After closing the Napoli (Naples) airport for several hours due to an emergency landing and the Pope’s visit, we finally arrived at our hotel in Praiano late in the afternoon on Wednesday. Praiano is a charming town between Positano and Amalfi on the Amalfi Coast. We chose Praiano instead of the very popular town of Positano because of the wonderful reviews we read about the Hotel Onda Verde. Upon arrival, we were not disappointed. This “boutique” hotel is right on the cliffs; and, our room has a large private deck with spectacular views of the ocean and coastline. The scenery is absolutely stunning and the breakfast and dinners at the Onda Verde are superb-the best dining, so far, on our trip.
We were supposed to go over to the island of Capri Thursday; however, the ocean was too choppy and the trip was postponed. We opted to tramp the very famous Path of the Gods (a.k.a. Sentiero degli Dei). There are several path options for this hike (most hikers take a bus to a village above the path and walk down to the trail head). We, unknowingly, chose the most difficult and strenuous. To get to the main path on top of the mountain behind our hotel, we had to walk up literally thousands of stone steps through town and then large stone steps on a farmer’s path totaling a vertical climb of almost 1700 feet. To get to the trail head was a strenuous 1 1/2+ hour adventure. The breathtaking panoramas of the Amalfi Coast were stupendous. The Path of the Gods took us past caves and vineyards and followed along a narrow mountain trail with sheer drops. Anyone who suffers from vertigo, probably should not attempt this hike! (We later learned that someone had fallen today and had to be helicoptered out to a hospital.) We continued climbing additional steps and scrambling over a few challenging areas for another couple of hours until we started our descent into Positano. In addition to following a narrow road, the final descent includes a walkway with almost 2000 steps. Those steps use another set of muscles that the uphill steps ignored.
The hotel recommended a restaurant on their hand drawn map. We stumbled upon it on the way down (to say the map was even close to scale would be a major understatement). We were surprised at the large number of diners at this out of the way location which had incredible views of the coastline. We chose the “light lunch” and Lesley’s request of a glass of wine brought a bottle of the owner’s own named wine. A glass was not an option but the wine was some of the best that we have had in Italy. After 7 different antipasto dishes we thought we were done. Then came the pasta! It was great but we would hate to attempt to eat the “regular” lunch. Later we learned it was rated the 4th best Positano restaurant on Trip Advisor.
After lunch and the final 2+ mile walk plus the 2000 step walkway, we wandered around Positano with its lovely retail shops and lots of tourists. Although the walk back to our hotel was only 3 miles, we chose the local bus as the winding road without any sidewalks is extremely narrow and all uphill to Praiano. A great but very tiring day of 6 1/2 hours of hiking.
