Now dear reader - before I go any further I have to confess some stupidity. My dear chum Marie offered to take some bits and bobs back for me to lighten Nellie's load - but as well as offloading my burgeoning collection of fridge magnets (all terribly tasteful, of course - my budget goes up to 3 euros), I also sent back maps, business cards and any useful references to places I've visited. I'm now writing this 2 days later and of course I cleared out anything that would've been useful for this blog entry. So sorry if it's a bit light on detail but I'm afraid that everything's becoming a bit of a blur and my memory isn't what it used to be.
Today the weather was a bit mizzy - it stayed cloudy, humid and dull all day with a bit of rain in the afternoon. To make the most of it, we travelled to Ravello around the hairpins on the bus, enjoying the spectacular coastline and the spectacularly dangerous driving practised by many drivers. I was trying to pick out the Praiano terrace restaurant right on the coast where I'd had such a great lunch with an amazing view almost 30 years when visiting Annie while she worked in Naples. I think it's either now part of a hotel or - quel horreur - a parking lot now.
Ravello was worth it though - we really liked the little town with its big square and pretty back streets. And of course my kinda shop:
We visited the gardens at Villa Cimbrone (attached to a posh hotel), which were largely the work of an Englishman who just happened to be my namesake (Ernest Beckett - bet you didn't know I was really called Ernest...), along with Vita Sackville West. Whether he's a relation or not I won't know until I undertake the genealogy which is a given for my retirement when it comes. I guess it's pretty glorious when everything is in bloom, but it was a bit of a haven, together with its Infinity Terrace and Avenue of Immensity....
Photos to come - as so often am having synching issues.....
http://www.villacimbrone.com/en/theenglishperiod.php
We lunched well with a nice bottle of red at a wine bar with a restaurant attached. Sorry, but if you ever need the name of a decent place in Ravello then just ask as I will have recalled it by then. Marie and Chris wanted to visit another garden, so I caught the bus back to Amalfi - I had to stand all the way which was a bit of a balancing feat, but it wasn't a long trip so I emerged unscathed.
Amalfi was a disappointment though. I had the run-in with the horrible, aggressive shopkeeper (who is obviously in the wrong job) as reported on Facebook, which kind of tainted it anyway, but it was all a bit down at heel (weather didn't help), and we went into the cathedral which is lovely from the outside but inside is quite dreary as it's so very dark. It's full of ill-gotten wealth, and mainly interesting from the perspective of the focus on St Andrew. The paper museum was closed on Mondays so we didn't get to do anything interesting, but we did have some rather fine ice cream.
We couldn't get on a bus to go back to Positano as the queue was too big - so rather than wait half an hour we took up the offer of the entrepreneurial City Sightseeing vendor and paid a rip-off 10 euros to get back on one of their buses instead. It felt worth it though.
We spent our last evening having a lovely meal on the terrace of the Caffe di Positano, a multi-tiered restaurant about 10 minutes downhill from us. The waiters have to cross the road to feed the vast majority of diners so take their life in their hands so you can have your gnocci and vino rosso, but they do so with cheerful nonchalance.
Back for the usual packing ritual in preparation for my early start to Rome. Although I've now been in the eternal city for a couple of days, it's late and I'll pick up again tomorrow night.
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