Amore Amalfi

The journey from Palermo to Naples by ferry was one of our best travel days ever. We’re soooo glad that Ricardo at our Palermo B&B convinced us to forego the train. The 8 hours spent sailing on the Mediterranean during summer … well, it doesn’t get any better. Coming into Naples at dusk, we sailed past the Isle of Capri and caught our first glimpse of Vesuvius towering over Naples. She last erupted about 1940 but the locals speak of expected activity again soon.

We are finding the Italians so much more friendly and helpful than the Maltese and our hotel guys in Naples were exceptional, even though the hotel was only about 2 star. We have resisted going on tours so far on our journey, but we made an exception for the much anticipated trip along the famed Amalfi Coast. The scene of so many Hollywood movies, we have long held a desire to visit. We started out at midday after a long snooze-in and lunched at a restaurant on the side of Vesuvius, near the ruins of Pompei.

After lunch, our skilled driver negotiated the narrow, cliff top road which led to the towns of Salerno, Politano and finally, Amalfi. The pics show how high up the road is above the teal blue ocean beaches. We loved every minute of it. I said to Judy, “the airfare to Italy is worth it just to see that part.” In all my travels over 30 years, I’ve never seen anything so picturesque. For centuries, the towns on the coast were accessible only by boat and the history speaks of residences for pirates, kings, caesars and so on. Again, the antiquity of this part of the world is fascinating to us. Naples has a 3000 year history!

Guiseppe at church had told us of the famed Naples pizza and on Sunday night we discovered for ourselves how that we had never really eaten pizza before!

Monday was travel day again and a mad scramble in the Naples Central Stazione to get on board a bullet train which sped us to Florence in just 3 hours, which included a stop in Rome. The train travels so fast that the scenes outside the window are just a blur… hence no photos. We were nervous about picking up our rental car in downtown Florence to drive to our country hotel, using the Autostrad system. However, after prayer we started out in our little Nissan Micra. We did it without once taking a wrong turn! Judy’s navigation was amazing and after not driving on the right-hand side for 15 years, I found it much like riding a bike… it all came back pretty quick and I didn’t try to change gears with the door handle once!

What can I say about the Tuscan countryside? It is all it’s cracked up to be and more. Absolutely stunning! Our hotel is fantastic and set in a valley amongst country estates of olive orchards, conifers and typical Tuscan scenery. We have a lovely room with our own little yard of lawn and courtyard. The staff are wonderful and we can hardly believe that we have a week here for less than $500. We had an afternoon drive and there are many little quaint villages just minutes from here. Today we’ll rest after the stress of travel and then we can strike out for nearby Pisa, Florence and other places.

Lots of pics to come from “under the Tuscan sun….”