Day two - The valley of the ancient mills and Ravello

The sprinkles of last night had transformed into very heavy continual rain over night and poking my lens out of the window first thing confirmed what we could hear. It was pouring down!

We went for breakfast where Allan was amazed at my Japanese to Italian translational skills, a fellow guest was asking for "hurb tea" people were called to help from reception, but the poor girl just wanted herbal tea of which there were plenty to choose from in the tea chest on the buffet table.

We doubled checked the forecast, they were all convincing in that the rain would pass through and we would have a sunshine by 11.

We got our sleeves ready and were greeted by this sight as we left the hotel it was still raining hard 

We set off up the Via Lorenzo d' Amalfi and could here the river running as a torrent beneath us. Soon we were at the edge of Amalfi town and saw the quantity of water that was coming off the hillside.

There was a sharp turn and then we commenced our ascent of the Valle delle Ferriere walking between colourful private homes with lemon groves on our left.

We looked to be heading up into that cloud. We continued along into the Valley of the Mills, Amalfi was historically famous for its paper making the mills now are all in ruins but make very interesting walking as we marvelled how they managed to construct these big buildings in this narrow valley.

We continued our upward ascent, the rain had stopped and it was beginning to brighten. 

So we arrived at the old iron mill, the Ferriera here we had big buildings with impressive arches. The Canneto River providing the power for rudimentary machines of a small iron factory where the centrelle markers would be producing the large flat nails used by the lumberjacks to sole their boots.

From here we had a spectacular walk to Pontone looking down into Amalfi town,

We were walking along a wonderfully made path that must have been years old but kept in perfect condition

We had glimpse down into private gardens bathing in the sunlight

And once through some covered passages  we were in Pontone

The details were incredible each house had the same wall plaque with its number on

Once in Pontone  the view from the village square over the valley was impressive

From Pontone we now set off to Ravello, this involved climbing many steps crossing the zig zagging road and climbing steps and repeating until we arrived in the entrance to Ravello and the square.

Piazza Duomo exists for cafe culture, the square is presided over by the Duomo with two sides given over to cafes and west open with a view over to Scala.

 We settled into a cafe order some food, a nearby table had a fabulous pastry, when we asked for similar we were told they only had one and we would have to share but suggested we took another pastry as well. The result was a delightful lemon cake and a cream and chocolate horn.

Having demolished lunch we made a move through the square

and on to Villa Cimbrone with its formal gardens laid out by Vita  Sackville-West.

The gardens have a "Roman villa" which was very much in vogue in the early twentieth century.

With formal parts laid out

We now had two choices of taking a bus back to Amalfi or using some stairs as descent back to Atrani and on to Amalfi. We took the later

Giving fabulous views up to where we had just left and down to the coast

We quickly dropped into the small square in Atrani "Piazza Umbrerto" there was lots of buzz in the square as flowers were being arranged for a forth coming wedding

We then followed a maze of alleys and stairs 

Eventually leading to the original pathway between Atrani and Amalfi giving wonderful panoramic views of the coast, the modern road runs below.

We were soon back in Amalfi and the central square of the cathedral.