Home Sweet Home May 25, 2013 14:00
After arriving in Positano, I wasted no time searching for transportation to the town of Amalfi. Amalfi is only about a twenty minute drive from Positano, and on a normal day, there are even ferries between the two towns. But, given the unusual rough water, there weren't any boats going out today. Thus, I had to settle for a bus.
Two hours. That's how long it took to catch a ride to Amalfi. It turns out that I wasn't the only one thrown by the lack of boat transportation today. Everyone was waiting for a bus to Amalfi. After the third full bus passed our stop, a traffic police officer came over to try and resolve the situation. At this point, the line for the bus was down the entire street, and people wanted answers.
To make a long story short, the police officer ended up calling taxis for us, so I finally got to Amalfi via a shared taxi with about ten people. Luckily, I met a really nice daughter and father from Australia while waiting in line this whole time, so it definitely could have been worse.
If you remember from the beginning of this journal, one of the reasons I chose this study abroad program was because my dad's family is from Italy. Specifically, my grandmother's father is from Amalfi. Some of my dad's relatives visited Amalfi about a decade ago and discovered that my family owned a shirt store right across from St. Andrew's cathedral. I have included a picture of what this shirt store used to look like below.
I scoured the streets in and around the cathedral hoping to find something that resembled the picture, but I found nothing. Desperate to find them, I decided to ask around. Luckily, the first store owner I asked managed to understand my jumbled Italian (which included the words "Scoppetta" and "shirt") to point me next store to the Paul & Shark store.
At first, I was convinced she misunderstood me, but I gave it a shot anyways. There was an older man at the counter inside, and I soon realized he didn't speak much English at all. I didn't have too much time to make a fool of myself before his daughter walked in. She could understand and speak a fair amount of English, and we really didn't have any problem conversing.
It turns out that the older man was Nunzio, my great-grandfather's brother's son. And although that sounds pretty removed from me, you have to remember that my great-grandfather, Beepa, lived with my dad upstairs as he grew up. My dad remembers Beepa telling him stories about Amalfi, so the experience for me, was surreal.
Nunzio insisted that I take a sweater from his store, and we even had a quick expresso at the cafe next store. He was explaining to the owner who I was (in Italian of course), and all I could do was smile. Both Nunzio and his daughter were incredibly hospitable. I look forward to conversing with them via email in the future!
Catching a bus back to Positano was not nearly as difficult as the ride here. I wish I had more time in Amalfi, but I'll have to save that for the next time I'm in Italy.