A Few Observations

I've spent much of the week just wandering around Chania's Old Quarter. I now feel like I've explored all the alleys and shops, so tomorrow, I (we) will begin venturing beyond this city. We have a big hike planned, a day at the beach, and I'm trying to get on a tour to some important, Minoan ruins as well, maybe a tour around some mountain villages as well - an actual tour this time. I'm not getting on a public bus to anywhere other than a major city again. In my wanders, I've made a few observations and found some interesting things.

(1) On Crete, stray dog and cat roles are reversed. Cats chase dogs - I've seen this more than once. Cats do the begging while one sits at the restaurants' outdoor tables. They sit, just like a dog, and stare intently at your table for the duration of the meal. Dogs are very busy with no time to laze around or stop for a sniff.

(2) The old ladies are like old ladies - they walk very slowly and carefully. Very unlike Italian old ladies, who will throw you to the ground and walk over your body to get to the front of the line.

(3) The air, in general, carries the smell of honeysuckle and citrus blossoms and the sea. Except for when it smells like sour milk - probably due to all the yogurt consumption. But on that note, I don't know how we're going to go back to eating American yogurt. No offense to Yoplait, because I like Yoplait, but having tasted Greek yogurt, I'm no longer sure Yoplait is actually yogurt. I have never tasted anything like the yogurt here with honey on top - it's a multi-purpose, delicious food, good for breakfast, snack, or dessert. I might like the yogurt with honey better than the baklava.

(4) In America, public restrooms offer dispensers for feminine hygiene or reproductive prevention. Here, you can get a toothbrush.

I've taken lots of great photos, but I don't have my photo editing software with me, so at the end of the trip, I'll do a post of my favorites. For now, here are a few more interesting pics:

Many older men here carry worry beads.

The Old Quarter is dotted with these miniature churches. Their doors open, and inside...

Are you interested in owning your very own falling down ruin in Chania's Old Quarter. If so, here's what about $75,000 will buy you:

How Not To See Crete...

...or The Importance of a Mobile Phone (and a Kindle):

On Wednesday, I decided I'd already spent two days walking around Chania's Old Quarter, so it was time to get out of town. I determined the village of Vamos would be a good option since both of my guidebooks described it in glowing terms. Here is a direct quote from the Crete, A Complete Travel Guide by Explorer: "A particularly picturesque village is that of Vamos, where traditional architecture has been carefully preserved..." The Lonely Planet guide goes on to describe how villagers banded together in the 1990s to get a European Union grant for preservation of the buildings and financing to maintain traditional ways of life. The books also noted that the town can be crowded with tour buses. I was expecting something like Disneyland Greece. Here is the only interesting thing I found in Vamos:

There is one intersection in town, which holds about three eateries. I walked in all four directions and found nothing. Except in the fourth direction, I found the local bus I'd taken to the town, still there idling. I quickly decided to get back on it and go back to a cuter town we'd passed through, Gavalohori. I'd noticed signs in it's main square pointing the way to things like Venetian Arches, Byzantine Wells, Roman Tombs, Museum. Seemed like plenty to do. Down the mountain we went, and as I got off the bus, I confirmed with the bus driver the where and when of the next bus out of town. I had two hours, and made my first stop the one taverna in town. With a staff that spoke only Greek and a guidebook with no good translations, the meal was difficult to order and pay for, and finding the bathroom was yet another difficulty, but all was finally accomplished. After wandering into the local Women's Co-op to view their traditional, handmade linens and rugs for sale, I was off to see the town's sites. I walked up and up and up, passing several gorgeous villas along the way...and never found anything that remotely resembled Venetian Arches, Byzantine Wells, or Roman Tombs. I was excited for a moment that I might find a Hermit, as this sign clearly indicated, but he (or she?) also proved elusive.

At 2:30, with half an hour to go before the bus out of town, I settled with my Kindle in the town square. Three o'clock came and went, I finished my book, I stretched my legs, I called Nathan to alert him to my possible stranding, and then settled back down with another book. I had an official bus schedule and knew a bus was leaving Vamos at 4:30, so I thought I'd end up having to take that bus. I wish. When that bus didn't show up either, I was able to call Nathan and have him come pick me up in his rental car. He arrived at almost 6:00pm, three and a half hours after I'd sat down to await the bus. Thank you, EU cell phone companies, for selling unlocked iPhones with interchangeable, country specific SIM cards. Thank you, Kindle, for ensuring I always have a book to read. Boo on you, mean Crete bus driver, for laughing all the way down the mountain when you dropped me off in a town with no way home.

The one bright spot of the day was visiting the Women's Co-op.

A Day In Pictures

One of many atmospheric alleys

Dinner at Taverna SemiRamis - one of the best meals we've had in Europe, complete with live, traditional music.

Beautiful Colors of Greece

An area in the Old Quarter with nicer, tourist stores

Visiting the Folklore Museum, an odd museum - I think it is just some lady's house full of things she's collected. The museum is very difficult to find as it shares it's address with a church and is hidden in the church's tucked away courtyard. Here are some traditional designs for linens and wall hangings.

It took a couple of days, but I finally ordered a Greek salad. Feta cheese that hasn't been processed, preserved, packed, and traveled across an ocean is delicious.

Some of the most interesting ruins are these, of a Minoan settlement. The Minoans are the oldest, known civilization of Western Europe. This particular set of ruins date back to 3000-2000 B.C. It's fascinating to think that these were already ancient ruins back when the Romans were just building the homes and businesses that are our local ruins back in Italy.

Some countries have ruins, Italy has Ruins, and Greece has RUINS. It's easy to see why so many of the buildings are not intact. They're built of rocks, not cut stones - just rocks, probably cleared off the same ground for the building, and then covered with plaster. This place, has ruins, I mean RUINS, everywhere.

Yes, I did go to Starbucks. I'm not a Starbucks junkie at home, but sometimes, I just want to have something familiar - and it's been seven months since a frou-frou coffee drink!

It's All Greek To Me

A little note on posting: I'll be blogging when I can, so for today, this will be the third post. You can scroll down to read the earlier ones first.

I don't think I realized how many of our little catchphrases reference Greece. And while I've only spent about 24 hours on the island of Crete, I'll definitely have to rethink my usage of the term "cretan" in a derogatory manor. By contrast, the people here are lovely, helpful, friendly, and quick to smile. The language however - that phrase is dead on. For example, we're staying in Chania, which I’ve also seen spelled Khania, Xania, and Hania, all of which are the English translations. The Greek is Χανιά. I’ve found the best way to memorize Greek letters is not to think of them as letters. For example, “squiggly E” makes an “S” sound while the block "E" is the actual "E" sound. “Teepee” makes a “D” sound, but sometimes makes an "L" sound...I think. I cannot currently remember the difference between “Pi” and “Fun Pi.” On reflection, I think Greece is the only country I have ever visited where I arrived not knowing a single word of the language, not even Hello, Goodbye, I’m sorry, and Where is the bathroom – my four must have phrases in any language.I've resolved to master one word per day. Today, I learned "Hello," which is said like Yassas - the first "a" as in "at" and the second "a" as in "uh." One word down.

Interestingly, the rhythm of the language sounds like Italian, which has led to a host of other problems for me. I find myself trying so hard to understand, then I begin thinking in Italian myself (hard to do with a 1% vocabulary knowledge!), which leads to me trying to talk to people here in Italian. Why can't I do that in Italy? I did learn (thank you, Nathan) that Greek is the oldest documented language (Western language), Latin is based on Greek, and Italian is the closest of the Romance languages to Latin. So I suppose the rhythm and sounds being similar isn't all that odd.

Chania gives a great visual of how cities are built atop cities atop cities...

I spent my first day taking care of some admin stuff and just wandering about. I wanted a Greece SIM card for my cell phone (mobiles are different in Europe - I supposed I should do a daily life post on them another time). All Greek mobile numbers have to be connected to a passport. Talk about Big Brother watching! That is just weird...and creepy. Getting lost, stopping to eat and visit a couple of shops, having to make a second roundtrip back to my hotel for my passport, and lots of photo stops ate up most of my day. Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to walking through the Old Town, visiting the Textile/Folklore Museum, and taking every alley turn I find. The alleys are exactly what I hoped for, with gorgeous flowers spilling down the walls, lace curtains covering the windows, and small bistro tables set up outside front doors.

We ate dinner last night at a restaurant called Well of the Turk, a fusion of Greek and Moroccan food and delicious. The restaurant is small and tucked on a quiet alley, and the other diners (about four other tables) were so quiet. I'd expected a great many more tourists. I found them today. Chania has an Inner Harbor and an Outer Harbor - imagine a circle with a small opening set into the end of oval. Our hotel at the back of the Inner Harbor, and neither of us realized that the entire rest of the world was mucking about along the shore of the Outer Harbor. We'll head there for dinner tonight.

Power Tripping Through Athens

When  we flew to Crete yesterday (see below post), we had a five hour layover in Athens. Five hours = plenty of time to see the Acropolis and Parthenon! We rushed off the plane and headed to the metro, when a little sign caught our attention – something about metro and strike. Of course there is a metro strike on our one afternoon in the city. And how convenient for the workers that this strike took place on May Day, a popular holiday. There was a bus running to the city center though, or so we thought. We successfully located the bus ticket window, the pickup location, and the time schedule and were finally settled and heading into downtown Athens. Acropolis, here we come! After about half an hour, we noticed several locals getting a bit agitated and having long discussions with the bus driver. That’s never a good sign. Sure enough, the driver shortly pulled into some random stop on the outskirts of town and told us all to get off and now take the metro. We had no clue what was going on or why this metro stretch was running, but we dutifully exited the bus, found the metro at the same stop, figured out the Athens metro system and once again, we were on our way to the Acropolis. This time, success! I never dreamed I’d ever see this site up close. The stop we used on the metro dropped us into a nice, quiet, pretty neighborhood on the back side of the more popular area. The Acropolis loomed above with all it’s ruins. Walking up to the base, we started noticing all the gates around it were closed. And as we circled the base, finally reaching the main entrance, we found that we were indeed unable to walk up the hill – our guess is the strike was a public worker strike within Athens, but the reason could very well have been the May Day holiday, high winds, construction work, or “we’re broke and don’t have any workers to manage you tourists.” I don’t really know.

We found a nearby rock that swarmed with people and climbed on up ourselves. This provided a fantastic view of both the Parthenon and a panorama of dense Athens – packed together buildings and development as far as our eyes could see, except right in front, where we could see an almost intact, temple structure and some remains of a forum type area.

In order to maximize our sightseeing, we headed for a different metro stop for our return trip in order to walk through the Plaka neighborhood, filling out the base of the Acropolis. This area is a warren of picturesque alleys filled with stores selling cheap crap imported from overseas. There was a huge flea market, which we didn’t have time to enter, trinket stores, “real antiques” stores, and loads upon loads of restaurants, every single one with filled tables. I haven’t seen that many tourists in one place since my last trip to Disney World. I wasn’t prepared for the sheer mass of people. We were able to grab a couple of gyros – our first, official, Grecian gyros – and enjoyed them while fighting off pigeons and watching a stray dog carry around a plastic bottle full of water. Sadly, no pictures of that. With all the street performers and hawkers abounding, I have no idea why someone hasn’t snatched that gigantic dog up and trained him to deliver water to tourists, then take the money in his mouth and deliver it to his owner. We know from our time in Key West that a dog ferrying money is a big crowd pleaser. If I lived in Athens, that would be my gig. Nathan observed that maybe I could even earn enough money to move my show and us back to Key West.

This set of ruins is in the Metro station! And very nicely displayed, too.

 While our time in downtown Athens was extremely short (so short that even if the Acropolis had been open, I don’t know that we’d have had time to walk up it), we still loved our power trip through the neighborhood. It was absolutely worth the two and a half hours of travel time to/from the airport. We were looking at the area with an eye towards whether or not we’d want to return for a long weekend trip, especially since it’s only a two hour flight from Naples. While I’m sure Athens has many lovely things to see and do, I got my fill just by seeing the Parthenon. Beyond that, I’d rather just head to the islands, which we soon did on a quick flight to our real destination: Chania, Crete.

A colorful display at a Plaka neighborhood shop

On the Road Again

We are in Crete - yay! We finally made it to Greece. Nathan has some work to do, and I have tagged along. If you're reading this post, it means I haven't had time to post anything about our actual trip, like our hotel - which is in a fabulous location in the town of Chania, or the food (I am sooooooooo excited - I might even like desserts made of nuts and honey even more than I like gelato), or our activities (hiking in the Samaria gorge, sunset cruise, walking through the Old Quarter of Chania, driving through mountain villages - we hope to do all of these things). I'm actually typing this post up before we leave Naples and putting a delayed upload time. I have no idea what our hotel internet will be like. Supposedly the hotel has WiFi in it's public areas, but on the website, it says the internet is not free, while on a hotel booking website, it says it is. Regardless, many hotels with WiFi in the "public" areas is code for "our WiFi is broken" or "we don't actually have WiFi." We'll see. I hope to be able to blog on the road, perhaps each morning, while enjoying a cup of coffee and whatever it is Cretans eat for breakfast. Are people from Crete really called Cretans? That doesn't seem right. I'll have to check on it. So for now, I suppose this blog will be more about "In Search of Baklava" than "In Search of Gelato."

αντίο (Bye) for now.

An Amalfi Easter

Do I even make the cheesy joke...yes: A God on the Path of the Gods

Waking up on Easter morn, celebrating the special day by enjoying the beauty of Creation and hearing the church bells, we were slow in getting out the door for our hike. Eventually, daypacks were filled with water and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies (very important), Scully was leashed and ready, and we walked out our hotel's gates and directly onto the hiking path, Sentiero degli Dei (Path of the Gods), as it winds out of Nocelle.

"A journey is an occasion which can be renewed as a choice and a measure of an interior wish:

in this sense, it is right to restore the fantasy again, starting from the Path of the Gods, that road suspended above the magic bay of the Sirens, furrowed again today by memory and myth."

Italo Calvino

The Path of the Gods: 7 km from Bomerano to Positano - our guess is the Nocelle to Positano stretch, those 2000 steps I mentioned earlier, are about 1 km, meaning our hike was about 6km each way. Each way because of our dog, cute as he is, can be a problem! The typical hiker will begin at one end, and at the other, take a bus back to the city of the starting point, either Nocelle or Positano or Bomerano. Scully was not allowed on the bus, so we decided early on that we'd just turn around and do the hike back. The most recommended hike is east to west, from Bomerano to Nocelle. We were doing it backwards to start due to our hotel location, but that worked out well for us. As we neared the end, we began passing groups, large and small, of other hikers, going in the "right" direction - so for us, we were out of the pack and had the entire hike to ourselves. The first part of the hike winds around the cliff fingers that stretch into the sea, so for awhile, we hiked along the outer edge, enjoying the ocean view. Then we'd head back inland and pass through shady, cool forests as we curved around to the next cliff finger. Every single step, curve, or new view is incredible. It is one of the best hikes either of us has ever done. Towards the end of our first leg, we began seeing civilization. Whereas the beginning of the hike, we looked down (far, far down) onto the coastal towns, at the end, we passed terraces of wine groves and olive trees, a convent in the distance, some abandoned, stone houses, and then a very small neighborhood. And at the very end (or start, depending on your route), a cliff with medieval animal pens cut into the rock.

Hikers we'd met had told us that the end/start in Bomerano was in a cute town with a piazza and a nice coffee bar. We were excited for this, right up until we started into town and had every stray dog around come out snarling and growling. Not cool, and I wasn't up to the tenseness of having to fight off packs of strays to keep our knucklehead out of a fight, so we elected to turn around, foregoing that ice cold Coca-Cola I'd been dreaming about the last couple of kilometers. Since we had packed lunch, in addition to our oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, we headed back to a previously passed picnic table with a view - possibly the best located picnic table in the world:

And the best view was at the end of the hike, when instead of facing 2000 down steps to Positano, we were looking at the gates to our hotel. We spent the afternoon on the balcony and then wandered back down to the trattoria for another fantastic meal. The only marring bit to the weekend was when Nathan took Scully out for his consitutional, he found out that Nocelle has it's very own pack of mean strays, and theirs includes a German Shepherd. Thankfully, Nathan was close to the hotel at the time and was able to scare the dogs away to give him enough time to get back, but that meant Scully did not get to go on our walk around town the following morning. Instead, we took a load of luggage, located the pack of strays (who were all napping in the parking lot - how convenient for them to be right near our car), went on a walk around the upper part of town (and found an alternate route to the car), conversed with one of the residents out doing some gardening, then headed home to spend the rest of La Pasquetta (Monday after Easter) napping.

The rest of this post is for people who want to actually hike the path - logistics and such:

For anyone else who wants to hike the Path of the Gods, we had trouble finding directions that actually made sense. Here's my attempt at explaining where to start, end, and the like.

The main part of the hike is between Bomerano and Nocelle (above Positano). There are plenty of other hikes in the region as well as options galore, so I'll just concentrate on this main part. Every info site I read said you should hike from east (Bomerano) to west (Nocelle/Positano). It doesn't really matter. If you want to go in the opposite direction, just stop and turn around to make sure you're taking in everything. We enjoyed both directions. Don't bother taking two cars and doing the ferrying thing - that takes as much time as just using the local bus system. On the hike, follow the red marks. They are located fairly often, either painted on rocks or red tape around trees. It took us 2.5 hours to hike it the first time and 3 hours the second. This is with several photo-op stops, water breaks, and lunch break.

Bomerano to Nocelle: There is plenty of parking at the start of the hike. Info says there is a pay parking lot in town, near the piazza. I have no idea why one would pay to park further when there is street parking all along the trailhead - maybe it's a no parking area, so I suppose you park at your own risk, like anywhere. In Bomerano, get on Via Colle Serra and drive it to the trailhead, marked with a huge sign and paved path to start. Hike the path. Once you pass the monument (large, needle rock with a plaque on it), you will come to a T intersection with an old stone house on your right. You can turn right here and follow a high path - we didn't do this, so I have no idea where it connects to the main path, if at all. We turned left and immediate right, which takes you down to another T with a sign. Go left for Priano or go right to continue Path of the Gods hike. After you leave this area, your next village is Nocelle. In Nocelle, you will take a left turn onto the paved path into town, then another left turn down some stairs. At the second landing, you are standing in front of iron gates for Residence Villa Degli Dei. Turn right here and follow the alley to a small piazza, across a walkway, and now you have two options: (1) Go past a set of stairs going up. There is a sign that says "Positano" and you will be headed down. Prepare for a long walk down a lot of stairs to Positano, where you can get a SITA bus back to Bomerano - not sure, but I think the buses pick up at the beginning of Positano's pedestrian zone. Buy a ticket in the Tabacchi and ask the guy there where the bus stop is (dov' e fermata per autobus a Bomerano); (2) There are stairs going up that go to a parking lot. At the top of the parking lot (not where the bench is) is the bus stop. We never did figure out if the bus goes all the way to Positano or if it stops in Montepertuso, and there you change buses. You can buy those tickets on the bus.

Positano or Nocelle to Bomerano: Two options again for parking: (1) Park in one of the pay lots in Positano - best ones, if there's space, are either the gas station lot about a block before the pedestrian zone begins or the lot right at the start of the pedestrian zone. These are expensive and crowded in the summer. Parking in Positano means you have to get on the bus to Montepertuso and then Nocelle. We didn't ever get on this bus, so I'm not sure where it picks up, but I believe it picks up at the start of the pedestrian zone. This bus is not a SITA bus, and you should be able to pay onboard, although I'd have correct change. If you don't want to do the bus, you'll need to hike up the steps. Unfortunately, I don't know where they leave out of Positano, but they go up towards Montepertuso, then on to Nocelle.

Alternatively, drive to Montepertuso, through it, and then park along the street. Nocelle has a pay lot - the road to Nocelle ends at it. I don't know who you pay as there was never an attendant nor is there a pay machine. We parked along the street, for free. Our car was there for three days, and we didn't have any trouble, but I have no idea if the spot was legal or not. If you park in the lot, make sure you're in spots outlined in blue. Yellow spots are for residents. Once you're parked, do not take the road that says something like "Alta Via" out of the parking lot. Instead, go to the back corner of the lot and take the stairs down. Turn left at bottom of stairs and follow the path. Go through a small piazza, and when you come to a four way intersection, take the stairs going up to the left (with a sign that says "Sentiero degli Dei." Those stairs end and path goes right. Voila - you're on the path. Enjoy it. The next time you pass an inhabited house, you'll come to a 3-way intersection. Going straight takes you to Priano. Turn left (past the "sink as a water trough") and go down a short alley to a T intersection. Turn left and then immediately right, walking with the falling down, stone house on your left side. Continue on to when the path becomes paved. As you pass the trailhead on this end, you'll see stairs going down and a new looking, paved path. Take that into Bomerano's piazza. Here, you can get a SITA bus back to Positano. I don't know where it picks up, but you will need to get a ticket at the Tabacchi. Alternatively, our hotel suggested we get a bus from Bomerano to Amalfi, then take the ferry from Amalfi to Positano. It's more scenic and fun, but more expensive. Still, a nice option.

To the Mountains

Easter has some beautiful and special traditions here. There are haunting walks on Good Friday, where men (I think it's usually men) carry a replica of the body of Christ, there are choir chants, special robes, candles after dark, the whole bit. We attended none of these. Why? I do not know. I wish we'd made more of an effort, and next year, we hope to do exactly that. Instead, we booked a last minute stay in the tiny, mountain town of Nocelle, located high above coastal Positano.

Scully at the lunch restaurant mentioned below - he loves vacation!

Our trip was due to one of Nathan's co-workers, who asked if we'd like to hike a 7km (4.3miles) trail known as the Path of the Gods, named for it's stunning beauty along the Amalfi Coast. We've wanted to hike it since our arrival, but have had the luxury of being Little Red Riding Hood about our time - not when it's too cold, and not when it's too hot, and not when it's raining. April is perfect. Unfortunately, Nathan's co-workers were going this upcoming weekend, when we're not available, but the seed was planted. At the last second, we found Residence Villa Degli Dei in Nocelle, a town we'd never heard of. The hotel would take our Crazy Dog...and it is located right on the Path of the Gods...and they have a parking lot (paid, but still, parking)...and it is above Positano, a town we both love. Sold!

Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed south, fighting all the other Amalfi Coast traffic along the way. Needing a break, we stopped at Grotta Smeraldo (Emerald Grotto). With only one spot left in their parking lot, we pulled in high above the water, then dragged Scully down a few steps to the elevator. He's terrified inside elevators, so that didn't go well, but it was a quick trip down to the the sea level, where the grotto is located. There, we headed into a tiny grotto, where we got into a five bench rowboat (with Scully - he does like boats, so no problems there). After some more tourists arrived, the rower shoved off and rowed us about five feet to get a better look at the glowing water. It's a beautiful color where an underground opening in the grotto lets in the light. The rower then rowed around the edges of the grotto, telling cheesy stories about the formations and showing us where an underwater nativity has been set up - probably to help us not feel ripped off at paying 5euros apiece. It was actually a really great stop, fun to stretch our legs and do something a little different, and it's quite a bit cheaper than visiting Capri's Blue Grotto!

Back in the car, we continued along the coastal road, my foot pressing the imaginary brake that sits on my side of the car at every turn - every single curve seemed to also hold a massive, tour bus swinging around it! We were starving, but thought we'd get on to our hotel, until we passed a restaurant right along the road but with sweeping views from it's outdoor tables. We've gotten used to beautiful views here, but this restaurant was really something special! After a nice lunch and back in the car for good, we continued on to Nocelle. We had to stop in Positano at another hotel, where we were to meet a man who would guide us up to Nocelle. He was already up in Nocelle though, so the hotel clerk gave us directions up into the mountains that ended with: "Follow this road until it ends, then look for a man in a black shirt." This was when I started to have second thoughts. And up we went. Climbing, climbing, climbing, with the two-way road getting smaller and smaller - and it did indeed end, right at a little parking lot, where not one, but two, men in black were there to greet us.

Good thing, too. What we didn't know was that Nocelle is a pedestrian only town, accessible from the parking lot via a bunch of stairs, then a tree-lined walkway over a gorge, then some little alleys to navigate. We're light packers, but had not packed for this type of haul. The men helped us carry our two weekend bags, two daypacks for hiking, food basket (it being Easter, we had no idea what sort of restaurants would be open), and Scully's bag with food, bowls, portable dog crate, and toys. Oh...and our six pack of 1.5liter water bottles. But our hotel - oh my! And the town! The weekend ended up being one of those perfect, getaway weekends that I didn't know I needed.

Nocelle is a real deal mountain town, but just gorgeous. Not a run down, country town, but charming and serene. It quite literally clings to the edge of the mountain, with lots of stairs going up and down to various houses and terraced development. Pathways are narrow and lined with hand-placed, stone walls, many with flower baskets spilling blooms down them. At the edge of town is a pizzeria (closed during our weekend) and a very, very small, salumeria (meat and cheese deli, light groceries). There is a trattoria, in which we had one of my favorite meals since we've moved to Italy, and a church. There you have it. The entire make-up of the town's commercial spots, other than a few Bed&Breakfasts or Villa hotels. So as far as things to do in town, options are relax or relax. No shops, no bars, no clubs, no nothing. It was perfect.

View in one direction from hotel balcony...

We were in a smaller room at our hotel because it had a larger bathroom - complete with tub and multi-jet shower, which we anticipated needing after our long hike. Since we were on the top floor, we had sweeping views of the ocean, with cliffs spreading out in either direction, the church steeple below our balcony (so we were in a beautiful spot to enjoy the Easter morning bells), a wonderfully appointed kitchenette to make our own breakfasts and lunches, and a bed that faced the french doors opening onto that gorgeous, ocean view. Just because we could, we'd planned to take a local bus (picking up back at the parking lot) down to Positano for dinner. The best thing that could have happened was that the bus never arrived. We'd had much discussion about the fact that we'd only have an hour in town before the last bus up to Nocelle...or face the 2000 stair walk back up to town. When the bus didn't arrive, we headed straight for the one trattoria in town, sat at yet another table with a view, and enjoyed an absolutely fantastic dinner. This restaurant got the portions exactly right - something we've never experienced here. We left full, but not too full, walked "home" along a quiet alley, woke up to the ocean view, and enjoyed our coffee while listening to the Easter morning to bells echo around the mountains.

...And view in the other direction

And then we hiked...