Monday, October 29, 2007
Getting around the Amalfi Coast
By bus:
Although the distances between Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi seem quite short in terms of kilometres, the narrow, cliff-hugging, hairpin-bend road makes it a long and rather tortuous trip – albeit with some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world.
SITA buses run approximately every 45 minutes or so, depending on the time of year (most hotels carry up to date timetables) from Sorrento and take around an hour to get to Positano, then the same bus carries on for another 45 minutes or so to Amalfi. From Amalfi a bus can be taken up to Ravello, a journey of approximately 25 minutes. Allow time for waiting for buses.
Tickets are excellent value at 5 euros for a 24 hour ticket which will get you all the way from Sorrento to Salerno including Positano, Amalfi, Maori and Ravello; they may be bought from tobacconists and some hotels and you punch your ticket in a machine on the bus to validate it (inspectors regularly board the bus to check). Tickets valid for 60 minutes cost 1.20 euros.
Be prepared however for the buses to be jam packed and you may have to stand all the way. If you can get to the central bus terminus in Sorrento (outside the station) then you have a better chance of getting a seat (seats on the right hand side offer the most spectacular views). At peak times, the bus may not stop to let any more people on, and there will be a long wait for the next one to come along.
Driving:
Not recommended! I overheard an American say “I’ve driven quite a lot in Italy but here [Sorrento] I’m out of my league. It was alright until we got to the outskirts of Naples and then they all seemed to turn into drunk drivers”.
There is a certain romance however to driving along the Amalfi Coast in an open top car and stopping to admire the scenery; in reality it is very difficult to stop as the roads are so narrow and winding and the driver will see very little as you have to really concentrate on the road. Surprisingly crashes are quite rare – cars can’t get up enough speed to do much serious damage – but there are plenty of clipped and scraped wings.
Parking is also an issue everywhere, particularly at weekends when the locals come out in force; most hotels will be able to arrange parking but it will come at a steep prices.
Boats:
Ferries and hydrofoils make regular trips between all of the towns including Capri and Ischia and can be a relaxing way to make the trip. There are frequent services to Capri, and Ischia but less frequent ones from Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi; check times and whether the boat is a ferry or hydrofoil as takes about 3 times longer. If you have the time, a ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento can be a relaxing way to soak up some sun and stunning coastal scenery.
Mopeds:
So stylish and so quintessentially Italian. Only for those with nerves of steel. Remember Italians are practically born on a moped – you can see whole families perched on one speeding around Naples – so have an inborn confidence. Make sure you have good insurance.
Crossing the road:
Do as the locals do (especially in Naples where crossing the road can be pretty daunting) and just stride out with confidence. The cars and millions of mopeds will drive around you (mostly!). I practised at first by shadowing a local crossing the road, then got up the confidence to step out by myself. It really works.
Naples to Sorrento:
From Naples airport you can get a bus into Naples Central Station, then cross Piazza Garibaldi (be on your guard here, especially against bagsnatchers) to the Circumvesuviana station to get a train to Sorrento, which takes around 45 minutes and costs 3.50 euros. Alternatively there is a coach service which runs directly from Naples Airport to outside Sorrento station and vice versa, approximately every 2 hours and costs 7 euros each way. You can buy the ticket on the coach.
Eating in Naples
Naples is the home of pizza and is so possessive and justly proud of its famous dish, the Ministry of Agriculture has issued special guidelines on how real pizza napoletana should be made (in a proper wood-fired oven for a start, anything else is heracy and simply not pizza).
And you have never tasted real pizza until you’ve been to Naples; I ate a different slice for lunch every day – one day it was a light, doughy crust topped with tiny fresh, sweet, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil, another day the topping was grilled aubergines; yet another was tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and a thick sprinkling of fresh rocket.
What you won’t get is novelty British or American style toppings such as chicken tikka or chill or pineapple. Neapolitans would be horrified. And rightly so.
Pasta dishes are memorable too with plenty of fresh vegetables and seafood. Unlike the north of Italy who use mostly meat and cream in their cooking from the cows who graze in their lush pastureland, the poorer south makes use of its abundant vegetables, olive oil and bountiful seafood. Pasta types are endless and each one is cooked with a different sauce to suit the shape or texture. Some of my favourite sauces are Spaghetti alle vongole (clams)which is a popular local dish; alla Putanesca is tomatoes, capers, black olives and a touch of chilli (‘putanesca’ means prostitute in Italian and is apparently so called because it is so quick to make, the Neapolitan ladies of the night could knock it up between clients); con fagioli e cozze is an unusual but delicious combination of pasta, mussels and potatoes.
Sandwiches or ‘panino’ are simple and usually a combination of mozzarella, tomatoes and proscuttio (thin ham). One of the tastiest ones I had was from a small deli/grocery shop in Naples where an old lady split a large crusty roll in two, sliced up a tomato and laid it on the bread, added a slug of olive oil, some rock salt and fresh basil, then squeezed the two halves of bread together so the juices seeped into it, then opened it and added slices of fresh creamy mozzarella. The taste was phenomenal; although I managed to drip olive oil and tomato juice down my shirt shortly before I went into a swanky 5 star hotel. Not a good look.
Foreign cuisine is something of a rarity in Naples and limited to a couple of Japanese and South American restaurants.
Although the distances between Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi seem quite short in terms of kilometres, the narrow, cliff-hugging, hairpin-bend road makes it a long and rather tortuous trip – albeit with some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world.
SITA buses run approximately every 45 minutes or so, depending on the time of year (most hotels carry up to date timetables) from Sorrento and take around an hour to get to Positano, then the same bus carries on for another 45 minutes or so to Amalfi. From Amalfi a bus can be taken up to Ravello, a journey of approximately 25 minutes. Allow time for waiting for buses.
Tickets are excellent value at 5 euros for a 24 hour ticket which will get you all the way from Sorrento to Salerno including Positano, Amalfi, Maori and Ravello; they may be bought from tobacconists and some hotels and you punch your ticket in a machine on the bus to validate it (inspectors regularly board the bus to check). Tickets valid for 60 minutes cost 1.20 euros.
Be prepared however for the buses to be jam packed and you may have to stand all the way. If you can get to the central bus terminus in Sorrento (outside the station) then you have a better chance of getting a seat (seats on the right hand side offer the most spectacular views). At peak times, the bus may not stop to let any more people on, and there will be a long wait for the next one to come along.
Driving:
Not recommended! I overheard an American say “I’ve driven quite a lot in Italy but here [Sorrento] I’m out of my league. It was alright until we got to the outskirts of Naples and then they all seemed to turn into drunk drivers”.
There is a certain romance however to driving along the Amalfi Coast in an open top car and stopping to admire the scenery; in reality it is very difficult to stop as the roads are so narrow and winding and the driver will see very little as you have to really concentrate on the road. Surprisingly crashes are quite rare – cars can’t get up enough speed to do much serious damage – but there are plenty of clipped and scraped wings.
Parking is also an issue everywhere, particularly at weekends when the locals come out in force; most hotels will be able to arrange parking but it will come at a steep prices.
Boats:
Ferries and hydrofoils make regular trips between all of the towns including Capri and Ischia and can be a relaxing way to make the trip. There are frequent services to Capri, and Ischia but less frequent ones from Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi; check times and whether the boat is a ferry or hydrofoil as takes about 3 times longer. If you have the time, a ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento can be a relaxing way to soak up some sun and stunning coastal scenery.
Mopeds:
So stylish and so quintessentially Italian. Only for those with nerves of steel. Remember Italians are practically born on a moped – you can see whole families perched on one speeding around Naples – so have an inborn confidence. Make sure you have good insurance.
Crossing the road:
Do as the locals do (especially in Naples where crossing the road can be pretty daunting) and just stride out with confidence. The cars and millions of mopeds will drive around you (mostly!). I practised at first by shadowing a local crossing the road, then got up the confidence to step out by myself. It really works.
Naples to Sorrento:
From Naples airport you can get a bus into Naples Central Station, then cross Piazza Garibaldi (be on your guard here, especially against bagsnatchers) to the Circumvesuviana station to get a train to Sorrento, which takes around 45 minutes and costs 3.50 euros. Alternatively there is a coach service which runs directly from Naples Airport to outside Sorrento station and vice versa, approximately every 2 hours and costs 7 euros each way. You can buy the ticket on the coach.
Eating in Naples
Naples is the home of pizza and is so possessive and justly proud of its famous dish, the Ministry of Agriculture has issued special guidelines on how real pizza napoletana should be made (in a proper wood-fired oven for a start, anything else is heracy and simply not pizza).
And you have never tasted real pizza until you’ve been to Naples; I ate a different slice for lunch every day – one day it was a light, doughy crust topped with tiny fresh, sweet, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil, another day the topping was grilled aubergines; yet another was tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and a thick sprinkling of fresh rocket.
What you won’t get is novelty British or American style toppings such as chicken tikka or chill or pineapple. Neapolitans would be horrified. And rightly so.
Pasta dishes are memorable too with plenty of fresh vegetables and seafood. Unlike the north of Italy who use mostly meat and cream in their cooking from the cows who graze in their lush pastureland, the poorer south makes use of its abundant vegetables, olive oil and bountiful seafood. Pasta types are endless and each one is cooked with a different sauce to suit the shape or texture. Some of my favourite sauces are Spaghetti alle vongole (clams)which is a popular local dish; alla Putanesca is tomatoes, capers, black olives and a touch of chilli (‘putanesca’ means prostitute in Italian and is apparently so called because it is so quick to make, the Neapolitan ladies of the night could knock it up between clients); con fagioli e cozze is an unusual but delicious combination of pasta, mussels and potatoes.
Sandwiches or ‘panino’ are simple and usually a combination of mozzarella, tomatoes and proscuttio (thin ham). One of the tastiest ones I had was from a small deli/grocery shop in Naples where an old lady split a large crusty roll in two, sliced up a tomato and laid it on the bread, added a slug of olive oil, some rock salt and fresh basil, then squeezed the two halves of bread together so the juices seeped into it, then opened it and added slices of fresh creamy mozzarella. The taste was phenomenal; although I managed to drip olive oil and tomato juice down my shirt shortly before I went into a swanky 5 star hotel. Not a good look.
Foreign cuisine is something of a rarity in Naples and limited to a couple of Japanese and South American restaurants.
# posted by hotelreviewer @ 10:28 am 
