Life Through My Eyes: Ravella

This is the 3rd and last part of our visit to the Amalfi Coast

Below is the villa owned by Sophia Loren

This looks like such a cool place to visit but so very hard to get to

The colors of the water along the Amalfi Coast is truly beautiful. The camera does not do it justice.

Furore is a small village located in the Coast of Amalfi, in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. A long time ago, there was a small settlement here scattered over the mountain overlooking the sea, along a scenic road. There were no central piazza and no tight clusters of houses. The paths and stairs that led to the village were also not visible from the coastline, so that Furore remained practically hidden to the passing traveler. This earned Furore the name of “the village that doesn't exist.” It was then the mayor decided it was time to put his tiny comune on the map. He ordered every house to be brightly painted so that they couldn’t escape the sight of travellers passing down the road. This tradition is maintained till this date, by inviting artists from around the world every September to paint and decorate the local buildings with murals. Furore’s main attraction is the so-called fjord or Fiordo. It’s actually a ria - a narrow gorge cutting inland from the sea, created by the Schiato stream that runs along the mountain to the sea. A cluster of old fishermen's houses cling to the cliffs. The fjord is also the oldest part of Furore. The main village now stands 300 meters above, in the upper Vallone del Furore.

The fjord is bypassed by an arch bridge over which a state road passes. The 30 meters high bridge is also the location where every summer the International Diving Championship is held.

The local authorities have made the fiord into an appealing tourist spot. An old lime kiln has been converted into a bar and gift shop, the old houses have been renovated, and a museum tells of the industrial heritage and botanical diversity of the fiord. On midday, the sun manages to break through the narrow gorge and shines on the short beach just a few meters wide, attracting a lot of people. This information was obtained directly from Amusing Plane

Beautiful colors off of the Amalfi Coast

What a nice day spending time together and visiting a place that we thought that we might only see on those travel shows.

We ended up leaving the port of Naples approximately 3 hours later than we were supposed to. Our delay was possibly caused by a tour bus returning very late to our pier. We eventually got under way. Our ship was docked in a protected harbor area that protects the ships from foul weather. Everything was going smoothly as we made our way from the safety of the protected harbor towards open water.
As soon as the ship made it past the last of the walls/barricades that made up the protected harbor all hell broke loose. It happened so quickly that it was amazing the weather we ran into. Within seconds of leaving the protection of the harbor we were hit with heavy winds and very rough seas. Wind swept waves and spray were all around us. It was like walking into a hurricane. The winds got up to 51.9 knots (approx 59-60 mph winds) according to the information provided us on our cabins. television. It was a wild ride the entire night on the ship. I apologize for the quality of these photographs but everything happened so very quickly and the wind and waves were very turbulent. There was wind swept spray coming off the white caps and it was blowing in all directions. The fury of nature can be quite amazing at times.

Tomorrow we will be arriving in Livorno...the gateway to Rome...or would we?????

Today we got up early in anticipation of our private guided tour of the Amalfi Coast. After grabbing a quick bite to eat we quickly headed out to meet our guide for the day, who was waiting for us on the pier where our ship was docked. Before we knew it we were on our way. ***Due to the large number of photos that were taken of the Amalfi Coast area I have divided 1 huge post into 3 smaller posts so that the photos would load up faster. Please feel free to click on any of the photos to get an enlarged view.

This massive building looks like an old fortress which could be easily seen from where our ship was docked

Today it was overcast and a little cool. We even had a few sprinkles while we were visiting the Amalfi Coast. On our way to Ravello our vehicle climbed a mountain and during our travels back down we caught glimpses of Minori and Atrani. We headed down the other side of the mountain enroute to Amalfi.

Our first stop was in Ravello which sits high in the hills above Amalfi. From Ravello you can get subperb views up and down the Amalfi Coast.

Local neighbors stop to chat

Terraced fields and hillside homes dot the landscape

You could actually see the clouds floating over and through the hills and down into the valleys below. It is kind of cool when you are high enough up to be literally in the clouds