Sentiero Degli Dei

Praiano to Positano via Sentiero Degli Dei

Yesterday we left Praiano, and headed up the cliffs for an incredible and unbelievably tiring hike on the Sentiero degli dei - the path of the Gods, which runs along the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea between Praiano and Positano.  In this area, once you are down near the water the only way to go is up and most of these little villages have endless little lanes that are staircases going up and down from the cliffs to the sea.  We left our hotel and walked up several long flights of stairs to the Via Constantinopoli and then along a small pedestrian pathway between houses to come to the start of the very long climb  - 928 steps - up to the Covent of San Domenica.  The convent is long abandoned, but is being restored by local villagers.  They say Mass there on Sundays.  A few years ago some Colombian monks lived there briefly, but they moved out and now the village is trying to restore the site.  The church is very old with faded frescoes and you can actually walk into the old convent and into the monks cells which are quite small but all look out over the cliffs and the sea.  It's quite a vista from up there!  After we left the convent, we headed into what looked like a slightly overgrown country walk and then came to what looked at first glance, like a dead end. We then realized that it was not a dead end but the trail we were to follow meaning we had to scale the rocks in order to keep going.  That was just the beginning of several hours of extremely challenging rock walking/climbing.  In a number of spots we were literally on hands and knees going up very steep rock faces with  tenuous toe holds. Not being a fan of heights, I was forcing myself to just keep looking up and not look back down at the sea so as not to get so dizzy that I would fall.  The Sentiero degli dei is really quite a hike.  There are stretches of it that are more level along the cliffs with stunning vistas out over Positano and beyond, but in a number of spots the climbing is very strenuous and not a little scary for those of us with height fears!  We were soaked in sweat and our knees were quite sore by the time we finally finished that hike.  It ends in a little hamlet called Nocelle, where we stopped for a lemonade and a little rest.  The book said we would do the whole days walk in 4 1/2 hours but it took us much longer.  Don't know how anyone could do that hike so quickly!!  Once in Nocelle we had to descend the cliffs down to Positano.  We took the stairs in Nocelle down to Acienzo, all 1700 of them!  As you are doing that descent it seems it will never end!  My knees were killing me when we finally hit the main road.  At that point we were truly exhausted and we were right near a local bus stop so we waited, unsuccessfully, for nearly an hour for a bus that never came.  At that point the only way to get to Positano was to walk, so we headed along the main road, which is very heavily trafficked and therefore unnerving till we got to Positano.  I stopped at the first gelateria for my daily gelato as soon as we were in Positano!  Then finding our hotel was also an adventure, as it is at the opposite end of the village from where we entered, right on a small beach beyond the main beach in the center of town.  After some winding and wandering we found the path to our hotel and arrived at 6:30 exhausted, sweaty and in dire need of showers and rest!  We were way too tired to go looking for a restaurant so we ate at the hotel restaurant which is right on the beach with a lovely view and we were out on a terrace.  As soon as we were done with dinner we collapsed into bed, at 10 PM!  When I looked at the itinerary for Friday I saw it was more of the cliff climbing so we decided not to do the walk and just enjoy wandering around Positano and spend time on the beach at our hotel.  Those cliffs are a once in a lifetime experience and yesterday was the once for us!!  And we will get plenty of exercise just walking around Positano as there is nothing but stairs up and down as you navigate the village.  Pics today show some of the views from up on the Sentiero Degli Dei part of the 928 steps up to the Convent, the "dead end" that turned out to be the beginning of hours of rock climbing and me up high on the Sentiero Degli Dei, in one of the spots where there is actually room to maneuver a little bit!