Our last full day in Italy would be spent driving for the most part, from Amantea to a hotel just up the road from the Naples airport. Quite a long ride to ponder what went right, and what went wrong on the trip. Much was learned on this trip about traveling in Europe, not just Italy. The hardest lesson learned was that knowing just a touch of Italian will not get you by in the Southern part of the country. Even in the tourist areas along the coast, they don’t cater to English speaking people, as the majority of the tourists are Italians. I also gained a greater appreciation of many thing we take for granted in the States. Not a lot of conversation on the ride up, as we were both pretty worn out, and me a bit hung over. Excepting a lot of road work, driving through the lower half of the country was just beautiful. I want to return… I have to return. I could easily live there being so intrigued with my heritage, and loving mountainous places. We hit a roadside rest area for lunch, and...

was to be spent in the commune of Buonvicino in the mountains north of Carolei. We got a nice early start out of Amantea with about 70 km to cover before even pulling off the main road and heading up into the mountains. Once again, we found ourselves on paved goat paths no wider then a car at times as we wound our way up to a town so unknown you can find little info about. I had all the info I needed, a large number of families with the last name Felice lived there. We had noticed the day before a few small shrines to the Madonna along the twisty mountain roads. I’ve been told that you stop to pray you make it to the next shrine along the way till you finally get to your destination. We didn’t see a single on as we drove, so I figured we were really screwed. Cindy, a nervous wreck as normal grinned and bared it till we finally hit the town square. For a very remote sort of place, we were quite impressed by how beautifully kept the town was in comparison to Carolei. We spotted signs directing...

was our next stop. We hit the bar at the hotel for a primer while waiting for the restaurant to open. The Barmaid understood “rum and Coke” well enough, but margarita almost got me a pizza. She was great, and got out the ol bartenders guide, and mixed me a fine drink. The sun was getting low in the sky as we were seated at a table right in front of one of the large sliding doors. If you wanted a romantic setting, you couldn’t have gotten any better. Even though this was kind of a second honeymoon, romance wasn’t on my mind, just food and drink. Finally, a taste of Calabrase cuisine, something I've gotten little of since I was a kid. We discussed our plans for the next day while we dined, and as always killed more than a liter of red wine. It was amazing how much wine we were drinking every night, and I was always good for a double shot of sanbuca with my espresso. We hit the bar again after dinner for a nightcap, and wound up closing the place. It closed a bit earlier then we’re use to,...

which seems to be traveling south of Naples was next on the agenda. I know people that have been to Italy many times, and never once south of Naples. Sure, I know people that have been to Sicily, but that's not Italy…. It’s Sicily. With the car loaded up, we said our farewells to our gracious host at Hotel Il Nido, and off we went. Heading further up into the hills, we snaked our way over the top, and down onto the well known Amalfi drive. I’ve dreamed of driving this road for as long as I’ve known of it. Of course, the dreams always had me riding a more then competent bike, or sports car. Nothing exotic mind you, but something better than a Citron C2. It had a feature just like the 2010 Indy cars, a push to pass button. When I’d hit an average grade, and the car just wouldn’t pull the hill, I would depress the little button marked “AC”, giving the car that all important 3 HP more. Now, I could have squeezed more out of it, as I’m good at getting the most out of any vehicle, but my copilot...

we woke a bit late. After what Cindy went through the day before, I wasn’t going to push any issue of itinerary. She knew what the plans had been for the day, but didn’t bring them up. I instead asked her what she was up for. I thought we were going to the ruins and Naples she said, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go to a place I knew there would be lots of walking on less then good footing at times. I had intended to take the train to Pompeii, and then to Naples, so when she said lets head to the pier, I knew we were good to go with just Naples. Poor planning on our part left us waiting an hour and a half for the next boat over, so we hit the port of Naples at around lunch time. The lack of planning also left us with no clue what to see, but I spotted a tour bus and figured that might be the best thing to see the city, and keep her off her feet. We hopped on, and instead of starting the tour, it took us to their main location. Thirty five minutes later, we were finally on our way....