An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Mmmm, back to yummy hotel buffet breakfasts! We slept well, though with the faint, variously-pitched tooting of bus horns as they round the corners on this ridiculous road outside the hotel. (which was actually better than the amplified, every-fifteen-minute clanging of the church bells we had been used to in Portaria) Breakfast was out on their veranda with the incomparable view over the sea. We then explored the grounds: quite interesting as the hotel is built into the cliff and descends with it, about 60 or more feet, to the sea. There is an airy lobby at street level with a beautifully tiled (bright floral patterns set among white) floor and the restaurants out along the veranda, about 4 floors worth of guest rooms and gardens for sitting overlooking the water, then three floors lower (reached in a glass elevator), the pool at sea level, which is, in fact, filled with sea water. As today was a down day, we spent the time reading at the pool and in the room.
Those activities more or less continued for most of the day. We then drove to Ravello, Italy to see the town and eat at a Fred restaurant. The town, which was a famous retreat of , among others, Greta Garbo, John Steinbeck and Henrik Ibsen, is still small and charming. It is about 5 km up in the mountains, and provides breathtaking views of the Mediterranean sea and the cliffs of the Amalfi coast. We visited the Rufuolo Gardens which were small, but well manicured and with many colorful blossoms. (and, of course, lovely sweeping views)
We then found our restaurant tucked away in the little village and had unquestionably the best meal we’d yet had in Italy. The proprieter, Netta, comes over, gets a general sense of what you want from the menu, and tells you what you will be having. We started with an antipasto plate of grilled vegetables which were somehow better than any we’ve had, and one of the house specialties, a sampling plate of 7 different pastas, which were what Italian home cooking is supposed to be. A few of the pasta dishes had some sort of filling that was so good we neither quite knew or cared what it was. The entrees were a grilled chicken - delicious - and a grilled sea bass the size of a small whale served in a lemon butter sauce. Probably the best fish ever served to man. Dessert was profiteroles, which were filled with a sweet cheese and topped with a rich chocolate sauce, and were fabulous. We finished with a limoncello - a local specialty of lemon juice, sugar and alcohol - served in an hourglass shaped frozen mineature stein. Definitely a drink we’ll be incorporating into our repetoire. We made sure that she is open 7 days a week, since we’ll definitely be returning.
We then walked to the Villa Cibrone, which is now a very small hotel with public gardens. The gardens are much larger than Rufuolo, and more subtle though they also have sections with cultivated, manicured rose, and other fragrant flower, gardens (as well as some interesting classical sculptures here and there). Set on a few long terraces descending down two sides of the mountain, affording views of the sea to one side and the mountains and valleys to the other. And the views! Again, shear and sweeping, across and down, and off in all directions. The valleys are also fascinating as the whitewashed, flat-topped Mediterranean buildings rise up along the infinitely-terraced steep mountainsides. Alas, it was time to go, and we wound back down the tiny, curving road.
As the nearest synagogue is in Naples, approximately a 1 1/2 hour mountaneous curvy drive each way, with the service in Hebrew and Italian and with separate seating, we decided to observe Yom Kippur quietly at our Amalfi home this year, though we do miss our usual NYC High Holiday services.