This will be fun…if we make it out without a scratch

I’ve been really unimpressed with the quality of Italian driving.  Before coming here I had the illusion that all the drivers here in Italy would be fast, smart and savvy.  Not the case at all.  Generally the drivers here are perhaps even worse than the largely true cliché about Asian drivers in L.A.   However, when we hit Napoli (Naples), it was a WHOLE different ball game. 

I’d been warned that the Neapolitan drivers were a breed unto themselves, with little respect for traffic rules.  We found this out quickly as we exited the main A3 north – south freeway in Napoli and hit the sidestreets on our way to Pompeii.   The change was immediate and immense.  The off ramp turned to the right and ended at a junction with a traffic light.  As if to illustrate what the change was, the traffic lights were flashing red and yellow.  “What does that even mean?” I asked Mary.  I watched a few cars handle the junction, and what it meant was that whoever pushed their way most aggressively into the junction got to go.  So I pushed my way out when a tiny gap appeared, and everything seemed to go smoothly.

The streets quickly got narrower, and the mopeds more numerous.  They weave constantly around the cars, coming in both directions.  They are rarely on the side of the road they should be on.  You have to wonder what would happen should they both be pulling this stuff at the same time.

I said to Mary:  “This will be fun…if we make it out without a scratch”.

I found it quite useful to start actually aiming for the mopeds as they came towards me.  I think this was not standard operating procedure, so when they saw me doing this they would duck into a gap and let me go past.

Most amazing was that the mopeds and motorbike riders did not even look when they were pulling out.  I surprised the heck out of one rider when he simply came straight out of a side road I was turning into, and by my continuing to turn he had to actually stop.  Then at other junctions cars would simply come onto the wrong side of the junction so they could make their way out.  Interesting enough, no one seems to use a car horn here.

I was thankful to be done with this action and back onto the freeway…without a scratch.  As we came back through Napoli to get to Vesuvius, I even said to Mary that I would welcome not having to drive the side streets again.   Not to be.  The A3 freeway is being totally rebuilt, so several on-ramps were shut, which our GPS unit had no idea about.  Then there were new on ramps that weren’t even on the map.   It was back to fighting things out on the roads of Napoli.  

My favorite “win” was when we came to a fairly major two lane road where I had the stop sign.  I just kept on going and the cars on the main road just stopped for me like it was normal.  Given our GPS had no idea where to go, and the signs for the A3 literally would point BOTH ways at the intersections, we felt pretty lucky when we found a couple of Polizia cars at a roundabout that we could stop and ask the way.  It turned out we were right next to the brand new on-ramp, so we were quickly off the streets of Napoli and back on the nice, large, and relatively safe toll road.

Ciao,

David

Mount Vesuvius and Home...

April 26, 2012

Well, a very interesting start to the day…  I was up early and showered before anyone was awake.  I just felt great after that awesome yesterday.  David got up and decided to shower, but the kids were still sleeping, so I thought I would lay down on the bed and relax and read while David showered. 

I must have been really engrossed in the book, and lost track of time, because before I knew it, I heard David yelling “Oh My Gosh” over and over and getting louder and louder.  I hopped out of bed and ran over to the bathroom to ask what was wrong, and then it became terribly apparent.  There was about an inch of water on the floor and it had flooded out of the bathroom and into our bedroom, under the bed all the way to the other side of the room and out to the balcony.

Apparently while David was shaving in the shower, the curtain covered the drain and stopped it up.  He was so focused on shaving, (or sleeping in the shower for as long as it took), that he didn’t realize the shower was overflowing.  I was shocked that there could be that much water and he not notice.  We spend the next hour using up all of the towels mopping up, wringing out, and repeating, until most of it was taken care of.  We were just lucky that the rooms were tiled floors and not carpet J

Then it was off to another fabulous breakfast, check out, and on our way to Mount Vesuvius.  On the way out of town we wanted to get a picture of all of the Lemon trees that are everywhere along the Amalfi Coast. 

David still wasn’t quite awake as he was more interested in the view than where he was driving… definitely not up to the standards he was driving earlier in the week.

Then we finally saw Mount Vesuvius in the distance… you can see the road signs for Napoli and Pompei.  How lucky are we… not a cloud around Mount Vesuvius J

There were absolutely no cars on the road as we were driving to the top.  So, it was a bit of a shock when we got to the parking lot and it was jammed full with cars and tour busses.    We arrived around 11:30 a.m., and it seemed like everyone was coming back down when we got there.  The weather was perfect, so it was a nice hike up… about twenty minutes from the parking lot/ticket office to the top.  You can see all of Napoli on the way up.

Once at the top, we could see down into the caldera.  We were surprised that it was smaller than we expected.

When we left Missoula, this was the one place that Danika really wanted to go… Nice choice too J

After spending 45 minutes on top, we did the hike back down…

Then we had some lunch and it was time to get on the road back to Perugia.  The only thing is that there was this long detour through Napoli.  We had driven through Napoli one other time, and that was on the way to Pompei.  They are working on the freeways, so you have to drive through the city streets.  Let me just say that the craziest driving I have ever experienced is in Napoli.  New York City, Lima Peru, nothing holds a candle to how they drive here.  It is chaos.  Basically, if you stop for a stop sign, you get honked.  David’s motto was just ignore all signs and keep driving to where you want to go.  And I have to say that it actually worked!  He was really aggressive, and people just got out of our way…

Of course, he was exhausted by the time we actually got to the freeway.  Luckily there is a beautiful six lane toll road most of the way back to Perugia.  So it was a nice drive. 

We have done so much driving that we are very familiar with the speed cameras… they have become our friends.  Our navigation system, Navman, given to us for Christmas by Andrew and Julie Firth, has saved us many times.  A woman with a nice British accent tells us, “Safety Camera 1/3 of a mile ahead” and you slam on the brakes because the speed limit goes from 80 mph to 45 mph just for the cameras… crazy.  The one third mile warning isn’t quite enough when you are driving 80…  Here is a picture of the Safety Camera that takes a picture of your license plate if you are speeding:  Just take a look at that guy... doesn't he look friendly waving at us?

Then there are the Average Safely Cameras…  These definitely work better because they measure your average speed, and you don’t have to slow down to 45 mph just to pass them.  I like them because we can keep cruising along at 80 and not worry about anything.  Gotta love the toll roads J

It was a nice drive back and I think we were all ready to be home again.  Kids had school the next day, so we just had a nice relaxing evening.

~Mary

Capri and Back

April 25, 2012

Exciting day.  It started off rather early as we got up at 7:00 a.m.  so that we could have breakfast and be down at the docks before 8:00 a.m. 

This is the view of the town of Amalfi from the water. It looks much better from here J

We think it is much better traveling the Amalfi coast by boat as the scenery is outstanding looking landward…

This is the town of Positano that we stopped in two days ago.  This is as close as we got by boat because there was a HUGE swell out here at sea.

There were two levels to the boat that we were on, and we were lucky to get front row seats on the top deck.   It was cold, but you could see so much more from up there.   The boat was a good size, holding about 80 people.  The fun part was going up and down the giant swells and getting a bit wet from the spray.  The swells were as big as the boat and it was quite exciting.  The skipper left the second deck controls (to go down to warmer quarters) and we were right there, so we couldn’t resist taking Danika’s picture as she takes over the controls.  We are just coming up on Capri, and you can see it in the background.

On the way into the Marina Piccolo in Capri they took us in close in order to see the White Grotto.

Then it was around the corner to see the Faraglioni Rocks (the iconic view of Capri).

The famous Lover's Arch…

They told us our big boat was going to go through the arch.  I didn’t really believe it because the arch looked too small for us to fit.

But fit we did, and as we went through they said we should kiss our partner as we went under it for luck and a long happy life together.  Of course we had to comply, and Danika caught it on film.

They dropped us off at 10:00 a.m. at the small harbor, Marina Piccolo. 

This is Jason with the skipper…

Stunning.  We had six hours to roam around the Island, YES.  The only sad part is that the Blue Grotto (a famous cave on the northwest of Capri used by Roman emperors) was closed due to the high swells, so we didn’t get to do that.  It only took me a few minutes to get rid of my wobbly sea legs as we went ashore.

Then we walked up to the town of Capri and grabbed a bus up the steep, winding road to Anacapri where there is a chairlift to the highest point on the island, Monte Solaro. Jason made friends while David was getting lift tickets.

Jason and David were behind me along with the incredible views.

Danika was in front where the scenery was just as spectacular.  It was interesting going through the farming areas…

as well as weird things like this…

Getting to the top, breathtaking…

There was a 360 degree view of the island and we took pics of the Faraglioni Rocks and Marina Piccolo…

The feeling of Ancient Greece and Rome abounds…

Then it was a 40 minute hike back down to Anacapri. 

We took a side trip to a church which added to that time, but it was well worth it.  We stopped for snacks and a rest, and the views were an added bonus…

and one of my favorite pictures...

Once back down in Anacapri, we were going to get a bus to Capri, but David and Jason went to the tourist information office and got a map so that we could hike it.  

We were NOT disappointed.  On the north side of Capri is Marina Grande where the ferries come in from Sorrento and Napoli.

 It is a beautiful hike that involves 700 steps.  Luckily we were used to the steps from living in Perugia, because they were pretty steep.  What a beautiful place.

When we reached the town of Capri, we decided to go to the main square.  It was crowded with tourists, and the main road leading in and out was like Rodeo Drive.  So NOT our scene.  We stayed long enough to take this pic and then headed back for the hike down to Marina Piccolo.

We had about 45 minutes before our boat left, so we got gelato and enjoyed the relaxing view.

Then it was back on the boat.  The sea was much calmer and it was much warmer.  We somehow were able to get the front row seats up top again J  Someone is truly watching over us on this trip.  So, this time when the skipper went below, David and Jason took the controls…

It is a two hour boat ride and Danika and Jason were so tired that before long they were both laying on our laps.

The views on the way back were just as wonderful with the sun setting at our backs.

By the time we got back we were so exhausted that we bought pizzas from an amazing pizza place (wood fired oven, Neopolitan thin crust) and had them down at the beach.  We just hung out until the sun set and it got too cool to sit before we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

~Mary