John Krakuer once said in reference to Mt. Everest, “But now that I was finally here, standing on the summit, I just couldn’t summon up the energy to care.” That’s kind of how we feel about our villa.
On one hand, we have one of the most preeminent locations imaginable. The home is decorated with antique furniture throughout and French doors that open up in every room that faces the ocean. There are two big patios just for us, and one even has a pool. We are situated in Praiano, in the middle of the Amalfi coast, between the posh town of Positano and the namesake city of the coast, Amalfi.
Praiano is known for its exceptional views, and trust us, they don’t disappoint. We have seen some amazing sunrises and sunsets in our few days here; ones that belong in picture frames on the walls of a beach home. The two you see were taken from our upper patio; both capturing the top of our chimney and the suns arrival and retreat on the same day. It is truly a scenic place.
However, the flip side of that coin is the price you pay to obtain those views. From the quaint town where we get our morning cappuccino and croissant (see the picture) and all our groceries, back up to our villa, is roughly a 30 minute walk. The first time we ventured into town, were so inundated with the views (and were walking down hill) that we didn’t notice how long it actually took to get to the bottom. Allow me to describe the journey for you…… When we leave town, we hit what has now become known as, “the Hill of Death.” This is an 8 minute walk straight up a hill with a 45 plus degree incline. From there we have another 15 minutes of switchbacks leading through alley like corridors on the side of the mountain. When we finally reach our cut-off, we ascend another flight of stairs, climb another hill and enter our villa….which has 50 steps itself! After our first trip back up the mountain, Megan commented that this villa should come equipped with its own donkey. Shortly after saying that, we came upon one with supplies loaded on. Although nothing was spoken, I know we were both wondering what kind of sentence donkey theft carried?!?
We have learned that it is best to climb our “Everest” only once a day if at all possible.
Each day is a new journey in and of itself. Let me tell you about a few interesting situations…..
We have an elderly Italian gentleman who lives in one of the villas on our alley way walk off the mountain who engages us each time we pass. He’s the typical old man, in that he loves to talk. We have trouble getting away from his conversations even though we have said multiple times, "Mi dispiace, non parliamo I’italiano.” I guess the fact that we can say, “I’m sorry, we don’t speak Italian,” in Italian, makes him think we can understand everything else he says!
We have a pair of dogs that always follow us from our morning coffee spot. We made the mistake of petting them once, and ever since, they have become our friends. They follow along, sniff everything, and come up for sporadic affection. They mostly stop half way up the “Hill of Death,” but yesterday, they came all the way up to our home. We were half expecting them to come in for dinner.
Speaking of dinner, that’s the third occurrence that I need to mention. One of the reasons for staying in a Villa as opposed to a hotel was for the kitchen and barbecue. We decided that we would save some money by cooking our own meals for the most part. This has been a little challenging due to the language barrier and different electronic equipment. They have a stove that looks just like ours back home, but for the life of us, we can’t figure out how to use the oven! The grill is old school charcoal, which I haven’t used since I was a child. I spent 30 minutes trying to dry out coals from the rain and light them without fluid, to no avail. So we had sautéed octopus instead of grilled. The next day, at the store, I searched valiantly for the liquid that would bring fire, and almost ended up purchasing silver polish instead. Luckily the friendly owner was able steer me clear with his broken English.
Actually, everyone here has been extremely helpful and obliging; especially given our luggage predicament……did I mention we still don’t have it from Greece?!?! Yes, it’s now day four of the same clothes, but we haven’t let that slow us down one bit. As I write this, we are wrapped in towels while we wash our only outfit; let’s just hope we have better luck with the washer than we did with the stove!
Although we have hit our first snag on the adventure, we are still very blessed to be here. This is by far one of the most beautiful places we have ever gazed upon. On one side, we have a thousand foot cliffs with million dollar homes built into them, and on the other, the ocean. The road winds along the coast, providing breathtaking views all along. From the pace of life to the beauty, the Amalfi Coast is our new favorite place….clothes or no clothes!
Spectaular pictures!
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