Amalfi and the Path of the Gods walk

I will warn you now that this blog includes a lot of hate towards the Italians which includes both verbal and physical abuse! We didn't rush getting out of the house this morning as it looked stormy and was blowing a Gale. We did a bit of research last night and it was going to be a bit of a mission to compete this Path of the Gods hike since it was one way and we would need to take buses to get up to the start and then to return to where we were parked. I did a bit of study since it was exactly one month today until I sit my part two NMC exam and hopefully pass first time to be able to work as a nurse in the UK. The annoying thing is that they have finally changed the English language prerequisites so that I would no longer have to sit the English language exam called the IELTs that I did back in December last year. I would have only saved me about $400 nzd but still would have made more sense since Iv never spoken another language in my life. At 10am I woke lewis up as I had spent enough time watching the sickly sweet videos of perfect nurses that was supposed to teach me how the exam worked. We studied the bus schedule over breakfast and worked out that we would need to catch the 1.30pm bus from Amalfi which is 1 hour 15 minutes drive from our house in order to get the bus up to Agerola where the walk starts. The walk then takes 3.5 hours roughly and ends in Nocelle and you can walk from Positano from here to catch the bus back to Amalfi. A bit of a mission really and the place reminds us of the Cinque Terre but is waaay less efficient since they don't have a train connecting the villages. The drive around the coast was stunning but Lew didn't get to see much as he had to concentrate on the multiple switch backs and the narrow road that was the main thoroughfare for not only car and scooters but the local buses. It takes such a long time to drive it mainly due to the fact that the traffic has to wait for buses to turn corners and fit through small tunnels. It is impressive to watch and a lot of the locals cars have smashed up wing mirrors and scraped paint work and I can see why! It's tempting just to pull ours in to keep them safe. Ever single corner we came around had spectacular views of one way up or down the Amalfi and if your lucky enough to be the passenger you can spend your time admiring it.  It definitely took the full 1 hour 15 minutes and as we were approaching town we found a park on the side of the road with white lines indicating that it was free. We were more than happy to leave the car here since we had no luggage in it but after walking up a few of the rows of cars we noticed they all had the resident parking signs in their dashboards. We did some google searching on the side of the road and learnt off one trip advisor post that infact despite being white lines it is resident parking only and this is only the case in Amalfi (the rest of Italy white parking still means free). The person who wrote the comment had been either clamped or towed which cost them €140 ($240 NZD) and there wasn't one sign up stating this would happen. We didn't want to take the risk and I found that there was an underground carpark called Luna Rossa just outside of Amalfi and on the way to Atrani we would have to use. We were frustrated at this point as we knew they would charge us an arm and leg in there but it did mean our car was safe. It does stand out with its bright red French plates anyways. We entered Luna Rossa and we were sitting getting a ticket out of the machine like normal when this parking attendant comes out guns blaring making sure we read the sign about not being allowed passengers into the parking building. He pointed to the big English sign that was well above our eye level and of course we didn't see since we had used so many of these things along the way and knew how they went. I asked him why but he didn't bother replying. That was strange but I got out of the car and started walking in instead. We initially thought the parking was so tight that you couldn't have passengers opening doors inside as well as the driver. Interesting but that was the only reason we could think of as to why they would make me get out. I got yelled at and told I was not allowed to walk in there and he pointed behind him to goodness knows what. He was yelling in possibly English but could have just been Italian but either way I had no clue what he was on about. I had a merino on and realised it was probably a bit too warm to be carting it up a mountain walk so wanted to chuck it in the car. I thought maybe he wanted me to walk in the pedestrian entrance but it was just a large tunnel that didn't look like it entered the carpark at all. I had no clue where Lewis has been forced to drive to but it was 1pm already and we needed to catch the 1.30pm bus up to the start of the walk but also wanted to look around the town. Time is of the essence right? I tried again to walk down where I had been told not to go yelling Lews name just to catch a glimpse of him. The parking guy had been distracted for a few seconds and didn't notice me until I got a little further and complety let rip in angry Italian again. I replied in very angry English that I just wanted to put my bloody jersey in the car and where the hell was I supposed to meet lewis to do just that!!!! It went on for a bit and I have no idea what I yelled at him but it could have potentially been something insulting to his country or him personally. We had already been wound up by the fact we couldn't park for free outside the city and this was just pushing me over the boundary. An Italian lady who spoke better English than the arsehole of a parking attendant explained that for safety/security reasons they wouldn't let passengers down there and that I could meet lewis in the tunnel when he came out. Wow finally someone could tell me what was going on! Still I stormed off out the car exit of the building really feeling like doing something inappropriate like taking a shit somewhere he would have to clean it up. Sorry I know this isn't like me at all but it was absolute blind fury. Plus they charged you €3 ($5.10) per hour and then made you pay extra to use the toilet inside. There were some seriously harsh words said about Italy at this point. I found Lew in the tunnel and he said we couldn't get back in to put my jacket in the car anyways and we had to find this bus before we missed it. If we missed the 1.30pm the next one wasn't until 4pm which would mean we wouldn't be able to complete the walk and it would really ruin our day. We walked into the center of town not really having a chance to admire it since we had a time frame to buy tickets and to find the bus stop. The first store wasn't helpful at all and the woman just said "no" and didn't even offer any advice as to where we could buy the tickets. I was still shaking with rage and muttered some unsavoury words under my breath at her. We had asked a lady directing traffic as to where we could catch the bus so walked in that direction asking a local restaurant if they sold them. You probably think we are weird not just getting them on the bus or at the bus station but you have to buy them from the tobacco shops or restaurants there isn't a bus station to get them at and you need to have them before you get on the bus. Luckily this one did and I also sneakily used their bathroom - the men's one since I had no patience to wait for the women's to be free and a hole to pee in is the same in both the men's and women's bathrooms right? I did get the massive evils from the man waiting to use it next but I still didn't care. Lew did end up buying a bit of pizza for lunch so it wasn't really so inappropriate for me to be using their bathroom as it initially was. He got handed the pizza and we though we would just sit down for 5 minutes to catch our breath. Noooope! We got told that Lews pizza was takeaway only and we had to leave. 🙄😡. Italy was rating about 1/10 at this point on my likert scale in the last hour. As we walked to where we thought the bus was going to be I tried to take a deep breath and not to let these unhelpful people ruin my day. Lew was blissfully happy eating his pizza on the other hand. We asked a man if the bus he was standing next to was headed to Agerola more specifically the Bomerano stop which is where you can find the head of the trail to the Path of the Gods. It was and he let us on ripping our tickets in the process. The bus was already very full of kids and it looked as though we would have to stand in the isle for the entire 40 minute journey up a hill! Amazing that they don't have more frequent buses, I can't imagine we would let our buses drive this full back home since it is such a hazard if something goes wrong. Anyways I was feeling very nauseated at this stage but was also beginning to relax meaning the adrenaline from my argument was wearing off. More and more people were shoved onto the bus so the isles were completely full. The Canadian tourists in front of us were also getting off on the same stop to do the walk which made us feel a bit more relaxed knowing that we probably had a better chance of getting to where we needed to be. We started the drive at 1.30pm and we watched on google maps as the bus wound its way around the coast only to take the road up the hill with a good 8 switch backs with hairpin bends at each ends to get past. Still standing in the isle the bus lurched forwards at time and sometimes braked hard throwing us forwards. We were obviously coming across a bus stop and one of the kids of about 13 years behind us started pushing his way through all of us in the isles not caring as to whether he stood on your feet or you bags. At first I was a bit confused as to why he was doing this and tried to ask if he needed to get off at the next stop, no reply. Then the fat kid that was sitting next to him started doing the same thing with not a single "sorry" or "excuse me" in English or Italian. He had a big smirk on his face like he was enjoying shoving people out of the way and stepping all over them. I had also seen him throwing things at a couple of girls in front of him. I was really over rude Italians and did something very out of my nature. I competently body slammed this kid or from Lews point of view I hip checked him into the seats next to me and you just should have seen his shocked face at that moment of time! I won't forget his look of horror and surprise at what had just happened. I told him in English to say "scusami" (Italian for excuse me) at least and to not be so rude as he pushed past us all. I don't know whether the boy was so shell shocked or whether he just didn't have the English words to say something back to me but he said nothing. Lew did say there was a moment there where I smiled at him at the end and said something along the lines of "next time ok sweet?" Haha was I posesssd or something?! Poor Lew was a tad embarrassed and couldn't believe what he just saw. He has been seeing a lot of my demons I tend to keep on short chain come out into the open - most frequently the hangry one . The Canadian people did agree with me once the boy had past that his behaviour was indeed rude and I took that as a sign that what I did wasn't entirely out of line! I have to admit my anger had completely dissolved and I felt much much better. Also every time kids got off the bus they were extremely courteous and the couple next to us that must likely got a face full of my bum as the kids squeezed past even offered us their seat! The bus stopped at Agerola-Bomerano and we all hoped up ready to start the trail. It was blowing a gale up here and was a tad chilly with dark clouds hovering around potentially ready to ruin our walk.

The group of us made up of the 6 Canadians and one other guy from Judpur, India called Happy found the signs towards the walk called Sentiero degli Dei But it's nickname is The Path of the Gods. As the path wound around the valleys the wind dropped and it became a lovely temperature for a walk. Happy walked along side of us and we talked about what it is like in India and where he had been travelling so far. He is still studying to complete his MBA and will one day take over the family timber business. He had been doing some travelling on his own and friends met him among the way every so often. It was nice to have someone to talk to and he had been to some of the places we were heading to like Switzerland and we had been to places he was yet to go to like the Cinque Terre. The direction of the walk was perfect since most of the time we were walking downhill on a gravel path with the views out in front of us. Everywhere you looked there was either the terraced vineyards below, massive cliff faces above you or the rest of the Amalfi peninsula stretched out in front of you. The path was pretty easy and we stopped numerous times to get some photographs. Unfortunately we left the drone behind since it was windy at home we figured we wouldn't be able to use it anyway. We caught up with the Canadians at one point and found out that they lived just outside of Ottawa and were big ice hockey fans. They let us passed them thinking we wanted to walk a lot faster but we realised we were following them for directions! Thankfully there wasn't much to navigate as we reached the small town of Nocelle with big signs indicating the way down to Positano. There were cats of all colours and ages sprawled out on the steps of the town and on the track coming into the town. Many many steps later and after a stunning view of the city on our way down we came out onto the main road of Positano. Lews legs were shaking like a dog wanting attention from all the jarring of the steps! Happy walked with us majority of the way and we felt a lot happier (non intended pun there!) when we arrived into town. It reminds me of when I used to play sims when there would be a little mood bar with "social" on it and when the sim wouldn't speak to anyone for a while it would drop into the red making their overall mood drop too. I think we are often in the red keeping to ourselves but today after speaking with other people we have come up into the green!

We walked along the side of the road and the parked cars since there is no footpath to get into Positano. It's so dangerous and cars come very close to you and Lew and I even had to duck into a gap as a bus came swinging around a corner narrowly missing the wing mirror we were standing next to. As we entered town there were a lot of people crowded around a bus stop and we figured that was probably where we needed to catch it also to get us back to Amalfi where the car is. We walked down through town admiring the shops from afar. I think this area is known for producing cute sandles as there were a lot of those shops and ones selling linen shirts too. We found a bar on the beachfront and ordered some gelato cups so we could sit on the beach and look back on the city behind us. Unfortunately it was cold and we wouldn't have wanted to swim but this would be so nice in the heat of the summer.

Lew googled the bus stop as we had seen them all down the street but none of them had the schedule to Amalfi so we wern't sure where exactly we had to get it from. It turned out that it would be a 25 minute walk up the top of the city and it was 5.30pm and the bus was at 5.50pm. If we missed this one we would have to wait an entire hour until the next one so we didn't have much choice. Following google maps we struggled to find the correct staircases in the concrete jungle to take us up to the top road. We started off running the first two flights of stairs and only to find another 6 to follow them to get us to a road. I thought we were there but Lew pointed to the road above us still. Once again we started off strong thinking there wasn't many to go and yet again we were wrong. I can tell ya it was feeling pretty similar to Grit Cardio in that moment of time. For those of you who live outside NZ or arn't gym bunnies Grit Cardio an high intensity training (HIT) class run by the cult of a gym I basically live at called Les Mills. Anyway Lew was at least a flight of stairs in front of me and I was really regretting my melon sorbet at this point and I'm sure sure he was as well! It became a bit of a mental battle since I would be so angry at myself if I slowed down and missed the bus after that hard work. We came out on the top road and Lew was bend over double trying to catch his breath and we were both huffing and puffing like we had finished a 100m spring. I was pleased we had double carbs for dinner last night haha pizza and pasta!  Thank goodness though the bus stop was only 100m away and that 25 minute walk we had cut down to 15 minutes so we were easily going to make the bus now! Sure enough 5 minutes later it came around the hairpin bend and lucky for us we actually got a seat this time - I think we deserved it to. It was a 40 bus ride around the coast line to Amalfi and at each city we picked up more and more people until the seats as well as the isles were full.

The mother and daughter from NYC in from of us mentioned that the ferries had been canceled today due to the weather (literally a little bit of wind) so the buses were more full than usual. We had a good talk to them as they were keen to do the walk we just did but were leaving the next day and wouldn't be able to do it this time around. They were interested in our incredibly long trip since they were only away for 10 days and were using Airbnb like we were. We both agreed that there are some excellent ones out there and then some duds and the mum brought up the fact that their current one is very very dusty and her daughter was quite allergic to dust. They already knew I was a nurse at this point and I had my first aid kit on me with my Cosco antihistamines from Colorado and offered them to her. I figured since it was from America and the same brands as what they are used to they would feel comfortable with them. Sure enough they were over the moon and 5 minutes later the girl explained she felt better already - I did say that it wouldn't work that quickly and she agreed it was probably all in her head! They were hoping to get back in time to find a pharmacy open to buy some so I saved them a trip. The mum brought up a fantastic point in the fact that Europe is heading into winter and everywhere in the States at this time of the year (and NZ as well) there is adverts about flu vaccines everywhere and she hadn't seen a single one, I agreed but have to admit it wasn't something on my mind. Something il have to work out in London whether they push the vaccination on people as much as they do at home. In saying that I'm all for people getting vaccinated against the flu since this winter at Middlemore ED I saw numerous young people with no medical history life threateningly sick with the flu end up in Intensive Care (ICU) sedated with a ventilator helping them breath. A frightening reminder of the ever growing amount of superbugs in our world and the dwindling defences we have in killing them - So get vaccinated people! Talking was a great distraction from the seriously windy roads we were going around. It's not for the faint hearted as your stomach churns one way and then another along the coastal route. I noticed out of the corner of my eye the young girl behind me looking very pale and clutching her mouth and quickly rummaged through my bag to find the plastic bag I carry to collect rubbish. Handing it back wards to her partner he managed to get it to her just in time. Poor thing, I offered her some wet wipes and was really considering whether I had an anti nausea in my bag as well! I reassured her she didn't have much longer to go as I remembered the feeling when I was unwell on the flight from Lombok to Singapore. The bus pulled into the town square in Amalfi and I think everyone in the bus sighed with relief that it was over. The NYC people thanked me for the antihistamine and then so did the people behind me for the plastic bag, amazing how you miss nursing when your not doing it everyday as just helping people with the simplest things gives you that warm fuzzy feeling (Although more often than not we don't get a thank you). Maybe I have gathered some of my compassion back that had been drained by the time I left Middlemore ED post winter. Lew and I were hoping to drive the 1 hour 15 minutes back to the house and then walk up the road to Zio Sams again for dinner. A google search said it was closed and Facebook said it was open so ringing them we discovered they really were closed, Damn! I already had the pizza I wanted lined up! We were forced to sit down and work out the best places to get pizza in Amalfi. A place called Da Maria Trattoria came up on the top of a few lists but the price compared to Zio Sams was a lot more. Doing a lap of the street we discovered they were all much the same price wise and headed back to get a table. We were pleased to have found somewhere but were still sweaty and in need of a shower. There wasn't much in their starters so we ordered some potatoes fries meant to be a side dish but to have first. Getting two pizzas, a Peroni and a house wine we were all organised! Even the people from NYC were sitting at a table across from us so I would say it's a popular place. The fries were a rip compared to the ones we had in Rome since they looked like ones out of a packet. The pizza however was pretty good and satisfied my anchiovie cravings. They didn't make any pizza with spicy sausage which is Lews go to so he had to branch out and have one with German Sausage on it instead, not the same. Whoever poured my wine had a very heavy hand as it was a massive massive amount. Lew told me it was probably costing €5 ($8.50 NZD) (it did!) and that I had to finish it. I think I got about half way and knew this was the point I would usually stop feeling very relaxed and a little sleepy. We still had to go back to the silly parking structure and if the same mans still there I think I would need to be a bit more lucid than before to prevent a further arguing match. We joked about how funny it would be to take a raging drunk person in there only to have to leave them whilst you parked the car, man that would be some good entertainment and good payback! Since Lew couldn't help me with the wine as he was driving that terrible windy road back the encouragement to continue onwards and empty the glass went on. I really don't know why I listened to him as when it was time to go the room was a tad spiny and I had just had an uncontrollable laughing fit that ended in tears, happy tears of course. I was mostly afraid that there were people I knew in the restaurant and I wasn't sure if I could walk out of there straight. We had a short walk to the carpark with more uncontrollable giggles but still able to walk in a straight line. Luckily the same parking attendant wasn't on but when we saw that it was going to cost us €24 ($40.80 NZD) to have our car parked there since midday and it was 8pm at night we were a little angry and made sure the new attendants knew we thought it was rip off. I didn't even bother trying to follow Lew into the carpark this time and wait to be picked up like a real lady. The drive around the coast was much less eventful with less traffic and we arrived back into the house around 9.30pm a little worse for wear. Believe it or not today marked the day we have driven a total of 4180km since we left Paris on September 27th. We have officially driven from Cape Reinga down to Bluff and back up again now!