IT: Amalfi Coast: Ravello, Minori, Maiori (on scooter)

Made it back safely on the scooter.

Shortish ride on the scooter due to serious rain today (despite only 60% chance – the rest of the week is 0-10% chance of rain each day).

We drove up to Ravello, where we enjoyed a great lunch while it was pouring rain. The fabulous coastal view disappeared into the fog…

Then after 2 false directions, we returned to the coast and drove past Minori to the more downscale town of Maiori (also more of an Italian tourist crowd vs foreign tourist). The architecture was not interesting, but food and drink was much cheaper there, e.g. €1.80 vs €3 for a cappuccino or macchiato.

We picked up a nice bottle of local wine (Costa D’Amalfi Terre Saracene from Ravello) for 9 euro, plus a half kilo of plum tomatoes for 1 euro, and drove back to Atrani where we picked up a Cappriciosa Pizza for €5 from last night’s resto (“Mistral”) which surprised us as the pizza is listed at €8 if you eat in. We enjoyed our pizza with extra pomodoro (tomato) and bottle of red wine as the only guests on our rooftop patio, enjoying the views and the Miami-like internally-lit white resin planters and furniture.

And remember that cell phone recharger I bought in Singapore? It came in handy today, as the battery was dead (after Susan’s Angry Birds game while it was raining post-lunch) and we were able to enjoy an hour of music over a romantic rooftop dinner.

Regarding parking: there are often free scooter parking zones marked my narrow white lines (and a sign, though that doesn’t actually say “free”) as opposed to the pay parking which are blue lines (usually sized for cars).

Side note relating to breakfast: the hills are full of lemon and orange trees (hence the limoncello liquor made in the region). At our hotel’s breakfast buffet were freshly picked oranges and lemons, some with stems on them. The oranges are tasty and juicy, and today I squeezed a fresh lemon into a glass of sparkling mineral water and, wow, did that taste refreshing (as good as the five euro drink the day before)!