Naples, Italy

Our next port on the Med cruise was Naples, Italy, or Napoli as the locals call it.

As we leave the ship, we immediately see the old fort of Naples.

This is the actual ship terminal at Naples. It is more like a mall inside then a cruise terminal.

We have decided to visit Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento is across the bay from naples, but takes about an hour to get there.

As we come into Sorrento, we find a charming, flower-filled town.

As we get to the town center, we have a chance to explore the back streets of Sorrento.

Look at these peppers that are hanging at the fruit and vegetable market.

These tables were outside of a restaurant. They are really interesting.

And another mail box.

We met outside of a shop that only had inlaid furniture. This place was amazing and we found a table we could not resist.

Before leaving Sorrento, we had lunch at a local restaurant.

As we leave Sorrento, we have to go over the mountain to get to the Amalfi coast.

We finally get to the Amalfi Coast, which is Italy’s most famous and scenic drive. Several of the Bond movies have been filmed on this coast as well as many others.

The drive is 35 kilometers and has 102 curves. Wait until you see some of these curves that the bus had to go around.

Notice that we had to wait for this bus to get around the corner. We were told that this section was the “wide” section of the drive.

Here you can see how it winds around the mountain.

Some of the roadways left little room for error.

As we continue our drive, we find cars parked beside the road. We are told this is normal as most businesses and residences have to private parking. It gets worse.

We find buildings hugging the mountain.

These vehicles are parked. We are told that sometimes they have to park as much as a mile from their residence or business.

Some curves are so tight that the police control traffic for the buses. Notice the dent on the silver car. This was normal.

The road gets narrower. Can you believe they call this a two lane road?

Here you can see more cars parked. We met a car here and the car had to back up about three blocks to let us through.

Notice the steps that lead UP to the residence. Some homes have as many as 100 steps either up or down to get from the roadway to their home. This of course is after parking maybe a mile away. What a mess.

Again, these vehicles are parked.

This guy decided to turn around in the middle of the street. He finally made it.

Every so often, you would find a garage door, but they were few and far between. Usually the garage had been carved out of the mountain.

Again, steps going up to a residence.

And we meet another bus on this “two lane” roadway. This took some doing, but we finally were able to pass it and continue on.

If all you have are steep rocky mountains, were do you bury your dead? You don’t. You put them on the side of the mountain also.

Here are more houses on the side of the mountain.

There were many terraced areas.

On the side of the road, someone decided to make a model of one of the villages. Not sure why, but it was almost a duplicate.

How would you like to live here?

As we come to this tunnel, notice the mirror in front of us. This was the only way to see if anyone else was coming from the other direction. There were many mirrors on this road.

As we come into the town of Amalfi, we get a few minutes to get off the bus and look around town.

In the town square is the Cathedral of St. Andrea.

We walk the streets and had a chance to get some gelato before walking back to the bus.

Back on the road, we are hoping that the trip is almost done, but it is not.

On one stretch, they even had a stop light because the road was so narrow.

On our way back to the ship, we stop at a cameo factory. These are all shells they have made into lights.

It was quite a day and even though they scared the x&%$# out of us, it was an amazing ride.

I must be off!