Miles Walked 11.5 351.4
Feet Climbed 1890 39,250
Song of the Day: Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
We ended up leaving the hotel a little later than we had hoped this morning, primarily because the breakfast took longer. Virtually every breakfast so far has been some derivation of a crappy breakfast buffet, ranging from a few crackers and dry toast to slightly more to include cold cuts, yogurt and pastries. However, today was a hot breakfast, cooked specifically for us. I'm know, it doesn't sound like that big of deal, but after 30 days of eating Italian breakfasts, this was a welcome relief! We truly enjoyed our little stay in Praiano and appreciated the outstanding efforts of Luiggi, the hotel proprietor.
Here is a photo just as we were leaving the hotel this morning:
The Pathway of the Gods (in Italian Sentiero deli Dei) is a famous hiking path on the Amalfi coast. There are several videos on YouTube of this walk. Here is but one example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Pa56-Gln0. Luiggi told us a story about a Dutch guy who came to the Amalfi coast 20 years ago and convinced local authorities to fix up all their ancient hiking paths and use them as a tourist attraction. Apparently it has worked, because people come from all over the world to hike this area.
For us to join this pathway, we first had to hike about 1.5 miles from Praiano. No problem there, except it's also about a 1000 feet climb to get to that point. The first stop is a convent in the mountains. This convent can only be reached by walking. Truly a stairway to heaven. Along the way, we passed several of these crosses. I'm not sure if they were there to indicate that we were approaching the convent, or as a rememberence for the people who likely died from heart attacks along the way!
The walk on the Pathway of the Gods was one of the most beautiful, exhilarating and at times downright scary, that we have ever done. For most of the hike, you had the Mediterranean Sea far below. Here are a few shots from the walk:
Here is a shot under an archway. Reminded us of some of the hikes we have done in Utah (if Utah had the Mediterranean in the background!):
Along the way, we also saw some mountain goats:
We also passed another juiceman along the way. He told us an interesting story about how he met an American girl who was vacationing in Positano. So, he moved to Newport Beach for three monthsto be with her. Only it didn't work out. He said she was a wild American girl and he was just an Italian country boy...
Positsno is an terrific little seaside town. Here is a photo of Linda on the beach, with the church in the background. We ate lunch at the restaurant with the white awnings.
This evening, I had a three hour board of directors meeting. Here I am, calling in for the meting from the balcony of our hotel....we are staying in a very beautiful hotel right on the beach in Positano. During the meeting, they shot off fireworks from just below us. Made for a nice diversion in the meeting....
Tomorrow, we are going to Sorrento where we will stay for two days. We are planning to visit Pompei on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we move on to Naples for a day. On Monday, we take a fairly long trsinride from Naples to Milan, then will catch a smaller train to Laker Como where we will explore and hike for 4 days. Hard to believe we have been gone for over four weeks. Harder yet to believe that we only have a week left.
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