Italy. Road trip, Rome to Salerno. June 2018
Day one. Planes, trains and automobiles.Packed a lot into 24 hours, arrived in Paris, quick change flight to Rome, picked up a brand new car(18 klms) and drove like a crazy Italian to Cassino. As far as we can tell, the speed limit, indicating and lane changes are all just optional. Took about an hour to get into the countryside, and then it hits you how truly beautiful Italy is. The hay has been cut and rolled, the fields are green, the hills are huge and the stone houses are perched on top. Took me 5 minutes to fall in love.
We checked in to the Grand Pavone hotel ( a time warp) and ate our first Italian pasta, the waitress didn't speak English and we couldn't read the menu, but we all managed to understand pasta, beef and mushroom. Watching the locals eat, we now know that each person orders one bottle of wine each, with dinner. And a large bottle of water, some even mix the two. Dinner takes a long time, pasta is quite firm, garlic is in everything and the cheese is fresh. Our waitress gave us both free dessert, fresh apples, apricots and vanilla gelato, it was all delicious.
We have changed our names to Roberto and Fredrica to fit in with the locals!
Sleep was great, a new day awaits, Roberto says the croissants are the best he has ever had!
Day two. Ancient ruins..Beautiful morning, took the golf cart ( see picture of car lol) down to Pompeii. Traffic is common, the guys on scooters are nuts, if it says 1 hour, it will take two. Can’t wait to get off the highway.
Arrived in Pompeii, tourist market stalls everywhere outside, naked David aprons, well endowed, Roman swords, centurion helmets and penis statues..pass😆
Inside, with our map, we quickly realized that we weren’t going to see it all, it is huge. Row upon row of tiny houses, bath houses, amphitheatres, temples and brothels. Every so often you could see a piece of beautiful carving, left intact. Some floor tiles, ceiling art, all so intricate. The structures and engineering, so advanced.
What an amazing modern city it would of been, close to the sea ports, surrounded by farmland and protected by the walls. They had it all...
Back on the road, I have gotten better at being a passenger, no more trying to brake, (Roberto threatened to put me in the back seat)lol.
We arrived in Salerno, our home for 4 days, feels great to unpack, an amazing airbnb, up in the hill, overlooking the town and sea
We had grabbed a cooked chicken, bread , cheese and salad at the store, ( food is way cheaper here) so relaxed and enjoyed the view.
I am already redecorating my house, in my head..
Day 3-sun, sea and ceramics.
Great morning to do nothing..Roberto was up early and went for a run, up hill, met a few cows just wandering around, bells on there necks.. I guess their horns don’t work..
Our bedroom has wooden shutters, so it’s 99% blackout.. he woke me at 9.30, sun was shining on the patio, so took a couple of hours to soak in the rays.
We decided to take a short drive along the coast, our first time on the Amalfi coast drive. It is narrow, barely room for two cars, let alone a bus, but somehow they all manage. Motorcycles swerve in and out, they seem to have no fear. The drive twists and turns, up hills and down, passing hillside houses, lemon trees and grapevines. Every now and then you can see the sea, unfortunately there aren’t any places to stop, so my pictures aren’t great.
We made it all the way to Maiori, a little too touristy for me, it had many shops, restaurants and bars. After a quick beer, Peroni, we sat on the beach. The sand is black, and hot! The water was a
good temperature, felt great to cool off. We are wearing spf 60, but still getting tanned.
On our way home we stopped in Vietri sur la mar, wow! It is a quaint little village, tiny streets lined with shops, shoes, swimsuits, bakers, butchers and a 100 ceramic makers. Each ceramic store had its own style, traditional, rustic, modern.. the tiles were amazing.. I liked the ones with goats on them 🙂. I tried to get Rob to buy a naked man, holding a beer, hugging a boob..but he wouldn’t 😂 see photo. I had my first glass of vino, pretty good, ice cold.. it’s growing on me.
Tonight we headed up the hill, to a local restaurant, it is so much fun to watch the people. Everyone eats late, 9pm. They start with many plates of appetizers, followed by “first plate” which is pasta. Then second plate, which is meat or fish, vegetables and potatoes..we are amazed at how much they eat! We struggled with a pizza each, huge for $9..next time we will share. We did make room for dessert, both homemade. So now it’s 11pm, we are stuffed. Time to roll into bed. Tomorrow there is a car race up our hill, so we have to leave by 8am or wait until 4pm. Plan is to head to Amalfi, maybe Sorrento, I’ve been told it’s my turn to drive!
Day 4. There is no dieting in Italy!First thing, we needed gas. Roberto likes the google woman, personally I don’t care for her, so after 2 times going in circles, she was hushed. Asked a local for directions, and found one, that was too close, running on empty..won’t do that again!
So now I am the “google woman” trust me, I said, just head north. Why do men need directions? And women like to wing it? So we headed north, and north, after 20 minutes of free styling, he had to check in with the girlfriend, we were a bit off course. I was still happy, pretty little towns, quiet Sunday morning, sun was shining..then I saw a bakery..now he is happy! He has decided sugar croissants are best for breakfast..no more granola and fibre 🙂 inside I didn’t know what to choose, Roberto got his chocolate croissant and cappuccino. Thankfully the Italians are very smart, they make mini versions of the sweets, people were buying 10,20 of them, the baker put them on a gold tray, wrapped them carefully in blue foil and tied a blue ribbon around the package, so civilized! I knew I wanted this now, so I chose 6, no clue how much they would be..I just needed them! I got my blue parcel and coffee and sat down. It’s hard to describe, there was an eclair, a baba, a chocolate choux bun, a fruit tart, a shortbread and a puff pastry I had only seen on Bake off..this was favorite, omg you could feel the layers crunch in you mouth, amazing! I made Roberto try it, we argued about which was the better pastry, mine for sure lol.
So getting lost paid off, it normally does. Oh, and the 6 mini pastries, chocolate croissant and 2 cappuccinos were 6 euros, ($9).
So, the Amalfi coast drive..let’s see, it’s narrow, twisty, up hill, down hill, slow going, congested in the day, much easier at night..and after an hour, as a passenger, you can get a little car sick!
The views are fantastic, but there is no where to pull over, parking..forget it! You just keep driving until you reach the next village.
Our first stop was in Amalfi ( we had seen Vietri and Maiori ) if you only see one town on the coast, then this is the one. It’s the biggest, has some parking, but be prepared to walk.
It’s 11am, Roberto has started drinking early, it’s Father’s Day, cheers!
There are bars and shops along the waterfront, ferries and boat rentals. It’s a busy place, day trips to Capri, or the other towns, a private boat to Positano is 150 euros. There are coach tours, Japanese are many, they seem overdressed, it’s another hot sunny day.
The stores are tiny, quaint, each has mainly the same thing, one has lemoncello, dried pasta and seasonings, another hats and sundresses, there are stores with shoes and handbags, others with wine, you can find gelato, bars, beers, pizza, tourist tack, Pharmacies and jewellery.
Roberto is surprisingly doing ok with looking in stores, we don’t spend long, picked up some pasta and spices to take home. We can hear church bells..around a corner, wow. A beautiful church, the steps, the bell tower, very cool. I resist the urge to run up and do the Rocky dance..mainly because I’d never make it!
Amalfi is pretty, you have to look up to see the homes, streets are narrow, no cars, a great place to wander. Eat. Drink.
There are many villages on the drive, some very hard to stop at, again no parking, there isn’t the room. We pass a few men selling enormous lemons, size of your hand. And continue to Positano, I’m not sure about stopping here, we have read it is the most expensive, for the elite and rich. Roberto wants to. Parking here has tripled 6 euros an hour.. our first clue. 2 beers in vietri is 5 euros, here we pay 11 euros for two drinks. I would skip this one, we couldnt see very much, the streets are the same, view of the water etc but nothing special.
On to Sorrento.
I was thinking this would be a big town, over crowded, busy streets etc. But was surprised, maybe because it’s a Sunday, but we found parking ok. It’s is a more modern town, but still has lots of character. A town square, bigger stores, bigger streets, a port, a tiny beach area and lots of buzz. We did a few streets and stores, sat on a park bench and looked at the sea, wandered through a small public garden. There is a lot to do here. The soccer was playing on bar TVs. We opted to eat supper at a large restaurant in the square. It was so good 🙂 Roberto ordered a risotto and I had pasta. Both were loaded with mussels, clams, shrimps, squid, calamari, lagostini (?) large shrimp, tastes like lobster. We devoured every last bit. The waiter, Marcelo, bought us lemoncello, 33 percent, I’m not a fan, but the cream version is pretty good. 
It was a full,fun packed day. On our way back to the car, we stopped in a department store, kinda like Italy’s Primark, Roberto got a white linen shirt, collarless. I couldn’t get him to buy the tight the navy suit.. I’m working on it, lol.
The drive back was much easier, no buses, few motorcycles and much quicker. Photos can’t really show how beautiful it is. I tried... best to come see it for yourselves.
Day 5. Déjà vu.
The forecast said rain today, but it was beautiful on the patio when we got up. Around 1pm we could see some dark clouds coming over the hills. And it did rain, but the light, warm rain, the kind you wouldn’t leave the beach for, you’d just lay there and enjoy the cooling off. The clouds were still dark, so we decided to take a drive into Salerno. Roberto spoke to the google woman for directions, I am going to have to name her soon( suggestions?) and we set off. Now the roads are starting to be familiar, so it didn’t seem right to me, that we were heading out of town. Roberto insisted she was right, and we kept going, further and further away..until, we arrived at our destination..a bakery!!
I spotted a sign that said Betwin, we went in. Trying to communicate isn’t easy, but it’s fun, they try really hard to help you, the lady at the counter didn’t speak English, her 10 year old son tried to help too. I wanted to put a bet on France to win the cup. The computer screen only showed game days and match ups. Took us a while, but we managed to bet on the France- Peru game..big payout, huge winnings lol.
Salerno is larger town, has everything, great seafront, bigger retail shops, a mall and a town square. We parked at the mall, first time for free parking..expect to pay between 2-3 euros an hour in most places for parking. The mall was 3 levels, lots of interesting stores, great shoes.
I am finding the men’s clothing better than the women’s here. I have posted pictures of Roberto in his Canada shirt and shorts..sigh.
And in a navy blue suit, I can’t get him to buy one..
The town itself is nice, no cars on the main strip, just stores, bars and restaurants. It seems no one eats supper until 9pm ( except the tourists) it took us a while to get on schedule, but it was worth it. By 9 pm it’s dark, the restaurants are full, it’s warm enough to sit outside and the lights are so pretty. We had pizza again, the prices are unreal.. they are huge, enough for two, loaded with toppings and mozzarella. The price only 7 euros ($11)
It was a good day, took it easy, relaxed and wandered around, we needed a down day. 🙂
Time to pack, we really enjoyed our stay in an Airbnb, overlooking Salerno, we couldn't have had a nicer host, better view and a cuter dog!
We had a lovely terrace, to sit and enjoy morning coffee, soak up some sun and plan our day.
Day 6. It gets better and better..
Today we switched locations, from the south west to the south east coast. Roberto asked directions from the google woman, Perdita is her name, thanks Gina ( I was going to call her Brenda) and we set off. Strangely, we “had” to go passed the 3 Angels pastry shop, there were all new choices today!so good.
Our road trip across the middle, wasn’t mentioned in our guide books. Turns out it is farmland, the hay had been cut, but not rolled, the hills were bright yellow, it actually looked like a desert. Very small hills, mostly flat. After an hour on the autostrada, we turned off the highway ( yay!) and soon came to Potenza, a tiny little village, very cute.
We stopped for coffee in the town square, high on top of the hill. There were a few shops, lots of lottery stores, we might have to buy a ticket, I wonder if there’s tax on winnings?! It was just after noon and many were closing for their 2 hour lunch break and afternoon nap, I commented to Roberto, that this was a great idea. He said, it only applies to people who actually work in the mornings!lol.
You know me, love a sale, so we went in. It was a mismatch of new clothes, all Italian, kind of like a pop up shop, at discounted prices. They had menswear! Very, very nice menswear! I picked out a blue jacket, and had him try it on. The fit, it was slim, stretch and so fitted..the sales lady smiled. She didn’t speak English, but we both nodded and agreed he needed this! I pointed to his legs. She smiled again, and pulled out a slim fit pant. I pointed to his feet. Again, she nodded and pick out navy blue shoes..this woman could read my mind 🙂 she gathered up all things and pointed to downstairs. Roberto didn’t seem to mind, he followed her, while I browsed upstairs. A few minutes later, she came up and signalled to me, to come see him. She was smiling.
This trip is for our 25th wedding anniversary. I love this man, he is funny, kind and there when I need support and hugs. And he gets better with age..
I walked downstairs, and omg, wow! He looked amazing, head to toe, shoes, pants, shirt and jacket. I have never seen him dressed so well, it all fit perfectly. The sales lady said “top model”! At this point, I didn’t care what it cost, you have to buy it all I said! And he did! I am a happy bunny 😉.
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