4 Ottobre- Costeria Amalfitana

This is the only day I dread on this tour. The scenery is absolutely stunning – the Amalfi Coast is amazing, but the ride is a little on the awful side. It's pretty much the only place in the world I get carsick. I get to sit in the front window of the giant coach bus as we make 320-degree hairpin turns on the switchbacks while clinging to a narrow road on the side of the mountainous coast and while it is exhilarating it mostly just makes me anxious. Bravo (!!!) to the bus drivers who keep the bus from plunging over into the sea hundreds of feet below. All I know is that every time I look out and see nothing but water in front of me, I am crossing my fingers that there's still road beneath us.

(this is how narrow the road is, now imagine being only 2 feet away from the side of a cliff, sitting high up on a bus where you can see the Tyrrhenian Sea hundreds of feet below you)

I let everyone know I was well fortified with stomach-relieving aids for the first part of the trip. I brought TravelGum, sweet ginger candy drops and chunks of crystallized dried ginger in case anyone was feeling poorly immediately. TravelGum has ginger in it too, and in general you want to chew it before you set out, to get the stomach juices flowing. Any gum will assist in this, but the ginger helps for much longer than a gum without it. I advised once we arrived in our first stop in Positano, those folks who needed the ginger should stop in to a farmacia to grab some more – they will have it front and center at the counter. More people than not find themselves asking for it at the farmacia in these towns. Remember the ginger any time you have the stomach queasies, folks.

(this is why there are posted hours for directional driving)

Our stops today were in Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. All lovely little towns hugging the sides of the hills and making their way down to the sea. All are positively charming and each sets itself apart from the next. Positano's church of Santa Maria della Assunta has the blue-green ceramic tiled caps on top. Amalfi has Sant'Andrea with the marble in stripes of black and white. Ravello's San Giovanni is pretty plain in comparison outwardly, but inside you find an absolute treasure. Small little jewels on the coast.

We had lunch in Ravello at Cumpa Cosimo, with Mamma Netta coming out of the kitchen to pinch our cheeks and remind us to eat everything on the plates. Not difficult, since we were having fresh grilled seafood, homemade sausages, a smorgasbord of veggies and a personal favorite of mine: ricotta stuffed zucchini blossoms. She is a boisterous little thing and she likes to meet everyone who comes to her place. She presented me with a fig for good luck – and mock-prayed to the angels that I continue returning to her. “Mia Kristina! Siamo gemelli... hai ricevuto tutta l'altezza, ho ricevuto il talento!” My Kristina, we are twins. You received the height and I received the talent!” She's a hoot. The fact that she remembers my name is pretty fantastic, since this woman has cooked for every celebrity that has every trucked through town for seventy years (the trattoria has been in her family for four generations), as evidenced on the walls of the foyer. I'll let her put my picture up if she wants.

(shrimp so fresh you wanna smack 'em across the mouth... and roasted zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta. Yum!)

We took the back way overland through the mountains on the return to Sorrento. No more scary coastal driving today; we wouldn't want to whoops up our fantastic lunch. Ettore the driver is my hero. How these guys manage to squeeze around in these giant buses and not kill everyone on board on a daily basis is beyond my comprehension.

Back at the hotel I had a long conversation back home with both my husband and my mother. I love technology for keeping me in contact. I will shout it from the rooftops daily if I have to. I grabbed a late dinner at a tiny trattoria where I got them to give me a huge bowl of seafood broth and half a loaf of bread. So delicious and so simple, but so filling.

Tomorrow we head out of Sorrento, tour Pompeii and make our way back into “civilization” - Rome!