We sailed off into the gulf of Naples having enjoyed our historical visits and our lunch in Naples. Football fever – Maradonna is the God of Naples. His image is everywhere as he changed ‘the world’ for the Neapolitan. One more week until the World Cup matches begin.
We decided to stay at Minori which is a small seaside town at the bottom of Ravello. It is possible to stay on a buoy here – anchoring is difficult and also if the weather changes it is not safe.
To get to Ravello there are 1000 steps up – or down – 350m above sea level to the village of Ravello and there are steps and lanes connecting all these small coastal towns. Most of the paths lead to small churches where these groups of houses / villages / communes are. Stone steps, stone walls and lemons. I love the terracing and the frames they grow their lemons on and the lemons from this area are very special. Large, sweet fruit – they grow in the shade under the trellis and the leaves.
Two beautiful gardens to see in Ravello and as it is so high it is beautifully cool and shady under huge old trees.
Villa Ruffalo and Villa Cimbrione both built around 1100AD and then several additions until 1500. Then left to fall apart and both ‘rescued’ by Englishmen who set about restoration.
We had caught the bus up the hill from Minori and had committed to walking down. Through the lemon groves, past churches – it was about 30 minutes to get down not too bad and in time for Aperitvi!
On to an area now called Palinuro. We sailed past here a couple of years ago and as we are heading towards a meeting point in Sapri we thought this would be a good anchorage for a couple of days. Mare Chiara because the water is so clear and we are in a very protected bay surrounded by huge rocks.
We are picking up Stephen – a friend from Uni and our Best Man – in Sapri. He is going the have a quick stay with us and then make his way to Slovenia. Rog and he started Engineering together way back when – Rog defected to Architecture and Stephen went on to finish Engineering. Also a boater and a ‘can do / fix it’ type of guy – lots of little jobs got done. Boys in their happy place – tinkering.
We rented a Villa in Maratea in 2010. Villa Mirasole – a 600 year old farmhouse on the cliff with a pool and olive grove. Absolutely divine with very nice villages around. We still have a warm connection to this place.
We went from Sapri to Maratea and then onto Stromboli – a very quick scenic tour of the southern Tyrrhenian. He leaves from Lamezia Terme – an international airport there if you ever need to get to Calabria.
We are about to berth Marley in Tropea for a few days while we stay with friends and have some land time in Calabria and Puglia.
Ciao ciao
janeandrogersadventure 