There's no beach at Sorrento but don't let that stop you sunbathing

DSC02718, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The Amalfi coast is a funny place. It's described as one of Europe's most spectacular pieces of coastline and it is definitely spectacularly steep.

We caught the bus from Sorrento to Amalfi via Positano, and it winds along the top of the cliffs all the way. Sometimes you look out your window over a sheer drop to the sea and sometimes you're looking into a valley with olives growing on terraces and houses clinging to the edge of cliffs with swimming pools jutting out over nothing much.

In general, the beaches are small if not non-existent. You will see a couple of hundred steps leading down to a tiny cove big enough for three sun umbrellas. But the water is a beautiful deep blue colour and the pink, white and yellow houses liven up the place like anything.

At Amalfi we visited the cathedral and had a nice cheap pasta lunch in the backstreets somewhere and generally enjoyed wandering about up the steep little streets. Amalfi used to be a lot bigger and more important until half of it fell into the sea, and you can imagine that happening again quite easily.

We got a boat back to Sorrento which also came through Positano. I took a great photo (I hope!) of the beach, which you can't see as it's hidden under a solid mass of orange umbrellas. My photos will be ready on CD on Tuesday - the trials of not having a digital camera!

The plan was to go to Capri that evening but it was cold and windy on the boat back from Amalfi so we decided we couldn't be bothered with another boat trip and had a slap-up meal in Sorrento instead. Got rejected at the posh place we wanted to go to because we didn't have a reservation. Jules pointed out that it was my birthday, and the waiter went out the back to relay this information to someone but it made no difference! But the place we ended up was lovely so that was ok. The woman on the dessert trolley who was wearing an Italian-matron-type black sack, said reprovingly to me: 'And nothing for you' as she handed Jules his cake. It was definitely a statement, not a question, but I was not going to be put off that easily. ('No, I would like THAT one.'etc) The cheek of it!

Can't help noticing that Italian women seem to undergo a dramatic transformation at some point and give up their tight white jeans, high heels and sleeveless tops for a large homemade floral or black sack. Perhaps you just can't buy clothes any more if you eat too many desserts and this is what the black-sack woman was trying to warn me about.