From Amalfi Coast to Tuscany

 Dear Gentle Readers

Today we packed our bags, loaded up the car, paid the ruinous parking fee, fired up Google Maps only to discover the only way out was back over the mountains! I had palpitations and broke out in a cold sweat thinking about braving those terrible roads again. We stopped a little way off to buy some water and had to pay €5 to park the car. We asked the parking attendant about the route out of Amalfi and he said it was fine, he travelled it every day to go to University. It was then we discovered that it was a different road to the one we had come in on and he said it is much better than the other road. So feeling a little more confident, off we went.

When the attendant said it was better, it was better in a way a headache is better than a migraine. The climb out still had those narrow streets with cars parked against sheer rock walls or next to buildings in the small villages we drove through, the hairpin bends were still there, but he was right, it was better and I started to relax a bit.

There were even places where you could stop and take photos like the one on the left.

And this one but then the road got steep, winding and narrow so I had to concentrate on driving again until we started our descent into Naples.

This was the vista that unfolded to us during the descent and the first place we could find to stop and photograph it. That is Naples below with Vesuvius in the background. If you look at the bottom of the picture (remember to click/tap them to enlarge them) you'll see a portion of the road we had yet to traverse with a rock wall on one side and a steep drop-off on the other side as it winds itself around the mountain. That bit was fairly tame compared to what we faced the day before but you get the idea.

Why are these views far more spectacular than what you can see from the Darling Ranges? Well, because we're about 5 times higher and Naples is about three times bigger than Perth, both in population and size.

This picture is taken from about the same height as the Darling Range so you can get some idea from what height we had descended from.

Once we got into Naples proper the roads improved dramatically and soon we were on the Autostrada heading for Tuscany. Did my poor heart rate improve here? Not significantly. The speed limit on the Autostrada is 130 km/h, which to the Italians is a "suggested minimum". There I am cruising along at what I thought was respectable speed of 135 km/h when suddenly a BMW, Audi or Alfa Romeo would appear in the mirror, flash past and disappear into the distance in seconds. The unwritten rule here is keep right unless overtaking. I wish Perth drivers would obey this rule. Sigh! However, after driving the Amalfi Coast road, I'm never going to complain about Perth roads again!!

The drive to Siena in Tuscany took around four hours and the person who owned our accommodation had emailed us days earlier to say don't use Google Maps for the address because it will take you to the wrong place and to follow the picture instructions attached. Trouble was, the attachment never came through and we couldn't get a response to our reply, so we continued on using Google Maps. When we arrived at our "destination", it didn't look anything like the picture of our villa. We were in the city proper and the villa was out in the country so they were right. However, the name of the villa was in the instructions - Casale Collecchio Siena - so we plugged that into Google Maps and it took us straight to our correct destination.

By the way, street names in Italy are unbelievably complex, such as Viale Pietro Toselli and Via Riccardo Lombardi or this mouthful Ponte Caduti sul Lavoro/Ponte di Malizia. I never saw a road sign with the complete name on it, I just followed the blue line on the GPS. How did foreigners manage to navigate here before GPS, I will never know.

This is our villa. Very rustic and peaceful.

Stairs to our unit with the open door. Everything in Italy is upstairs.

Our bed which is very comfortable but the wooden frame extends along the side of the mattress which makes it difficult to get out of bed.

Our kitchenette and dining area. Includes induction hotplate, oven, microwave, toaster, kettle even a dishwasher (albeit a small one), so all mod cons. WiFi as well.

Our car. Hybrid Peugeot.

And the damaged wheel arch with the plastic trim ripped off.

Finally, the narrow driveway I have to navigate to get in and out from our villa.