What goes to Ravello must return

A hike to Ravello was the final daily activity on the Intrepid Travel tour. Now I must admit I had not really analysed the tour itinerary in great detail after making the decision to book. Features that had motivated my decision to book were more the fact the tour didn't move around too much, it completed the regional destinations of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Positano, and Capri, and it would also allow me tho opportunity to swim, get sun, and get active. Oh and eat. What I did not really consider was how many stairs is that. Which is probably a good thing as I hate stairs. Don't get me wrong like my gym trainer says I'll still do it when told, but I'll reserve the right to hate the process and voice my option to that issue.

Ravello was the final stair climb. The penultimate day of stair climbing. It really was a pure climb up. From Amalfi we started the climb by walking around to Atrani. From there it was climb, climb, climb. Switchbacks aplenty were to be found. And that was not just for the drivers on the road. Luckily for hikers we could skip a switchback with a nicely placed staircase. Though it didn't make it preferable to driving up. Along the way stories would be sprouted by the guide about the history of the region. If I remember rightly there was some story of a wealthy gentleman who escaped to the region to avoid persecution involving being placed into a well on the top of a mountain. This more shows my focus on self preservation on the climb up than to remember the story. Points along the road were perhaps more for allowing me to catch my breath than to observe the beauty of the region and remember the history.

Finally all the way at the top, at Ravello, the call came out from a fellow colleague that we had indeed done the equivalent of a 94 story building. In just 2 hours or so. Arrival into Ravello was greeted without the fanfare of having completed a building stair climb. Locals were busy getting on with their Saturday. Inside the church flowers were being placed for an afternoon wedding. The public square wasn't upon arrival buzzing with tourists. It was too sunny for them to be up here away from the beach. The place was littered with a smattering of tourists without signs of being over run. It left the town with an air of exclusivity. This was were the people in the know would go. You could go into the cafes overlooking the edge down to the coastline below without being hurried along. The place was picture perfect with clean lines and paths ready for an onslaught of buses in summer. But they were not here, not on this day.

Walking through Ravello we made it to the viewing point to remember. This was after all our final view of the whole region. We took it in. Visually surveying our accomplishments of the past few days.
 

After lunch and a bit of a walk around it was time to accept the laws of gravity. What goes up must come down. Fortunately there was a means to return without a complete repeat of the path. However the reality was that this path although quicker and straighter than our ascent was also tougher and steeper than the climb. A step down may seem okay. But when they seem to design it all with a step and a half down every time you start to feel it on the knees after over a 1000 stairs. Needless to say the walk up was prettier. The walk down was about efficiency.