Today would be our first day hiking with full packs to our next town. We go to up at a decent time had our comp breakfast, packed our stuff, and started on our way out of Amalfi. My pack had to be over 40 lbs due to my overpacking and Denise’s was quite light to do her underpacking. I was lending her clothing constantly and being reminded of not accurately telling her of the temperatures here. We made our way up the main street and made a left to a steep set of switchbacked steps that led all the way to the hillside town of Pogerela. As we ascended the steps, we overlooked what seemed to be a school and a young boy of around 10 yrs old shot us the finger out of a stairwell window. I waved and he changed to a hang loose gesture. Nice fella!
The climb to Pogerela took just under an hour and was not too bad. We topped off our hydration bladders at town square fountain and continued on our way. Pogerela had several bars and restaurants but it was a bit too early for lunch.
We made our way up and out of town and eventually came to a intersection where our book told us to take the rough mule track zig-zagging straight up the mountain. The other way was a nice rock step path that went the other way. Figures! So up the mule track we go. It was very loose and rocky and with a heavy pack on I sunk in quite easily. Not far up the path a local with 2 mules came up past us so I knew we were on the right path. We continued to climb for awhile and followed a large cliff around the point of the mountain. The path continued up and down peaks and cuts. It was nice to be away from the masses finally and into the wilderness. We passed the local and his mules bringing firewood back to town.
Eventually we came to a long flight of steps leading down to the little, rural town of San Lazzaro. We had planned on getting some lunch there since it was almost 14:00. We walked down the street to what looked like a B&B but no one was around. We saw another sign for La Taverna something or other, so we headed back up the hill and over a half a km. La Taverna was deserted. We went back to the first place and walked into their courtyard and looked around. It appeared to be closed for the season yet. Just then a fellow around thirtyish pops his head out and say “buon giorno”. We said “lunch?” and he replied “why not?!” He seated us on the veranda, brought out some fresh linens, and said to trust him he would fix us up a meal. Next he brought out homemade wine, that he and his father had made themselves, fresh bread, bruschetta, ricotta, and some cured meats. We dined like royalty. He would tell us about his place that he was fixing up himself in between courses. The wine was so good. You could tell it was homemade by its consistency. It almost had a certain thickness to it. The main course consisted of the local pasta, Scialetielli, in red pepper sauce….it was incredible! For dessert, homemade Tiramasu with raw honey drizzled over it and a honey and hazelnut liqueur. Everything was homemade…nothing from a box here. It is so great to eat so much no processed food like all the mass production, nutrient deficient crap we get in the states. Rafael the gave us an entire tour of his place and sent us on our way with a bottle of wine to take with us. It was truly one of those travel experiences you never forget. Arrivederci Rafael!
We continued on our way down to the town of Conca da Marini a little wobbly yet from our wine buzz and a bit euphoric from our experience in San Lazzaro. We stepped our way down to the coast and picked up the Sita Bus immediately to our hotel in the next town of Praiano. To hike to the next town would mean walking the narrow road for a couple miles which was not worth it.
We got off in Praiano and made our tired legs go down more steps to our hotel, Hotel Bellavista. We were supposed to have an ocean view room, but they had emailed me a couple days before telling me of a “water crash” in our original room. Instead we got a garden view for €10 less. The place was nice, but the shower was so small I could hardly move. That night we dined at La Brace where I had Pizza Diavalo(pepperoni) and Denise had grilled veggies, and of course a bottle of vino. They also had chocolate mousse, so I had to have that for dessert.
Tomorrow we are hoping to go back to Amalfi and do the Valle Della Furriere hike that we missed 2 days ago.
