Gloomy, Rainy, Ravello, and Minori, Maiori, Erchie, Cetara

It was a Sunday.

As mentioned on Saturday on the Amalfi Coast Series: OG Amalfi, there were already no tobacco shops nearby us in Praiano to buy bus tickets from.  On Sunday, not only are there no tobacco shops open, there literally were no shops opened, and buses were so infrequent that we may as well not go out.

But that didn’t stop us since we had a car to drive around, but boy was it difficult to drive there.  Driving in Amalfi Coast is in itself an experience that I will dedicate a blog post on driving there along with other tips and strategies when traveling in Italy.

Anyway, so we’ve been to Sorrento, Positano, Capri Island, Amalfi, and now we still had some spare time to visit the smaller, less frequently traveled towns.  Thankfully we left the smaller, less interesting towns, for this particular Sunday, as it was rainy and foggy like no other.

Perhaps it was the weather and that all the shops were closed, but if you’re on a tight schedule, these small towns are definitely optional to visit. Continue reading Gloomy, Rainy, Ravello, and Minori, Maiori, Erchie, Cetara

Amalfi Coast Series: Pretty Positano and Plain Praiano

Pretty Positano and Plain Praiano, welcome to Amalfi Coast.  We stayed in Praiano, thinking that it’d be easy to drive to places like Positano and Amalfi.  Situated centrally between the two areas, it turns out that even during an off season, going to either of these places can take 30-40 minutes despite a 13km drive due to the beginning of difficult roads to drive on, which will have its own special post as well.

That said, we did stay at Praiano, and perhaps it was the weather or the insufficient amount of time, so it’s pretty unfair for me to say how good Praiano was.  But given the number of things to do and my surroundings, I would say that Praiano is great to live residentially and away from all the touristy buzz in Amalfi and Positano, and it’s cheaper.  That said, it has its cons as well which I will discuss below.  We will first discuss Praiano and then Positano.

Continue reading Amalfi Coast Series: Pretty Positano and Plain Praiano