Here we go again - revisiting Italy

On Thursday 14 June, I got up feeling pretty perky: no work for 5 days (great in itself) but secondly and adding to my pleasure, it was time to meet up with Joe and Mandy on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. This time I had to catch a bus to the airport as both Elysia and Christopher were working. The flight was uneventful (apart from a brief fracas when I had to give up my unopened bottle of coke as I went through the transit lounge) I discovered Yo Sushi at the airport in London too so I treated myself to a sushi feast. I arrived in Naples at around 9.00pm that evening and picked up a car to drive down to Amalfi. After having some serious difficulty getting out of the car park, I headed out towards Amalfi. All I can say is that I am glad it was dark so I couldn’t actually see what sort of roads I was driving on. The motorway out of Naples was down to one lane because of roadworks, but then I hit the Amalfi Coast road - narrow barely describes it, and windy - like the old Audrey Hepburn type movies, the road frequently turns back on itself. One advantage I had was that I got plenty of warning of oncoming traffic and there wasn’t too much traffice going my way either - although what little there was overtook me on stretches of road that didn’t seem wide enough for two cars. Nevertheless, I arrived safe and sound having taken 2.5 hours over a journey that TOM said would only take 1 hour. Again, my hotel turned out to be about 15minutes out of town but again, it was a good one, with parking right outside.
The next day, I took a drive into town and went for a stroll up into the square where I found the church. This was just as well as I bumped into Mandy here - apparently Joe had sent me an email suggesting we meet there at 10.00am so I wasn’t even really late, only a little bit late without even realising it!
We went to Mandy & Joe’s local to get a drink and make plans. The weather was perfect and we eventually decided on a trip to Positano, which I have to say is one of the most beautiful (or maybe pretty is a better description) places I have visited. We left the car about half way down the hill and walked down the rest of the way to the beach, passing lots of little shops and cafes/bars on the way down. We spent the day lying around on the beach and swimming as needed. We did hike back up the hill a bit later for lunch in the shade but that was pretty much the extent of the effort we put in during that day.
After a shower and change, we met up again at the local for pre-dinner drink. I was taken to a restaurant that Joe and Mandy had discovered on their first visit to Amalfi. It was a bit further up the valley, away from the centre of the town but it certainly did good food, for a very good price.
On Saturday, we had planned to go jet-skiing but it turned out that the advertising implying the ability to hire these was completely misleading and there wasn’t a jet ski to be had within many miles. So as an alternative, we spent the day on Amalfi Beach, and doing a bit of shopping. Dinner that evening was right in the centre of town, at a restaurant at the base of the steps to the church. It was not up to the meal of the previous evening - one of the waiters poured a drink all over Joe’s newly laundered trousers, and it was pricier. However the food was ok and we overindulged again, so to work some of it off, we climbed the 58 steps to the church doors.
Sunday was Mandy & Joe’s last day - they were going to Naples. Since the road trip is fairly arduous on a bus, they took the ferry so I bid them a fond farewell and went back to the beach for a couple of hours. I had some lunch and caught the bus up to Ravello to visit the Gardens that Mandy had said were a highlight. It was beautiful, and the view out across the Mediterranean from Villa Cimbrano was unbeatable. I also spent a delightful half hour sitting at a bar on the square watching a wedding which had been held in the gardens.
For dinner on my last night in Amalfi, I chose a restaurant on the back streets of Amalfi where the tables were lined up down the narrow street which was only wide enough for my table and one person at a time to pass down the street. The food was great, and the service was too, since there weren’t too many patrons who had managed to find the place.
Monday was time to head back to Edinburgh so I left about 8.30am. This time I could see the road but by this time I had become somewhat acclimatised so it wasn’t so bad. The hardest part was finding the car rental outfit again but I got there in the end. I dashed over to the check in only to find that my place was delayed, first by 20 minutes, then another 20minutes and so on until finally instead of leaving at 12.15, we were told the plane would not be leaving until 4.00pm. I, along with most of the plane’s passengers, headed back to British Airways ticket desk where we queued for 2 hours to try and make changes to our connecting flights. I eventually got to the front of the queue and was rebooked on a flight to Brussels, then on to Edinburgh but I was told that I had to go and retrieve my bags from the old flight. Of course they had disappeared into thin air and I was finally told that I should go and catch my next flight and they would forward my luggage so I tackled the security/immigration queues again and arrived in the departure lounge just in time to catch the plane to Brussels. The flight to Brussels was on a pencil plane and when we arrived there, it appears one of the passengers had had a major meltdown and refused to leave the plane. We were driven away to the terminal listening to his screams and ranting while his friends waited at the bottom of the steps of the plane looking decidedly embarrassed. I then discovered just how vast Brussels Airport was - it took me ages to find my BMI flight check in and I was viewed with serious suspicion as I wanted to travel without luggage, and by then my teeth had begun to hurt so I was in no mood for further messing around. I finally got on the plane and was met by Lyss and Joe, but no sign of the luggage of course.
The next day, I couldn’t face work. I had not slept well despite taking as much nurofen/panadol as is allowed, my teeth ached and I was desperate to visit a dentist. Unfortunately I couldn’t get an appointment until 4.15pm so I spent the day pacing and not being able to concentrate on or settle to anything. I was even early for the appointment but he was running late so I didn’t get in til 4.20pm but by 4.40pm I no longer had one of my wisdom teeth or 75pounds, but neither did I have any pain. For someone who dislikes dentist visits as much as I do, it was the best 20 minutes & 75 pounds I have spent in quite a while. I expected to feel some pain after the anaesthetics wore off but apart from a slightly bruised sensation (which lasted for a couple of weeks) I did not feel any pain at all. So I can recommend a great dentist if anyone needs one in Edinburgh!

My first taste of Spain

Since the weather had been relatively miserable here in Edinburgh, I decided that I needed some heat and sun so I took a very quick weekend break to Alicante.

I got up really early - 3.30am and Christopher took me to Edinburgh airport so I could catch the 6.00am plane to Alicante, arriving at 10.00am local time. I caught a bus into town only to discover that my hotel was another 10minutes out of town. I had no idea where I was going so I caught a cab to Hotel Albahia - a good hotel, quite cheap but rubbish location. After I checked in, I got changed and caught a bus (I knew where I was now) back into the main beach (1 Euro). I hired a beach lounger for the day and spent the rest of the day lying in the sun and admiring the Mediterranean from both the beach and the water. Slightly overcooked myself despite coating myself in SPF 50 lotion, but at least I went back to Edinburgh looking like I had seen the sun! It was interesting discovering that this too was a topless beach - must be continental thing. It was kind of scary actually - while there were some lovely looking women who could carry it off well, there were also many less successful at it. I for one would not be game to go topless now, although I may have considered it 20 years ago!

I headed back to the hotel about 5.30pm and met up with a lovely Irish couple for a few drinks before going into town for dinner. It was lovely just being warm all the time - it was a balmy evening and I enjoyed my dinner on the promenade. As the last bus back to the hotel left town at 10.30pm I had a pretty early night!

The next day, I really didn't want to head back to Edinburgh but sadly, I had to. I reluctantly packed myself up and caught the bus back to where I could catch the airport bus. I was staggered to find that the driver decided to have a smoke and read his paper before we left. However I thought it would give me the perfect excuse not to catch the plane so I wasn't overly worried. We eventually took off only to stop again half way there for another read and smoke. You can imagine my frustration when we eventually arrived at the airport to find that the airline obviously used the same timekeeping methods as my bus driver and I was still in plenty of time to catch the plane!! They were so disorganised that they didn't have any catering on the flight - not even prepacked food that you could buy - so all the passengers made a mad dash for the sandwich bars to get drinks and something to eat, which of course made us even later taking off. Again, I didn't mind because I had heard the forecast for Edinburgh and wasn't really in any hurry to get back to it. We did get there in the end though and it was as bad as forecast but at least Christopher and Leigh picked me up so I didn't have to drag my bag around in the rain.

I'm going to have to go back there, perhaps not Alicante but definitely Spain although I didn't understand a word of what was said around me. Even my phrase book will not help me here - shame I don't have Adriana here to help me with this, but I guess if I spend more time there I might pick up a few things.

Next trip is to Amalfi to meet up with Joe and Mandy in a couple of weeks - I'll update after that.