While S. and I had planned on winging a lot of our trip, we’ve discovered that planning just comes naturally. We haven’t booked the trip in its entirety, mind you, just the first few stops. We had initially decided to take a ferry from Patras in Greece to Brindisi in Italy, followed by a train from Brindisi to the Amalfi Coast. How long could a ferry take, right? 5 hours, maybe? 7 hours max? Well, apparently my geography or my mathematical calculations are off (or both!) because the ferry ride is more like an Adriatic cruise at fifteen hours! And that’s only to Brindisi! From there, we would still need to take a train.
I’m all about adventures — the more experiences the better, I say, but this? This is not an adventure. Fifteen hours on a boat was just a waste of time. Three hours is pretty. Five hours is doable. Seven hours is maximum. Fifteen hours is beyond the scope of my imagination. Additionally, the premium for a bed on the 15 hour paradise that is a ferry boat (through HML or Minoan Ferries) is over $100 per person. It only took us five seconds of talking to decide that a flight would be better, provided the costs were reasonable. Quite honestly, I was expecting a discount airline to cost around 150 pounds for the trip since it’s only a month away. Luckily, I found a flight through Expedia with Alitalia for $160! For a two hour flight directly into Naples, the extra $50 was well worth the 15+ hours that we’ve saved.
So now, though it wasn’t our initial intention, we have the first three section of our trip worked out. The Amalfi Coast was an area that we both agreed on from the get-go and it makes a perfect starting point for our Italian adventures. After doing some research (I realized that I don’t know much about what there is to do in the area), I ran across something that I couldn’t resist: Senteiro Degli Dei, the walk of the gods. The hike starts in Bomerano and winds through the coast, ending up in glamorous Positano. The views are astounding and it has been ranked as one of the best hikes in the world! I hadn’t even heard about this until I did some in-depth research, but I am thrilled that I ran across it! It seems that the hike isn’t necessarily fit for kids and fitnessphobes, but for anyone with a decent level of fitness and mobility, it’s the perfect way to see the coast the way it should be seen and I would wager that it’s safer than renting a car and driving. Click here for a map of the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento Peninsula.
Interested in the walk of the gods? I was, too, so I consulted some fellow bloggers. Check out their experiences here and here.
Lots of love and happy travels,
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