Oohs and Aahs - Amalfi kind

Some Hollywood types have filmed along the fabled coastline. The Amalfi coast. It is part of the southern province of Salerno along the Tyhrennian sea that seems to cling by its nails to the rugged rock face that drops into it for a visit.

Buildings jut out as the bus drive takes us from Sorrento (where we arrived moments ago by a narrow gage railway) to the once coastal village of its name sake, Amalfi. It is a good 90 minutes of theme park like roller coaster.

There are thousands of oohs and gasps as the traveling tourists know not if they are stunned by the way the driver drives (seemingly reckless) around the hair pins on the treacherous terrain as it dips and leaps along the coast or the amazing emerald green waters and the bungalows that defy gravity and rise on the edges.

Those with a sketchy knowledge of the Hindu fairy tales aka Ramayana might be forgiven for remembering the Parmatma or praying to Sita (the bus company is called SITA and the approaching stops are identified as FERMATA PROXIMA). Below are couple pics taken from our Sita Chariot.

Stop Stop

Was that a bania selling crap along the coast?

The first glimpses of the beauty and beast of a road appear almost 15 minutes into the hour and a half journey which I thoroughly enjoyed. The initial part of the trip, as the bus climbs out of the western end of the mountain provides views of the famed Mt. Vesuvius that although diminutive in appearance destroyed the city of Pompeii in its turbulent eruption (which I will describe later) in the first century AD.

Tony estates line the choice cliff views all the way - the secret is out a while ago

Some parts of the highway resemble a neighborhood of San Francisco labeled as the crookedest street in the world.

Amalfi Cathedral facade

Beverage options

Fried sea food

Good news when you are not driving is that you can imbibe and entertain yourself in varying ways including and not limited to a consumption of above referenced items before and after a few gelatoes.

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