Naples Chapter Five

“Excursions” 

I mentioned the chaotic ground operator we endured to and from our day in Pompeii. It was, sadly, the same tour operator who mangled our ‘small bus tour’ along the Amalfi Coast.  Our day consisted of one hour each in Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi, all stunning cliff-side villages looking out on the Mediterranean Sea with the Isle of Capri in the distance.

The guide on this tour had both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking guests.

It was clear she preferred the Spaniards.

And she phoned it in.  Horrible, just horrible.  She wasn’t interested in engaging with us English speakers and her English wasn’t that good anyway.

At each of the three towns we visited, she made a point of saying “you have only one hour to enjoy this town: parking the bus costs us €50 per hour, so don’t be late back to the bus!”

One hour, one town.  Not enough. By a long shot. 

I had studied our little pocket guide and found a special shop in Sorrento that specialises in hand-crafted wood marquetry boxes and music boxes. I visited there with my mother back in 1960. The name of this famous shop is Stinga.  I asked the guide (I use that term generously) if she could point out where the shop was.  She had no time for me and dismissed my question with an “I don’t know:” she was on a mission to guide the group to a place to try the local limoncello.  (Probably gets a cut of anything sold to her group.)

Half-way down the outdoor souk-like shops selling souvenir tat, Scott and I turned back, knowing that the shop we wanted to see was somewhere on the main square.  We couldn’t find it but had a chance to visit some nice shops away from the souvenir tourist traps. And we did buy some pretty linen tea towels.

One hour elapsed and all but a few of us were back at the bus - the late ones were late because of the queue at the public bathroom.

They were chided by the guide. 

Can you tell I didn’t like her?

Let me now step away from my acrimonious memory of that woman to make a positive comment about our bus driver, Genero.  

Boy was he a great driver.   One of those let go and let god bus driver  drivers we loved so much in Naples.  The road along the Amalfi Coast is just plain scary.  Vertical drops on one side, vertical cliffs on the other.  Narrow tunnels and hairpin curves. Genero took them all with quiet confidence.  He was the only reason this trip was worth it.

Back to the tour: Positano and another hour.

There is a little shop at the top of town, just down from the bus parking lot (“One hour! One hour only!”) La Bottega di Brunella is one of the only shops that sells clothes designed and made right in Positano.

I made a beeline and bought a blouse before we sat for a moment in a nice café for a prosecco.

Cliff-hugging Positano

The last stop (“One hour!”) was Amalfi itself. There were many crowds and few welcoming purveyors.

This is where I will interrupt our regular programming and go off on a rant:

The crowds in all of these places are simply unforgivable. These ‘day-tripper’ enablers (the bus tour operators) have ruined these jewels of Italy.  It’s just like Venice. 

The ground operators shovel tourists in and out of town without a thought for supporting the local economy.

Yes, the parking lot owners make a lot of money.  But most of the people on these tours are looking for a selfie and that’s pretty much it.

Over-tourism is a big problem here and in many other Italian destinations.

We felt truly guilty being one of these rubberneckers.

Next time, if there is one, we’ll actually spend days in one of these towns - in a hotel overlooking the sea, enjoying the quietude of the place after all the day-trippers have gone.

A postscript:

I really wanted to visit Stinga, that little wood marquetry shop in Sorrento.  I found their website and had a vicarious visit through their beautiful objects.  I bought an exquisite ‘watch box’ for Scott’s antique watch collection.  And I feel a little better now, knowing we actually added to the local economy in a small way.

Hand crafted watch box from Stinga