Travel Notch

I just woke up from a nap in one of the lounge chairs on our balcony, as did Aaron. It is a fairly good synopsis of our time in the town of Praiano, Italy, a tiny town situated on the side of a cliff that dives into the sparkly blue Mediterranean sea on the Amalfi Coast. We were growing travel-weary, and it was a perfectly timed 3-night stop that has allowed us to fit in some signficant R&R (and lots of food, too).

We caught a bus from Sorrento in the evening, which gave us a view of the coast as the sun was going down. And one literally has a view. The roads are primarily on the edge of the seaside cliffs on narrow, windy roads. The bus driver honks as he approaches turns to avoid crashing into oncoming traffic, while the rest of us squirm at the dropoff into the deep blue sea on the other side of the road.

But we arrived safely. I’ll avoid a play-by-play of this stop. We’ve layed and napped on the tiny, pebbly beach (also surrounded by cliffs), consumed too much food, and, one of the highlights:  while eating dinner next to the beach last night, we watched as lone fishman of all ages rowed their boats to shore. Their boats held whatever they caught – octupus, in one case – and they had to drag them onto the rocky beach.

We have the feeling that time hasn’t changed much here. On the beach, we were surrounded by generations of family members – grandparents, their kids, and their grandchildren – and we found the same in a family-owned restaurant where we had lunch yesterday (we’re going back there tonight).  A word to the wise:  when they tell you “Mama makes the pizza,” by all means, you order the pizza.

Well, it’s time to stop typing and be lazy again until morning brings another round of bus and train travel. We’ll be off to our last, but certainly not least, stop — Rome!