7/1 Positano and Amalfi.... Yeee!

Since everyone had already done an Amalfi/Positano tour on Tuesday while I was still traveling to the villa, I decided to tour both towns with Combes.

We left the villa at 9, bought bus tickets, and bussed to the harbor. We spent 13 euro to take a 40 min. ferry ride to Positano. We would have taken a bus which would have been half the price, but as we found out a couple days prior, the busses we would have had to go on were on strike. (The drivers. Not the busses themselves.)

We took our boat and arrived in Positano. It was cloudy but still extremely hot and humid. We started out by going into a shop so I could buy a white sundress. (I had seen so many ladies wearing them... So of course I had to have one, too!) I found a cute one for 20 euro... Which was about half the price of the ones in Capri.

We continued our way up the hill, looking in shops and even stopping by an art gallery because it had air conditioning. We saw a wedding going on where all the women looked like supermodels and the men all belonged in a GQ magazine.

We got down to the bottom of the hill and had a requisite gelato break. My flavor of the day was fresh berries. We sat next to a group of 4 Italian men, who made a toast to "America and freedom!" We started chatting with the guys, who claimed to be in the mafia, and found out one of them actually lives in Connecticut. After taking a picture with them, asking about the "Italian Stallion" stereotype, and declining their offer to party with them that night, we made our way back to the harbor to buy our tickets to Amalfi.

The trip was short to Amalfi. The coolest part about coming in on the boat was seeing the cliffside terraces. It was also cool to see the super blue water. We got off the boat and made our way to the beautiful church, whose steeple could be seen from the harbor. On our way up to the church, we heard a band playing music. I took some good pictures on the steps and of the outside. I didn't feel like paying the 3 euros it cost to get in so we kept walking around town.

All the shops had similar things inside: magnets, tiles, and limoncello! I bought a couple lemon products, considering that's what this part of Italy is known for. Combes and I then stopped for a panini/pizza/lemon soda lunch. We grabbed some seats outside and sat across from a couple young girls who kept whispering and staring at me. I felt insecure all day because I was stuck wearing my adidas tennis shoes while all the girls in Italy walked up and down the steep cobblestone streets in either cute sandals, stilettos, or wedges. I realized that my comfort was more important than adding to the blisters on my feet.

After lunch and a bit more wandering around town, we headed back to the pier to catch our boat back to Sorrento. The ride only took about 45 mins. We then got off and headed into town to the supermarket to stock up on lemon fanta. (you can't beat a 1.5 liter for 1.60 euros!) Finally we boarded our bus back to Massa Lubrense. We made it back to the villa by about 6 pm.

Dinner that night consisted of caprese salad, breadsticks, salami, prosciutto, apples, and some awesome cheese. We didn't want to cook that night because we were all leaving in the morning and didn't want to have to clean much.

After a final "game of things," we said goodbye to Paul, Leona, and Leah who were all leaving on a cruise early the next morning. Just after our goodbyes, the owner of the villa came to say goodbye and to see if we enjoyed everything, which we had, of course.

I went upstairs to finish packing (the worst part of traveling!) and to get ready to leave at 7:30 the next morning.