Day 18

Buongiorno,

Today we decided to go for a bit of a walk. Sentiero degli Dei, "Path of the gods", is a mountain path over the sea that runs from the town we are staying in, Praiano, to the town of Positano in about 3 hours.

Starting from Praiano, we found the steps that led to the path at the top of the mountain. We already knew that there were 1,000 steps to climb, so we knew what we were in for.

As we walked through the town of Praiano through little narrow lanes and up lots of steps, we soon realised that these were the streets of the village. For pedestrians only, no scooters could get up all these steps.

We climbed and we climbed. All through the village, then into the countryside and up the side of the mountain. As we walked we could see houses and buildings way up high. One in particular looked to be a large building with archways. We wondered who would live so high up with no access by road.

We found this type of little gondola that is used to ferry materials to that high building. It is not big enough to fit a person, or any furniture like a bed or a sofa. You could maybe fit a week’s groceries in it. It would still be a hard walk to reach this gondola with all of your shopping bags.

We carried on walking, up and up, the views getting more spectacular with every step. The mountainside was steep in places, so looking down could sometimes be a bit scary.

A lot of the mountainside was terraced, as people have been farming this area (lemons, grapes, figs and olives) for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

We reached the large building we had seen from far below, and it turned out to be an old monastery Santa Maria a Castro. A man had set up a little stand to sell snacks and drinks (he probably used the gondola to get them up). Lying, asleep in the sun, was his puppy dog, who walks up with him every morning.

Inside the monastery was a small organ. Interestingly it had a handle attached to each end. We can only imagine that two men (or four men taking turns) carried the organ all the way up here. Koro lifted one end and while he could lift it, he wouldn’t want to carry it up all of those steps.

After more walking we reached the top, and there were a lot more people on the track. The alternative to walking up all those steps is to take a bus to the top, but Grandma and Koro wanted to walk up. You see so much more.

There is a low path, and a high path. We wanted to do the high path, which as it turns out is the least used, so even better. Up here we saw two or three abandoned houses, one of which we explored a bit. It had a large terrace and a pizza oven, and amazing views.

We were coming to the busier part of the track now, and were no longer able to walk at our own pace. We were often slowed by groups of people who were struggling a bit. They obviously haven’t done any hiking recently. Some were quite overweight, and being a very warm day they were struggling. This isn’t an easy stroll through the countryside.

We reached the little village of Nocelle, and there was a little café offering refreshments. We stopped for a drink and a sandwich. There were three pussy cats roaming the restaurant looking for handouts. One was a tiny cat that looked like Helen’s cat, Georgie. She also squawked loudly like Georgie does, and she sat by the tables demanding food from the diners.

Now we had to walk down lots of steps. In many ways walking down the steps was harder than walking up the steps. We met a loverly retired couple from Kansas in America. They recognised our Kiwi

accents, because they own a house in Blenheim and spend three months a year in New Zealand.

Once at the bottom we had to walk along the road to the village of Positano. Walking along the road is not nearly as scary as it would seem from the car. The traffic is not actually moving that fast (apart from the scooters) and everyone, drivers, riders, pedestrians and bus drivers and all paying attention.

Even at road level, the sea is still a long way down. Walking around some of the tight hairpin bends, there is a long way to fall if you go over the edge. Walking the road you can see a lot more of how it has been built. There are a number of sections that are cantilevered over the edge of the cliff.

We had arrived in Positano having made pretty good time. We hadn’t

rushed, but we still had plenty of the afternoon left. Our plan was to jump on a bus back to Praiano.

However, this is Italy, and chaos reins. We had to find a Tabaccheria to buy bus tickets, then find a bus stop. Positano is a very busy little place. It took us a while to figure out where to go, but eventually we made it, then we spent a long time waiting for the bus.

We had an ice cream while we waited and watched all the people and chaos. It is entertaining watching what is going on.

Eventually we made it back to our hotel, where we had a swim to cool down and freshen up, then a shower.

We were very tired after our big walk. Buzzy Bee came with us and he had his head sticking out the whole time, so all three of us were tired. It was dinner and bed.

Love to you all from Grandma and Koro and Tired Bee