On Sunday, September 8th, we had a very nice continental breakfast on the terrace overlooking the sea.
Then we caught to bus up to Ravello. Unlike the other important tourist cities between Naples and Salerno, which are by the sea, Ravello is up on a hill, high above it all. It is not as wealthy, perhaps, as Positano, but it is certainly wealthy enough, and two of its most important sights are villas built by rich Britons a century or so ago. The American writer Gore Vidal lived in a villa there for many years. Wagner wrote part of Parsifal there, inspired in part by the garden at the Villa Rufolo.
We went to mass at the cathedral, which was my favorite church of the entire trip--I like early medieval.
We then went to the Villa Cimbrone, stopping for lunch at Babel, a hip wine bar with good food and uncomfortable stools. The Villa Cimbrone has a huge garden and the best lookout point in Ravello. It is something of a hike from the center of town.
We went back to the town center, looking into the church of San Francesco on the way.
We wandered around town for a while, running into a British wedding party. Apparently, Ravello has a lot of destination weddings. There would be another British wedding there the next day.
Eventually, we took the bus back down to Punta Civita. To get there, we would tell the bus driver to let us off at Cantine Ettore Sammarco. This is the winery where the bus stop is, across the road from our B&B. A complicating matter is that there is another winery, Cantine A. Sammarco just down the road. We had accidentally gotten left off there the first time we had come up from Amalfi. We eventually figured out that Cantine Ettore Sammarco is just past the stoplight on the way up, so on later bus rides we were able to make sure that we were let off at the right place. There are two traffic lights on this road: one going up and one coming down, apparently to prevent two-way traffic on much of the narrow roadway.
We again took the stairs down to Atrani, this time eating at the restaurant given a somewhat lukewarm recommendation by Lonely Planet, Le Arcate--not great, but pleasant, by the water. We wondered why so few people were there and were told that there was a religious procession. Sure enough, a statue of the Blessed Virgin soon arrived at the waterfront, greeted by fireworks. This was the feast day of the Nativity of Mary (i.e., her birthday).
After dinner we walked through Atrani. There was a jazz band setting up in the square, doing a sound check, but we decided not to stick around and caught a bus at the stop above.
Then we caught to bus up to Ravello. Unlike the other important tourist cities between Naples and Salerno, which are by the sea, Ravello is up on a hill, high above it all. It is not as wealthy, perhaps, as Positano, but it is certainly wealthy enough, and two of its most important sights are villas built by rich Britons a century or so ago. The American writer Gore Vidal lived in a villa there for many years. Wagner wrote part of Parsifal there, inspired in part by the garden at the Villa Rufolo.
We went to mass at the cathedral, which was my favorite church of the entire trip--I like early medieval.
We then went to the Villa Cimbrone, stopping for lunch at Babel, a hip wine bar with good food and uncomfortable stools. The Villa Cimbrone has a huge garden and the best lookout point in Ravello. It is something of a hike from the center of town.
We went back to the town center, looking into the church of San Francesco on the way.
We wandered around town for a while, running into a British wedding party. Apparently, Ravello has a lot of destination weddings. There would be another British wedding there the next day.
Eventually, we took the bus back down to Punta Civita. To get there, we would tell the bus driver to let us off at Cantine Ettore Sammarco. This is the winery where the bus stop is, across the road from our B&B. A complicating matter is that there is another winery, Cantine A. Sammarco just down the road. We had accidentally gotten left off there the first time we had come up from Amalfi. We eventually figured out that Cantine Ettore Sammarco is just past the stoplight on the way up, so on later bus rides we were able to make sure that we were let off at the right place. There are two traffic lights on this road: one going up and one coming down, apparently to prevent two-way traffic on much of the narrow roadway.
We again took the stairs down to Atrani, this time eating at the restaurant given a somewhat lukewarm recommendation by Lonely Planet, Le Arcate--not great, but pleasant, by the water. We wondered why so few people were there and were told that there was a religious procession. Sure enough, a statue of the Blessed Virgin soon arrived at the waterfront, greeted by fireworks. This was the feast day of the Nativity of Mary (i.e., her birthday).
After dinner we walked through Atrani. There was a jazz band setting up in the square, doing a sound check, but we decided not to stick around and caught a bus at the stop above.
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