Coastliners

Hard as it is to believe, we have been away from home for nearly two months.  It was time for a brief interlude to let our feet have a rest from walking over cobblestones and our brains have a rest from culture.  We decided on leaving Naples to spend a few days in Marina del Cantone on the western edge of the Amalfi Coast.  Instead of braving the chaos of Garibaldi Station with our bags we went to Porta Nolana – about the same distance from our apartment in Duomo but a LOT less crowded.  We settled into our window seats for the hour or so trip to Sorrento.  Even Mussolini couldn’t make the regional trains run on time and they still don’t!  Still, eventually we arrived and had a lovely lunch.  I worry some days that Matt is going to turn into an anchovy before we go home as he eats them with (or for) every meal!  We then joined the queue for a little bus to the coast.  The driver was very skilful and despite the narrow (oh so narrow), congested, cliff top roads we arrived at our destination safely.  We had booked the downstairs apartment in Torre Turbulo but were disappointed to discover it was an ancient (remodeled) building at the base of the tower, not in it.  Luckily the top floor was not booked for our entire stay and we were able to move!  Our view really is from an eyrie this time.

Ground floor view.

The view from supper at the top.

Turbulo Tower was built in the mid 1500s by the Turbulo family as part of the coastal defences against the Saracen invaders. From the outside the building still looks very medieval and romantic but the inside is a light airy space with just about everything you could need for a comfortable stay.  Except possibly a lift…Four flights of stairs every time you go in or out.  And to get to the “public areas”, which were the ones with wifi, four more flights of stairs and a busy road (on a hairpin bend) to cross.  Luckily the bar was also there and they had delicious home made granita.  We enjoyed a few more home cooked meals accompanied by a regional wine, complete with label showing ‘our’ tower.

Because we were here for a rest we decided to take it easy and only walk up and down a cliff, scramble down a precipice and explore a ruined tower in order to reach the next bay.  It did feel very Enid Blytonish to prowl amongst the ruins and we thought we might find a nice spot for a swim in the bay it overlooked.  We found modern day pirates instead who charged us €20 for two drinks! 

Not the tower we stayed in.

Here be Pirates

We also enjoyed snorkelling in the clear green waters at the bottom of – you guessed it, some more stairs!  Quite strange to swim in a sea with no swell except for that caused by the passing boat traffic.    The remains of what we we guessed were a sea wall or breakwater were clearly evident only about 50 metres from shore.  Sorry no photos of that as my phone isn’t waterproof!  

rock formations.  The Italians say Garibaldi, the Germans say it's Merkel!

For our final day we decided to see some more of the famous Amalfi coast and joined a boat tour to the towns of Amalfi and Positano.  Neither of these more famous places appealed to our solitude loving souls.  They were crowded, hot, and expensive.  We did, however, enjoy the ferry trip, the views up and down the coast, and stopping to admire places out of myth.  The islands renowned for the sirens who sang sailors to a watery doom as well as the island that you can rent for only €40000 or so a week, once home to the dancer Nureyev.  Rocks with faces and grottos with emerald glows.  And one last sunset over the water from our little tower.

Aussie ingenuity - no ice bucket or ice? Just use a kettle and your freezer bricks!

Very Steep Stairs

Coastal view

We’re now heading for a brief stop in Rome to complete Matt’s odyssey – the final, and newest, Trappist brewery in Europe; Tres Fontaine.  Except he’s just told me there are two more potential applicants in the pipeline, in France and Spain.  Dear, dear me, we might have to plan yet another European holiday.  In closing, dear reader, a quote from Helen McInnes’s North from Rome; “Hie thee to a monastery.  Preferably a Trappist one.”.