Southern Trip: Amalfi, Italia

11.09-10.2008
Amalfi, Italia

The bus ride into Amalfi was treacherous, but thankfully that’s really the only negative thing I can say about the place. Our charter bus wound along the edge of a particularly windy (twisty windy, not weather windy) coast for well over an hour. After feeling very motion sick, I finally moved up to the very front seat of the bus, atop the stairs and level with our driver. It was the best thing I could have done! Not only did I feel a million times better, but I had a full view of everything we were passing. I also fully appreciated the jerkiness of our driving…the turns were sharp, populated with other cars going the opposite direction, and being European, of course our bus was a standard. Carlo (the driver), made it truly an art!
We arrived at our hotel, found our way to our rooms, and were greeted with beautiful views of the water (even if it was dark out). We had a bit of down time, then trooped down the mountain together, Cinzia leading the way to dinner. We walked along the edge of the windy road we had driven up, then cut steeply down along sever flights of stairs. The restaurant she took us to was right on the water-beautiful! Many people got seafood, I got house specialty gnocchi with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella, and everyone had a wonderful meal. After we were through, many people headed right back up to the hotel, but Jeff, Liz, Sarah, Bruce and I decided to walk around and try to find a sandy beach to wade in the water (I even made up a little song and bouncy dance…saaandy beach!). We walked out along a pier and Sarah, Liz, and I dangled our feet in the Mediterranean. We couldn’t believe how warm and clear it was! On our walk back, I found a tiny strip of beach that looked a tiny bit sandy, and quickly proceeded to wiggle through the fence, prance down the stairs, and run right into the water, hiking up my dress to avoid getting wet. It felt so good! Everyone else slowly followed me once I’d convinced them it was warm enough. We had fun being the crazy Americans (isn’t that always the case?) as some Italians walked by, clearly talking about us with disapproval. Eventually we headed back up to our hotel and sat on our balcony watching the stars for a while until we got too cold and sleepy.
The next morning we awoke to a beautifully blue sea right outside our window, a perfectly clear sky, and a delicious, hearty breakfast. What a great start! We traipsed down the hill into town and went to the Islamic-influence Duomo. The church didn’t really do it for me, but I was more captivated by the cloister. All white, filled with exotic flora, and constructed of beautiful double pointed arches, we all fell in love with the tranquility. It was attached to a museum and the church’s crypt, both of which I explored (very gaudy, tiny crypt, and a museum full of old challises and papal robes), but I spent most of my time taking pictures and sketching (what else is new?). I ended up with one sketch that drained far too much emotion out of me. I tried very hard to set up the perspective and construction lines accurately, which proved quite difficult. I restarted, and still was frustrated, but ended up with a wonderful sketch. I decided that it’s a good sign if I can get that worked up over a tiny pen and ink drawing, because it means that I’m really invested in it!
We next took a break for typical (or as Cinzia would say, teepeecal) Italian pastries: sfogliatella and some crazy lemon mousse cake bomb that I failed to write the name of. I’d fallen in love with sfogliatella, which are layers and layers of filo dough wrapped into a triangle around ricotta and a tiny bit of orange marmalade, at The Cookie Factory back in Troy, so I was very excited to finally get an authentic Italian one. Cinzia then led us through some tiny streets and alleys, and I’m sure she didn’t know where she was going half the time, but we finally came out near the top of the mountain and were afforded with magnificent views of the other mountains, the town of Amalfi, the coast, and the sea. It was breathtaking! I think we’ve all agreed that Amalfi is one of the most beautiful places any of us have ever been to. It is absolutely picture perfect.
We had plans to go to Ravello, a tiny town on the other side of the mountain, but Carlo’s bus was too big to make the turns and public transportation was on strike that day (when aren’t they in this country?) so we had to cancel our plans and spend the rest of the day in Amalfi. What did this mean for all of us? Beach day! We had all been instructed to bring suits, sunscreen, and towels, and were ready and armed to hit the beach. It was quite pebbly, but we didn’t really care. Liz and I distracted ourselves from the water while our sunscreen soaked in by beachcombing (tons of rocks, no shells, and plenty of beach glass) and came back with beautiful fistfuls of glass, which I’ve now placed in a tiny glass jar on my desk. I have one from Ventotene as well, and they’re sitting side by side. So cute! Again, the water was superbly clear and relatively warm, especially considering that it was November 10th! We were able to swim out far beyond where we could touch the bottom and could still see all the way down. Liz and I also had fun standing in the shallower part and watching as tons of fish came up to swim around our legs.
After a few hours, including sufficient lounging time, we changed into dry clothes and headed into town to explore the shops. Liz and I split a bottle of Limoncello (the hills of Amalfi are covered in lemon orchards), a native lemon liqueur, and we got a late lunch and ate as we window browsed. We also stopped into some pottery and paper shops, also both native to the area. (Amalfi in a nutshell: beautiful coast and mountains, and famous for lemons, paper, and pottery. Done!) We met up with some others and, as a group, went to a tiny journal shop we had heard good things about. This would turn out to be one of the top 5 experiences of the semester (little did I know!).
We met a few fellow archies already in the shop, who explained the process to us. The paper was handmade right here in Amalfi, at the mills located up the river in the mountains. You could chose a pre-made journal, or make your own. You had your choice of paper (weight, color, and pressed flower), choice of size, choice of hard or soft cover, and choice of leather (from their supplies of boxes and boxes)…anything was possible! Having bought myself a nice leather journal in Florence, I didn’t get one, but I stuck around to watch others being made. In total, we spent 2 hours in this shop! The man and the woman there were very nice and spoke English well. The woman explained to us that she had learned the art of bookmaking in Florence, and came back here to live with her family and work in this shop. Vivian’s journal was the most involved. She chose her paper (off-white with pressed flowers), but this wasn’t in a pre-stacked binding, so they cut, sewed, and glued the pieces together. She chose her leather, a beautiful, soft, brown piece and picked a roughly 5x7 size. Viv picked a finial design for the cover, which was then hand traced, cut out of cork, and glued to a piece of thick, thick chipboard that would become the cover. Two symmetrical pieces and the thinner spine were glued onto the leather, which was then folded over, trimmed at the corners (using a heated metal piece to get them tight), and pressed. The outer flaps of the stack of paper were glued to the inside cover and suddenly Viv had a beautiful sketchbook! To watch the process from start to finish was incredible…it looked so easy, although I’m sure it wasn’t. By the end of our visit, the shopkeepers felt like friends and I was sorry to have to go…I could have spent all day looking at all the premade journals and bits of leather. We stopped in town for a hot chocolate before heading up to the hotel, and it was basically just melted chocolate bar in a tiny cup. Mine was too rich to finish!
Back at the hotel, people showered off the salt water and we the regrouped for dinner. Back down the mountain again, and a local Italian approached Viv on our walk down and offered to show us to an authentic, local restaurant. We got quite a lengthy history lesson on the way there, but ended up having a great meal at quite a reasonable price. European restaurants always charge you to sit down and bill it as “bread and service”. That night we got the best value for this; our bread was toasted and coated with oil, garlic, and oregano…so tasty! I got homemade fuscilli pasta with a tomato sauce, eggplant, and basil.
The next morning we left town, but not without adventure. Our bus met a line of cars at a sharp turn and neither were able to budge. The cars backed up, but eventually a few had to turn around, and Cinzia got out to direct traffic. We soon accumulated a long line both in front of and behind us (9 visible before the next corner in front and probably close to 20 behind us). We eventually got through, but it probably took us 5-10 minutes…I’m sure people hated us! The remainder of the day was spent at 3 different small towns, but those will get their own entry. The trip then ended with Napoli for 1 night.

PICTURES: the Amalfi coast, my sfogliatella, and the bookshop in action.