Assisi to the Atrani

This is our big driving day, Monday (11/26). We are going from Assisi all the way down to the Amalfi coast. We left our hotel at 7:30 hiked back up the hill to our car with our suitcases. We looked back over our shoulders and the entire valley was covered in clouds and we were above it. It was truly spectacular. I think I forgot to mention in the last post that you are almost always walking up or down in this town. Once we got the car, I had to take the parking pass back to the hotel and when I started back out Aaron came down the street with the car. We thought only locals were allowed inside the walls but it turns out that anyone can drive through while only locals can park.

Once we were on the road it was a long drive. We drove on state highways, but tried to stay off the Autostrada, which is our equivalent to interstates. There were some very spectacular views of valleys and castles or towns on the tops of hills. There was a lot of fog through out the day, but also some areas that were bathed in sun. One of the most spectacular things we saw was the Montecassino monastery at the top of the mountain surrounded by clouds. Due to being on the highway and the light we were not able to get a picture. Even though we could not see the landscape and slope of the hill below the monastery we could appreciate how high it was over the town of Cassino and what a difficult mission it was the American troops to capture the monastery in WWII.

The further south we go the road signage became more difficult to decipher or the sign would appear at the time you needed to turn without any warning. We eventually made our way to Salerno. We got within a few blocks of the rental car agency before having to ask directions, which was not too bad for not having a detailed map or any real directions.

Luckily the Hertz office is across the street from the bus/train station and we were able to get on the bus to Atrani without too much effort. The ride to Atrani was exhilarating. It would have been worse if it had been earlier in the day and there was more daylight, but luckily we could not see very much. This is the road that people always talk about almost hitting the bus or running off the road. The bus drivers are truly professionals. I think we will take the ferry back to Salerno when it is time to go to Rome.

Once we got to Atrani, our landlord met us at the bus stop. We had to walk along the road (that we were just driving on) pulling our suitcases and hugging the building on the side as there are not any sidewalks. We then started climbing the stairs to the apartment. The apartment is everything the landlord said and more. I think we may just stay here in this apartment forever. This place is even nicer than the 4-star Westin we stayed at in Venice.

We walked down to the town square to get a few groceries and then made a simple dinner. This has been an absolutely perfect birthday.