Amalfi Coast **IMAGE HEAVY**

[Dr MAD]

Just got back from a week on the Amalfi Coast. I think I've just about recovered from driving around over there - the Italians are totally fearless/crazy!! The roads aren't for the faint hearted. My other half ended up taking Valium to keep herself calm.. hee hee

The weather was very hot, 40 degrees+ most days with a heat haze everywhere which affected the pics. Some panoramas which I'm happy with otherwise all fairly boring!

There's a web gallery here if you want to biggify (worth it for the panoramas)

C&C welcome

This is the view from our villa which was on a vineyard. The town opposite is Ravello which is where Gary Lineker got married last week.


This is Amalfi itself


Another view of Ravello and the coast beyond


This is a place called Cetara which is just around the corner from Solerno


One of the wiggly roads as seen from our villa














This is one of the wall paintings in Pompei - they didn't really have a good grasp of drawing anatomy - check out the feet and toes!


Pompei with Vesuvius in the background


Really disappointed with these figures. A big fuss is made of the fact that you can see how the people were frozen in time on that fateful day but when you get there you will find these few plaster casts tucked away in a small building where the glass is covered with dust and they are really hard to see - you can see the dust on the windows to the left.


The view from the top of Vesuvius




Well we were in a vineyard... and yes the wine was lovely


Handheld and noisy but I like it!


Evening celebrations in Ravello


There seemed to be chillies for sale everywhere but they weren't used in the local cooking


Caught some of the locals windsurfing in Cetara...






...and a seagull for good measure



Cheers...

Dan

Edited by Dr MAD on Sunday 6th September 15:21

[havoc]

Looks beautiful. Some nice photos there too...

[Dr MAD]

Thanks havoc. Yes it was beautiful but we came away feeling that the whole place lacked substance. It's worth going for the experience but not the sort of place we'd find ourselves going back to.

[NDA]

Dr MAD said:

Thanks havoc. Yes it was beautiful but we came away feeling that the whole place lacked substance. It's worth going for the experience but not the sort of place we'd find ourselves going back to.

I've never been to the Amalfi coast - assuming pretty villages and lovely little restaurants. Not the case?

[Dr MAD]

All the villages on the actual Amalfi coast all look fabulous, from a distance. Everything is in quite a bad state of repair, apart from a couple of places that were a bit more refined (Ravello and Positano). Restaurant wise you are quite limited to your standard Pizzeria's and seafood places - all quite expensive with artificially inflated prices. A very average meal for 2 people would cost between €60 - €100 and that's without booze. Shopping wise you will find 1001 clothes shops, all selling exactly the same thing (cotton dresses, shirts, girly stuff etc) Again, prices are astronomical - a cotton shirt would be about €120. I picked an identical one up in Rome last year for €30. Italy is known for its leather goods and we didn't see one leather shop. I'm quite a shopahollic and came away without a single thing for myself as a memory of the place (just as well as I think there is a new EOS 7D on the horizon )

Having said all that there is a certain charm about the area. The roads are bonkers. I've experienced Italian driving on many occasions but this was in a different league! Lots of nice cars around although you'd have to be crazy to drive anything other than bog standard hire car. The people are lovely but then I have a soft spot for Italy in general.

In all I'm really glad we went. I've always wanted to go so it's another boxed ticked. A big thanks to my other half who organised it all as a surprise 40th present (along with the parachute jump the week before...)