Page 71 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

arts, Praiano is a delight.
With no centre as such, WALK OF THE GODS
its whitewashed houses
pepper the verdant ridge Probably the best-known walk on the Amalfi Coast
of Monte Sant’Angelo is the three-hour, 12km Sentiero degli Dei, which
as it slopes towards follows the high ridge linking Praiano to Positano. The
Capo Sottile. Exploring walk commences in the heart of Praiano, where a
involves lots of steps and thigh-challenging 1000-step start takes you up to the
there are several trails path itself. The route proper is not advised for vertigo
that start from town, sufferers: it’s a spectacular, meandering trail along
including the legendary the top of the mountains, with caves and terraces set
Sentiero degli Dei. dramatically in the cliffs and deep valleys framed by
For those willing to the brilliant blue of the sea. You’ll eventually emerge
take the plunge, the at Nocelle, from where a series of steps will take you ITALY 4 AMALFI COAST
Centro Sub Costiera through the olive groves and deposit you on the road
Amalfitana (%089 81 21 48; just east of Positano.
www.centrosub.it; Via Marina
di Praia; dives from €80; c)
runs beginner to expert for 6km. Look for Vettica Minore walk from one end to the
and Conca dei Marini along the
dives exploring the area’s way, along with fluffy bunches of other in about 20 min-
coral, marine life and fragrant cypress trees. utes. For another, there
grottoes. are very few historical
buildings of note. The
The Drive » From Praiano, TRIP HIGHLIGHT explanation is chilling –
Marina di Furore is just 3km most of the old city, along
further on, past beautiful coves 8 Amalfi with its populace, simply
that cut into the shoreline. It is hard to grasp that slid into the sea during
pretty little Amalfi, with an earthquake in 1343.
its sun-filled piazzas and One happy exception is
7 Marina di Furore small beach, was once the striking Cattedrale
A few kilometres further a maritime superpower di Sant’Andrea (%089
on, Marina di Furore sits with a population of 87 10 59; Piazza del Duomo;
at the bottom of what’s more than 70,000. For h7.30am-7pm), parts of
known as the fjord of one thing, it’s not a big which date from the early
Furore, a giant cleft that place – you can easily
cuts through the Lattari
mountains. The main
village, however, stands THE BLUE RIBBON DRIVE
300m above, in the upper
Vallone del Furore. A Stretching from Vietri sul Mare to Sant’Agata sui
one-horse place that sees Due Golfi near Sorrento, the SS163 nicknamed the
few tourists, it breathes Nastro Azzurro (Blue Ribbon) remains one of Italy’s
a distinctly rural air most stunning roadways. Commissioned by Bourbon
despite the presence of king Ferdinand II and completed in 1853, it wends its
colourful murals and un- way along the Amalfi Coast’s entire length, snaking
likely modern sculpture. round impossibly tight curves, over deep ravines
and through tunnels gouged out of sheer rock. It’s
The Drive » From Marina di
Furore to Amalfi, the sparkling a magnificent feat of civil engineering – although it
Mediterranean Sea will be your can be challenging to drive – and in certain places
escort as you drive westward it’s not wide enough for two cars to pass, a fact John
along the SS163 coastal road Steinbeck alluded to in a 1953 essay.

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