While returning to our room after breakfast
we noticed that hot air balloons were rising from a nearby location. We thought
we might drive over to check it out, but by the time we were packed and ready
to go, they had all flown off.
The road north from Paestum to Salerno was
dead flat and mostly dead straight. This was the Litoreana – the coast road. Although it ran very near the sea, we
hardly ever got to see the water forests or coastal resort development
obscuring the view. Like the road south from Florence last year, we encountered
quite a number of ladies of the night (day) along this stretch – perhaps ten.
About half seemed a little old for this line of work; there must be a market.
It was decided that as a special concession
to the driver on our last day with the car that he would be allowed to test if
he still had the mettle for driving the Amalfi coast. It can be reported that
this experiment was successful, with only a wing mirror getting flipped in
while passing a little close to a stationery vehicle. It is certainly a very twisty road, with straight sections
rarely longer than 20m. It is certainly interesting meeting large buses and
trucks in bends. I had to reverse once because I hadn’t heeded an oncoming
truck’s insistent horn blasts – I hadn’t realised they were intended for me.
Lesson learned.
There were some very attractive towns along
the way – you have all heard of them. We took a break in Maiori for the obligatory pit stop and coffee, also having a quick
look around town. Things were too busy in Amalfi
so we kept going. Same in Positano
which has a lovely setting, but the road took us up and over it.
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| Maiori |
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| Maiori |
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| View to hidden Amalfi |
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| Positano |
The problem with driving east to west as we
did is that you are on the mountain
side of the road, with no opportunities for stopping on the right side.
The oncoming stream had quite a few pull-outs for photo stops, but it was a little too
tricky to utilise those. Mind you, these trifling deficiencies do not deter the
locals from stopping and parking wherever they wish. I was not that brave and
the passenger would not have sanctioned it.
Up over the top and down to Sorrento. It
looks really pretty from above, but proved a little underwhelming at ground
level. We located our future hotel and determined that it was too far to walk
from/to the train station. Taxis it will be then.
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| Sorrento |
The drive around the bay to Naples was
uninteresting. The whole stretch is a built up area. The Roman ruins must be
well hidden among that lot. We dropped the car at the airport and took a taxi
into the centro storico (old town) of
Naples to our B&B. I showed the driver, an Arab, the address on my phone
and he consulted three of his colleagues where that might be. They had a vocal
discussion about how to get there and then we took off, at alarming speeds over
some shocking (literally) road surfaces. Near the destination he stopped to
consult some fellow cabbies by the side of the street and an ever more animated
discussion with gesticulation ensued. This seems to have worked as we were soon
at the B&B door. We suspect he overcharged us (no meter), but he was so
nice about it. We’ll have to be on our guard.
For dinner we looked up the pizza place
recommended by the B&B, but there was a long queue outside, so had to find
an alternate one. On the way back we wanted to but some dolci and wine to
consume in our room. We had chosen the pastries when I discovered that the
trouser pocket I keep cash in was empty. We had to quickly ask the man to stop
serving and made apologetic gestures about no money. From that naturally
followed the subversive thought that I had already been pickpocketed. This is a
zippered pocket so I thought it unlikely. On returning to our room we
fortunately discovered the cash there, unpocketed. Whew!
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