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| a favourite photo of Messina |
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| last meal with my wonderful hosts! |
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| enjoying the fine Calabrian wine our nobleman from Tropea gave us! |
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| arriving at Messina train station |
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| still can't believe this train was "cut in two" and loaded onto ferry! |
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| a favourite fountain at Castelbuono |
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| my luggage for my mid life gap year! |
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| Praiano is halfway between Amalfi and Positano, a great spot to base yourself to explore the Amalfi coast |
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| my digs for a few days! |
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| my room is behind the first arch |
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| grounds of la locanda |
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view from balcony
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| a fitting mural outside my room |
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| lemon trees surround the restaurant and are throughout the garden |
3rd May 2011
I am on the train to Salerno, at Messina, just waiting to cross the strait to the mainland. I have no idea how the train is actually going to get on a ferry, but I have been told it will happen!
It’s kind of a weird feeling just waiting in a nearly empty carriage. I have this crazy fear that the carriage I am on will be left behind, but the young guy behind me has just reassured me that he too is going towards Rome, and that there are always delays, but we will eventually go. They are just “breaking the train up into 2” as it’s too long to fit on the ferry!
It was sad leaving Capo. A last coffee and round of goodbyes and Calogero took me to the station. The train was running late, (surprise, surprise) so I asked him not to wait.
I’ve always been good at hellos but not so good at goodbyes. I don’t know why.
I love arrival halls at airports, watching people as they wait for and are greeted by loved ones. I especially love the feeling of someone waiting for me, especially when I am not expecting it. The few times it has happened, I have felt really loved. I find it such a pain to go to the airport that for someone else to make the effort to do it for me means they must really care!
The train is pulling out of the station, and stops again….and restarts… hang on …
We’ve just boarded onto the ferry! How amazing. Clunk. We’ve stopped.
Twenty minutes later and the train has ‘disembarked” and we are on the mainland and heading up the West Coast of Italy towards Rome.
I arrive at Salerno about 7 hours later. Francesco and Salvatore kept me company. Francesco, a native of Sicily was so impressed with my knowledge and travels in Sicily that it inspired him to explore a bit more of his own land. Salvatore was a wonderfully serious young man who was studying fine arts at Viterbo, outside Rome. We exchanged music recommendations, he new alternative Italian music, me Indigenous music, a fair exchange!
The trip to my accommodation at Praiano from Salerno is not great as I miss 2 connecting buses by just a few minutes but eventually I arrive at Locanda Costa Diva www.locandacostadiva.it which is to be my home for 2 nights to do the Way of the Gods!
Nicola, a fabulously into customer service young local greets me as I am struggling down the impossibly steep steps to reception and insists on carrying my bags. With this warm greeting my “way of the Gods” adventure begins.
A presto
Mon x
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| Praiano town centre indicating Via Degli Dei trek |
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| Praiano church |
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| children playing in church piazza |
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| these statues sit in a car park on the way back to La Locanda |
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| sun is going down |
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| this guy graces the door of Praiano's church |
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| view from La Locanda as sun sets |
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