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Sunday, June 24th, Amalfi,
Italy
The Martin family has
kept us busy and happy, enjoying all the best sights
while vacationing on the Italian coast. They were here a
few years ago on their boat "Jaimie" and are full of inside
knowledge about all the best places to visit. It
has been a real treat, having guests on board that are
used to the cruising lifestyle. Imagine going down
below for a nap while they move the boat to our next
location! Not to mention the wealth of experience and
knowledge we gleaned from having such skilled boat
handlers onboard, showing us the way. We anchored
in places we would never have considered possible
without Johnny Martin's expert guidance.
This part of the Italian coast definitely requires a
little innovation when it comes to anchoring. The
water is often deep right up to within two hundred feet
of the rocky coast, but the benefits of seeing these
historic and beautiful spots are well worth a little
extra effort.
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Last Tuesday, anchored in the main harbor of the
principal city on Ponza, we got up and into town early
since there was no swimming off the boat until we moved
to a cleaner anchorage. The hot streak has been
continuing unabated so this was a huge consideration.
The town is a charming seaside village whose primary
economy of tourism causes the summer population of the
village to swell. The secondary economy of fishing
sustains the full time inhabitants of the island and
makes for some delicious meals for us tourists, as we
had already discovered. The myriad of colorful
fishing boats also provides a spectacular background for
our sightseeing.
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Other than walking the fascinating little streets and
alleyways and climbing the narrow, enclosed staircases,
finding grocery stores and good meals out are our other
favorite activities when embarking on a shore party.
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Johnny and Po share our love of good Italian food and
the kids are always up for a good pizza.
Spaghetti alle vongole
proved to be the crowd favorite amongst the adults, even
converting Joe over to a little seafood now and then.
Actually, with Alex on board, we ate a bunch of seafood
as well and Joe is thoroughly enjoying it. I
suppose that says a lot about Italian cuisine versus
Spanish cuisine, while disproving my previous
allegations that he just doesn't like seafood.
Please accept my apologies to all of our Spanish
friends! We did love the calçots, among other
things!
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After a refreshing swim anchored in a daring spot with
40 feet of depth and a whole lot of rocks within 200
feet on three sides, we took a dinghy tour of the
wonderful caves, both natural and manmade, built into
the rock hillside.
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While the girls went down for a movie in the worst heat
of the day, we took off for Ventotene, twenty five miles
to the east, southeast. Arriving at dusk, we
dropped the hook around the corner from town rather than
navigating the narrow entry into the dock.
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Besides, if we had any prayer of getting any breeze,
we'd be much better off at anchor.
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Much like our previous destinations, the town of
Ventotene was easily seen in a morning's walk. It
was funny for Joe and I to see John Martin searching the
town for an internet spot so he could check in with his
office and download emails. Although we often see
a town that way ourselves, it is not because of work
obligations. For fifteen years we didn't take a
vacation without calling into the office at least once a
day so we were very empathetic. Both John and Po
run their own businesses, but luckily work didn't
intrude too much into their vacation time with us.
Spending only a few hours in town, even these very small
towns, means that we never see all there is to see.
I am sure we missed out on many wonderful restaurants,
beaches, vistas and ice cream parlors in all of the
places we visited, not to mention the chance to meet up
with locals. The truth is though, despite how it
might seem, that we do have a limited time to travel a
great distance so we tend to move pretty quickly.
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So, we were off to Capri after our afternoon swim in
Ventotene. Still very little wind, but we pulled
out the genniker to see if it would help at all with the
little bit of breeze we had off our stern quarter.
No, we didn't bother striking the tent! I can only
imagine what other boaters think seeing us underway with
it up there! It makes for a perfect napping spot
if it is a little shaded and the breeze is at all from
the front of the boat.
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Capri is the Hamptons of this part of the Italian coast.
Start with the stunning sight of jagged white towering
cliffs rising 800 feet straight out of the sea, and mix
in all the designer names you can think of, and you will
start to get a feeling for the incredible opulence, both
natural and manmade, of this island.
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Although we had no
prayer of buying any of the jewels, shoes or haut
couture fashion proudly displayed in the storefronts, we
were able to enjoy the wealth of natural beauty the
island had to offer the rich and not so rich alike.
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One incredible view
gave way to another as we circumnavigated the amazing
network of walkways constructed up, around, down and
through the rocky terrain. Capri is truly a
walkers paradise, if you like the exercise and don't
mind doing it on paved pathways. Oh yeah, you have
to like stairs quite a bit too.
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We weren't so keen on
the stairs going UP, so when we got to the bottom of
this pathway, and discovered the 15 Euro per person
entry fee - kids pay too - for the private "beach" area,
we took the pool boy's suggestion and had them drive us
around to the public beach a half mile away for only 4
euros a head.
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We lazed away the
afternoon on the restaurant terrace while the kids swam
and jumped off the rocks at the public beach below us.
I think we got a lot more out of our euros there than we
would have at the chi chi beach.
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I've got about a
thousand great photographs of the spectacular vistas
around the island, but I'll have to wait to share all
but a few of them with you when I get the time to put
together another photo page. I will say, however,
that if you are looking for a money is no object, second
honeymoon type vacation, Capri should be on your list.
We actually spent two nights there, one of which was at
the marina - 260 euros, thank you - so we could all get
on and off the boat a little more easily to explore the
town at our own pace rather than all together. I'd
say it was worth it. We have some wonderful
memories to take away with us.
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Next on the list was
Positano, on the Amalfi coast. Like Capri, it was
a favorite holiday resort starting way back in Roman
times. Unlike Capri, perched high up in the valley
between two even higher peaks, the town of Positano is
nestled in and around a network of hillsides right along
the coast. Whereas in Capri you could pretty much
avoid the stairs if you wanted to, there is no chance of
that if you want to explore Positano.
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The adults took turns
going into town, allowing the kids to frolic in the
water for hours on end rather than having to traipse
through another beautiful Italian village.
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Our last stop with the
Martin family was Amalfi, where we sit as I write this.
They have a couple of grueling days of travel ahead of
them starting with the 2pm ferry ride to Salerno, a taxi
to the train station, a 4 hour train ride to Fiumicino,
via Rome, an overnight in an airport hotel, and a
morning flight back to Philadelphia where they pick up
their car for the two hour drive home to Annapolis.
I am exhausted even thinking about it.
The Zia crew, on the
other hand, is looking forward to waking up in Amalfi,
taking one last jaunt into town before we take off back
north for Miseno, a small town just west of Naples where
we plan on meeting Cenou. We are hoping to hook up
with a native Napolitano, Maurizio, who we met in
Palmarola last weekend.
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He has promised to show
us all the beautiful places in and around his native
city. We also need to take care of some boat
chores that have been sorely neglected for the past nine
days. As I listen to the cathedral bells ringing
out 8pm, I'm not at all uptight about the six loads of
laundry awaiting me. I do wonder where we will
find a laundry mat and whether it will be a self serve
or a wash and fold job, but I know that we will find it
in another wonderful Italian city full of more beauty
and good food!
Thanks for everything
John, Po, Jaimie and Skylar. You guys rock!
Next Entry >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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