all the time, before descending into the town & bus parking area – I’m glad Luigi & not me is driving the bus.    We walked down the narrow twisting cobblestone footpaths towards the beach area, passing lots of clothes shops, some high end art places, a few pottery places & the odd cafe.  We passed the old church where an American couple were having their wedding photos taken before passing through a very narrow alley to the stony beach.  A few boats pulled up on the beach & a few anchored offshore.  What sand there is, is black, mostly stones & pebbles, no waves – terribly uninviting – yet people go there (the rich & famous).  We met up with a few of our group on the beach & had a quick chat, then walked slowly back up the hill, checking out some things in a few shops before rejoining our little bus at the parking garage.  I noticed a roadway built out from the sheer cliff high above & said out loud, “I’m glad we don’t have to drive on that” – well, that was the road out.  The same exhilarating drive back – these Italian drivers are crazy, overtaking anyone anywhere, scooters are mayhem, they do anything they like, anytime, anywhere – & all this with a 500 foot drop on one side plus the road is barely wide enough for two cars to pass, let alone a bus.  Anyway, we made it back safely in time for a quick change, then dinner time.

Back into the bus for a drive up to a little town on the mountain behind Sorrento,  Sant Agata & a little restaurant recommended by our driver Luigi,(who is a Sorentonian)  the Osteria dei Baroncelli.  The Italian food we had here was absolutely amazing, some of the very best we have had on our trip plus it was six courses, we could hardly move to get up when finished.  Aperitif was Limoncello that they made themselves & very nice to boot.  This is a family affair, with momma & papa in the kitchen, the son looking after everything else – giving us ladies farewell kisses & smiling shaking hands with the men, made us feel like one of the family.  What an enjoyable night was had by all.

It was a beautiful balmy night, we were driving down from the hills enjoying the night lights of “old Napoli” with a huge “pizza pie” moon shining down, well Dean Martin was right –  “that’s amore”.