Amalfi Coast, Italy

Finally.  The last episode of our blog from Europe in 2013!  Our last day, other than the travel day, was spent riding from Naples down the Amalfi coast and then over the hill back to Naples.  We rented a six passenger Mercedes SUV and driver with another couple from the ship.  What a beautiful drive, stunning and more than a bit frightening in places.  The road clings to the side of granite cliffs that are vertical and over 100' high,  probably more.  How does  a regular person, a civilian, judge such measurements?  Spectacular views in front, and spectacular views behind.  The towns are just clinging to the sides of the cliffs.  We had lunch at a hotel with a panoramic view in two directions.  Our driver, Bernardo, gave us a choice of view or home cooking.  We chose wrong!  However, the view was great and we were able to see a storm come in, lowering a black cloud from way up high until it was touching the sea itself.  Then a wide ray of sunshine burst through and lit up part of the town.  Beautiful.  Luckily for us, we had done most of the drive by now and needed to head up and over the hills and then back to Naples.  The fog was unbelievably thick, keeping us to less than 5MPH in places.  Then it was back to the ship for packing and an early get up to get to the airport in Rome and a long day flying home.