Today was a great day! We got up at a reasonable hour, showered, got dressed, and headed out for the Walk of the Gods. We walked a mile to the inlet so we could take a boat to Amalfi, then a bus to Agerola, where the walk begins. The boats weren't running, so we took an hour long bus ride to Amalfi. The bus experience was entirely different than the driving one. The buses can't make all the sharp curves in the road, so they constantly blow their air horns to let drivers know they're lurking around the bend. The bus drivers are talented, constantly coming within inches of other cars, buses, trucks, barrier walls, and the sides of the mountains. It's a wonder there aren't more accidents. Needless to say, I got carsick - again. The bus from Amalfi to Agerola was about 40 minutes and there was standing room only. We stood for almost the entire time, gripping the seat backs and overhead poles to keep from falling. I was nauseous again.
When the bus finally stopped in Agerola, we got off with a young guy from New York who was also doing the Walk of the Gods and kind of just stood there, not sure what to do next. We noticed a cute little dog that looked like a miniature long-haired German Shepherd. We watched him almost get hit by a car. We asked a nice man where to go and he pointed us in the right direction. We started on what basically looked like any old sidewalk...followed by this little dog and the guy from New York. The guy wasn't interested in having company, so he lagged behind pretty shortly after we set off. The dog was very interested in company, and not that of who we thought was his owner who (we think) called after him and he ignored. After walking for about the equivalent of 2 city blocks, we turned to the right and bye-bye concrete. This was the most beautiful hike ever! It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 miles and we walked on the edge of mountains (small ones, but very high up), up and down dirt and rock trails, with views of the Gulf of Naples and the towns below - gorgeous!
The dog walked with us. He chased little lizards, which were everywhere and ran ahead or lagged behind, but he didn't let us out of his sight for long. We passed only 2 other sets of hikers and he had no interest in them. He was our little tour guide, even posing in pictures with us. He had a collar on that had the name "Bobo" on it. So, Bobo, our little buddy, hiked along with us. About halfway along, we suddenly ran into a herd of goats! There were about 30 goats with tags on their ears and bells around their neck, being herded by a large white dog - no person around, just the dog. He had a little interest in Bobo, but he wouldn't be distracted from his job of keeping those goats in line. It was so cool to see these goats out of nowhere! Though they were pretty weary of us, we still got within a couple of feet of them.
Bobo wasn't too distracted by the goats. He was just happy scampering around chasing bugs and lizards.
We were wondering where the 1500 stairs were...where? Well, we found them! At the very end of the hike when we were reaching our limits, there they were. We had to walk down 1500 stairs. They were different heights and widths, criss-crossing back and forth down the mountain. Gab and I ran down most of them, with Bobo by our side. Tim's toe was hurting, so he took his time. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, that was it. We had made it to Positano. The hike ended rather abruptly, leaving us on one of those curvy mountain roads. Thankfully the bus stop for the bus back to Amalfi was right in front of us. Bobo waited with us for the bus - which took about a half hour to get there. Then it arrived and we got on. As we looked down the stairs to the bus, Bobo had put one of his paws on the bottom stair, wanting to board the bus with us. The driver said, "Sensa bigliatto." Jack Nicholson said, "No ticky, no laundry." Same thing. Bobo couldn't come with us. So after following us for the better part of an afternoon, through mountains, around more bends than we could count, and down 1500 stairs, we had to just leave him there. It broke our hearts. We only hope that he's made that trek many times before and is home safely by now. He was great, our little buddy.
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