I drove the Amalfi Coast!

We were almost scared off of driving the Amalfi Coast in our own car by the strong warnings in  our guide books and online with recommendations to take the bus rather than drive, citing both the difficulty of the driving (narrow, twisty roads shared with big tourist buses and daring vespas) and the huge crowds in July and August (making for lots of traffic). In the end, we decided to stick with the plan and drove from Rome directly to Salerno and then north along the Amalfi Coast to our final destination of Sorrento.  Though the driving was treacherous at times and made worse by the number of parked cars along both sides of the already narrow road in places, it really wasn’t all that bad and other than right in towns, there was no real traffic to speak of.   Perhaps all the warnings served us well, making it all seem not so bad.  And, of course the views of the sea and the towns nestled in the hills were, as reported by the passengers,   “exquisite” (Sarah), “spectacular” (Jim), “terrifying” (Julia), and “beautiful” (Rachel)…I mostly just watched the road in front of me!

We parked in Amalfi and had lunch overlooking the ocean before heading into the town to explore.   Rather than head up the main road lined with shops, Jim - with his map in hand - guided us on a more scenic route through tunnels and inside alleys, avoiding the masses of people, and up to the Museo della Carta (the paper mill museum).  Paper mills have existed in Amalfi since 1200 when the Arabs, needing the water of the area, brought the art of paper making to this coast.  Inside the mill we saw how paper is made from the pulp of cloth rags and Julia even got to try her hand at making some paper.

We walked back down through the center of town poking around on our way back to the car.  We finished the rest of the drive along the coast as the sun was beginning to set giving us a nice light on the water.

Traffic was really dense when we got into Sorrento (we later learned because they close down the main square area to cars in the evening forcing everyone to a few roads).   Getting across town and to the Hotel Spicy up on the far eastern side of town was definitely the worst part of the drive.  Once we finally got settled into our room (the closest thing to a hostel we've stayed at), we tried to motivate to find some dinner (which would have meant getting back into the car or hopping on a bus to go to town) so the idea of skipping dinner gained popularity.  We pulled out all the snacks we have been carrying around with us, draped a towel over our bed, turned on the Olympics, and had quite a nice little picnic.  We have been going to bed so late (after 1:00 am most nights) but tomorrow we are determined to have a 7:00 am wake-up to get to Capri early!  Let’s see how that goes...