When I first see Amalfi from the sea, it’s another of those “pinch me” moments. Amalfi is a REAL place, no longer just a picture in a travel guide.

Pastel villas climbing up the dramatic rocky cliffs. Who lives in those villas, I wonder? Why don’t I live there, continues my internal dialogue. I scan those villas and choose the white one on the left with the 3 walkout doors and big terrace for my daydream home. I see me stepping out one of those doors barefoot in white linen onto the warm tiles of the terrace with my glass of prosecco when I feel a tugging on my arm and a loud voice yelling..

“Is this Amalfi? Is this where I get off? You said you’d tell me when I have to get off. Is this it?”

My daydream goes POOF!

She had approached us at the Salerno train station because she heard us speaking English, asking if we knew the way to the ferry dock. We invited her to walk along with us, but we weren’t making good time because she was having a hard time pulling the biggest suitcase I’d ever seen over the stone sidewalks. It fell into the street numerous times and we’d help get it back up onto the sidewalk. We just made it to the ferry, my husband lifting her suitcase onto the boat and up the stairs to the top viewing deck.

On the ferry ride, she tells us she’s just finished college and is here to meet up with her friend in Amalfi for 2 weeks of relaxation and then immediately fly home. She would nervously stand up out of her seat each time the ferry would pass a distant town on the shore without stopping, asking if we are sure the first stop is Amalfi. And each time, I would reassure her and she’d sit down and resume telling us about her life. But on the approach to Amalfi, this time I was the one to stand – the necessary posture for my linen-prosecco daydream to take over.

“Is this Amalfi? Is this where I get off? You said you’d tell me when I have to get off. Is this it?”

Coming out of my dream state, I sit down and tell her “yes, it’s Amalfi”. She bolts up, grabs her suitcase and makes a mad dash for the stairs down to the ferry’s main deck. She then drops the enormous bag down to some unsuspecting soul at the bottom of the stairs and climbs down. She never looked back at us. No wave, no goodbye.

Both my husband and I sit stunned by the abrupt speed of her departure, and then we look at each other and burst into giggles. From our vantage point on the ferry, we get one last glimpse of her on the Amalfi dock awkwardly hauling her suitcase into town for adventures yet to happen and strangers yet to meet. We sit back in our seats still giggling as the ferry pulls away from the dock for our stop, Positano.

When I see this view of “Amalfi Harbour”, I simultaneously recall the sweetness of my split-second daydream AND the hilarious reality of our arrival into Amalfi.

To purchase this original miniature painting, click here.