After taking the Leonardo Da Vinci express from Central Rome to the airport we finally (& I don’t use that word lightly) meet up with the shuttle service to take us to the car pick up point.
We had booked a Peugeot 1.6L 308SW with in-built GPS but despite complaints they only had available the model without the GPS blaming the error on “your agent in New Zealand”.
The best they would do was supply a portable Garmin GPS so at least we have a GPS which is an essential piece of kit in this piece of the world.
Set the GPS for Furore and off we went, rather tentatively one has to say as it is the first time I have driven a left hand drive car since the last time we were in Europe with Jodi & Sherry has never.
In the hotel car park at Furore
After a while we settled into the right habits and made our way south sharing the driving for some 300kms.
We left the autostrade just after Naples and began a hair raising drive up and over a mountain range before finally dropping down to the coast and our accommodation.
Folks you don’t want to believe all the pretty pictures that you see on the internet as having booked a double superior room at horrendous cost the room can only be described as double inferior – there is no tea making facilities, nothing but the bed to sit on, the walls have parts where the paint is falling off etc., etc.
We are fit for our ages and enjoy walking but you certainly would not want to stay here if you were in anyway unable to get around easily as there are no lifts down to the accommodation area only step narrow winding stairs
A well worded posting on TripAdvisor might assist others making a choice from afar.
The location is fantastic with the hotel being built into the sheer face of a cliff and all rooms look out to the ocean, “Golfo di Salerno”.
View from room window…
…and at dusk
We took the drive into Amalfi township for dinner and frankly it is hold on tight seat of the pants driving on a twisting narrow (no, ultra narrow!) cliff side road with cars parked at inopportune places – on the way back our driver’s mirror was brushed by a passing car as we came to a complete halt to let it through.
Despite all of the (mis)adventures today the scenery around this coast makes up for it all – it is simply majestic!
Amalfi after dinner…
…and on the wharf
We will see what tomorrow brings – it might be that we rely on a bus rather than take the car out onto dodgem highway.
Positano
Another sunny day dawned and after a continental breakfast in the most glorious of settings at the hotel we caught the bus to Positano, a town further around the coast going away from Amalfi to Sorrento.
Like many things here in Italy timing does not appear to be a strong suit and the bus finally arrived 20 minutes late just as we were giving up on it.
A winding ride around the coast, through tunnels, and having cars back up to let the bus past on the narrow lanes saw us alight at a stop that looked down to Positano beach.
As we ambled down the street the town opened up before us, a town built high up the slopes of an almost sheer mountainside – it was an impressive sight.
The shopping area is on the lower reaches of the slopes right down to the beach and consisted in the main of ladies fashion wear – a couple were tried on but none brought, whew!
After a leisurely lunch and a couple more hours strolling around the town we caught the ferry to Amalfi, a trip that paralleled the coast line and gave wonderful views of some of the towns/settlements on the Costiera Amalfitana – how people get to some of the houses high up the slopes remains a mystery to us as there does not appear to be any roads.
As we got off the ferry (and that wasn’t easy due to the swell) we noticed a boat on fire about 200 metres from where we were with various other boats rushing to the scene.
Whether anyone was hurt we will never know as even if it made the newspaper apart from seeing a photo the rest might as well be written in Swahili.
Dinner in the piazza after spending a couple of hours in the township followed by a bus ride back to the hotel brought to an end another eye popping day in a glorious part of Italy – another place to put on your bucket list if you haven’t been here.
During the night there was one hell of a thunderstorm and the sea below sounded very vicious
When I went to the car after breakfast I looked down on she who must be obeyed!
A bus trip back to Amalfi for morning coffee in Piazza Duomo after which we visited the Cathedral of St Andrew the Apostle another magnificent example of a religious monument – it was worth the 3€ entrance fee, though interestingly St Peter’s Basilica was free!
We then wandered up the shopping area, a narrow street bustling with people doing exactly what we were doing – window shopping.
After a satisfying bruschetta for lunch we then went back to the shops we had been looking at to buy a few items.
We walked a little way east of Amalfi to get a view of Salerno before returning to the transport area to fight (yes fight) our way onto the bus to return to Furore.
Having dropped our bags in the room we walked back to the fiord and clambered our way down to sea level and paddled in the water, which must be part of the Mediterranean.
Not wishing to take on the bus trip again we decided to eat in tonight
We leave Amalfi in the morning to move on and while we won’t miss the traffic we certainly will miss the magnificent environment.
Pompeii & Amelia
We left the traffic terrors of Amalfi behind after breakfast for our drive to Amelia or so we thought.
The first hours driving was a nightmare as we wended our way up the side of the hill through narrow streets, stopping and backing up to let some traffic get by, being told by another driver in his rather wide Mercedes that there was plenty of room as we tried to squeeze passed each other – at least that is what I thought he was saying in Italian – until after passing through a series of tunnels we descended the other side and set off for Pompeii which was not too far off our direct route.
Pompeii is another mind numbing place to visit extending over many acres and in its heyday housing 20,000 people – that is until Vesuvius which sits majestically in the background decided to alter the way things were around here.
After a couple of hours (and you could have spent many more) walking around the ruins it was back into the car to continue on to our next stop at Amelia some 340kms north of Amalfi and back up past Rome.
The motorway driving is a relative pleasure but not so through the small towns and Amelia is a small town by city standards.
Not realising that our accommodation was within the walled area we had the GPS recalculating time after time as we went around in circles until we finally realised that we needed to enter through the archway.
As shown in the photos this lead to more narrow one way streets which the locals race around without fear while we almost crawl from one corner to another but finally and thankfully we pulled up outside Palazzo Farrattini, a palace built in the 1520’s.
It is a gorgeous place to stay and while it is of some size we are in one of only 4 rooms available for guests.
The owners have maintained its character in every way possible so much so that they have not put locks on the bedroom doors as “the modern lock would be out of character” – not sure what keeps the prowlers out of the room at night but we will see; I’m sure Sherry would fight them off and protect us.
Todi & Assisi
After waking to find that the Warriors had another good win and after enjoying breakfast with Ettore, the owner of Farrattini (the Palazzo has been in his family for 500 years) we set sail for a leisurely drive to Assisi.
On the way we stopped at a glorious walled town, Todi, and spent a very pleasant 90 minutes or so exploring it.
Back in the car we had a 20 minute drive to Assisi and our accommodation in a hotel right in the centre of the medieval part of the town.
Did I say 20 minutes?
After an hour of going round and round in circles as this female voice on the GPS told us to turn down there, only to run into a dead end, turn up there to find a no entry sign we gave up and rang the hotel, the receptionist of which kindly come to us and drove us to the hotel, the entrance of which we had passed at least twice before.
Soon after we were out wandering the streets of this ancient town, the birthplace of St Frances the founder of the Franciscan religious order.
Assisi is another glorious well ordered town that caters for visitors big time - it has to as it is a well visited area with numbers significantly swelling the 27,000 inhabitants.
One can spend hours just walking around looking at sights that will be indelibly imprinted in our mind's eye for years to come
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| Assisi from afar |
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