Along this coast there are several small towns, which each used to be separate kingdoms. Some of them still have ramparts existing today. Amalfi is one such "capital city", and is one of the main ports from where you can get boats to Sorrento or Napoli. Believe it or not, there used to be 80,000 inhabitants here, before most of the town slid into the sea after an earthquake in 1343. Now it has a population of about 5,000.
Below is the church in the centre of the previous pictures...
...although it isn't the cathedral, as that is shown here, trying to avoid the evidence of renovations. Parts of it date from between the 9th and 12th centuries, and it was built in the Arab/Norman style, which is unusual for Italy.
Looking uphill from the Piazza del Duomo, the main shopping street has a good variety of shops - pizzerias (where we had lunch), newsagents, electrical, and anything the inhabitants would want...
Further uphill the street narrows off a bit, only accessible by scooters and walkers. The street gives onto a patch which leads for miles over the mountains, like the one we followed in Capri town, depicted on another page.
Now let's embark! Click here to continue by boat...