The God of weather still smiled on us as we embarked on a jaunt to Positano to the west of Amalfi. Walking our two kilometres up the stairs from our villa and then down and up again we reach Scala to board our bus to Amalfi to catch our ferry to Positano, we almost hit our target exercise for the day!

The 30 minutes ferry ride affords us another spectacular view of the Amalfi coastline.

You can see the many cave like indentations in the rock wall and some grottoes at sea level. Little tucked away beaches also dot the shoreline. 

Positano is famous for many reasons but those who have seen the movie Under the Tuscan sun increased its popularity because of the scene with Diane Lane walking along the beach with her new Italian beau.

Positano is even more crowded than Amalfi even though cruise ships don’t drop anchor there like they do in Amalfi. Or maybe it’s because the streets where vendors and restaurants are are so much more narrower. 

Even more shocking is to see a bride in full wedding dress being accompanied by her father and bridesmaids walk down the narrow street full with pedestrians making their way to the nearby church.

ULike Amalfi, there are many lemon type souvenirs you can buy like Limoncello, ceramics but also leather shoes hand made in Positano. 

But all opt to go the the Fornillo beach over the hill from Positano which is less crowded and less expensive to rent chairs and most importantly, a change room!

At Positano, it is 25 Euros per person while if you can walk for 15 minutes uphill and then down some 50 or so steps, you only pay 8 Euros per person or 5 Euros if you can negotiate a group rate like we did!

Unlike the beach like Maiori, it is mostly large pebbles and hardly any soft sand to walk from your chair to the water. A warning to those who’ve had recently had a pedicure and have soft feet. Ouch! Ouch and more ouch!

It is October but the water is still warm enough to swim though some not accustomed to colder climates might find it too cold. The water is very clear and a blue-green colour. A nice cold beer at the nearby beach restaurant ends a perfect outing.

For all that you here about transportation never being on time in Italy, we’ve actually experienced the contrary. Our ferry ride back to Amalfi was due to leave at 3:30 so seeing it was only 3 pm, some of us decided to shop nearby. At 3:15 as we ambled our way back we see that the ferry had already boarded the throng of people that were waiting there. 5 minutes later the ferry launched. A full 10 minutes before it’s scheduled departure time! We’re sure that some people were left behind having to wait for the next ferry 40 minutes later.

Now we need to catch our bus again. Unlike the day before where the lineup for our bus was not very much, this time it’s a crowd frenzy trying to get on! Two of our group manage to squeeze on before the driver cuts the rest of the crowd off saying it could no longer absolutely accept more passengers. We wave to our nephew and friend to stay on as they attempt to get off as the driver had already validated their tickets and would have required new tickets. 

Suddenly the driver opens the back door surprising our friend almost making her tumble out to allow 2 more passengers on. There’s always room for the local folks. Just not any more tourists!

Fortunately, ten minutes later another bus arrives and we meet up in Scala.

But if you want a much quieter experience Maori is a small town east of Amalfi easily accessible by a 15 minute ferry ride or a 20-25 minute ride by SITA bus public transportation. 

A vast and modern pedestrian promenade follows along the beach under trees to provide shade from the hot sun. The beach is also much nicer with beach sand and much less harsh stones like Amalfi or Positano beaches. 

We had an enjoyable and inexpensive lunch right on the beach affording a gorgeous view of the azure Mediterranean Sea. 

On the return bus ride, we experienced the famous traffic jam where 2 buses meet in a one car only lane. After much discussion in Italian by both bus drivers, the driver in front of us had the ordeal to tell all of the traffic behind him to back up! And so they did. Letting enough room for the cars and motorbikes to pass by, we then wiggled our way beside the other giant bus leaving inches to spare. And that is mostly how traffic flows here. As long as there is one inch between cars, buses, motorbikes or even pedestrians walking (if you can believe it!), then all is good. However, you also see that all of these vehicles have sustained side scratching damage at one point of time or another.

A couple we met had actually rented a car thinking they would drive but abandoned their vehicle in a parking lot deciding to reduce their stress level.

Then it’s off again to the villa for dinner!