Places to Go (Vacation) - Hiking Italy's Amalfi Coast, Part 2 - Atrani and Ravello

I finally have more Italy pics to share . . .

On the second day of our vacation we hiked from Amafli to Atrani (which is right next door). The main reason we decided to use a travel agency (rather than plan it ourselves) was that On Foot Holidays provides detailed direction on how to hike to each destination while avoiding major roads (the secondary reason was they provided baggage transfer, thus allowing me to massively overpack). The directions proved invaluable as cities are often linked by series of alleys and stairways, giving everything a maze-like quality. Our days felt like scavenger hunts as we climbed through narrow walkways. And as I labored on, out of breath after going up for hours, we'd eventually come across some 60+ year old Italian woman practically bouncing from stair to stair.



After checking out Atrani, with its beautiful church and piazza, we started the hike uphill to the mountaintop town of Ravello, which contained a gorgeous sculpture garden, a wonderful church (I learned that basically every town houses a breathtaking church) and hoards of tourists (beauty comes with a price).



After battling Ravello's crowds, we lunched in the (super) small village of Pontone and then hiked to the ruins of a fifteenth century castle, Tore dello Ziro, where, rumor has it, the Duchess of Amalfi, was murdered along with her two young sons. Sadness. On the upside, the views are fantastic.



Odd to see all the towns gradually become smaller and smaller and then grow large again during the long, long downhill climbs (oh, my poor toes).



Eventually, we made our way back down to Atrani, where mojitos and cold beers refreshed us as we people-watched in the piazza and contemplated a day well spent.