The Amalfi Coast

October 24th-26th

To celebrate acquiring a car and having freedom to get off of the Support Site, Dan and I decided to go down to the Amalfi Coast.  Dan would be doing the driving.

Dan had to work in the morning and we had our contract signing for our house in the afternoon, so we couldn't leave until about 17:00 (5pm for you non military people).

The Amalfi Coast is considered one of National Geographic's 500 drives of a lifetime.  I don't think Dan will soon forget it...

Here is a map of the road for those of you who are curious and too lazy to search Google Maps:

Here is a photo from the drive from Naples down to Salerno (so much orange!):

We arrived in downtown Salerno around 18:30.  This was a mistake.

1 - People were trying to leave to go home/rush hour.

2 - People were trying to get downtown to hang out on Friday evening.

3 - Salerno is full of one way streets that all go in the opposite direction in which you want to go.

4 - We couldn't find our hotel because it was in the old part of Salerno which you can only access by going down the right alley way that sometimes allows cars.  Finding the right alley way is difficult.

5 - Our GPS kept trying to get us to go down a road that was definitely only a pedestrian walkway and not one of the aforementioned sometimes people sometimes driving alley ways.

I think we spent about 2 hours driving around in circles trying to get to our hotel.  Dan was very frustrated by the time it was all said and done.  We may have left most of our tires in the old hilly alley ways of Salerno.   

There are photos of Salerno at night, but they are on Dan's phone, so I will have to update those later.

We stayed at Ave Gratia Plena which is an old monks' dormitory. 

Looking down at the courtyard at our hotel.

The outside of the Church next to the hotel.  It is stilled used for Sunday services (left). These decorative panels were all over the place in old Salerno.  We think they were for Chinese New Year.  They are made out of soda bottle bottoms (right).

Leaving Salerno!

Upon leaving Salerno we started the Amalfi Coast Drive.  On to Vietri!

Vietri is known for its ceramics and its beach glass because of its ceramics.  Apparently they just throw the broken ceramics and glass works into the sea and so the beach combing is pretty lucrative.  I dragged Dan down to the beach where I filled his handkerchief with beach glass and ceramics.

We then wandered around looking at the non beach ceramics.  I finally felt like I was in Italy when we were walking down the main pedestrian alley and a guy playing an accordion started playing La Donne É Mobile.

It was not uncommon to see the cupolas of churches decorated like this.

One of many beautiful views.  This is from the top of Vietri looking down to the sea.

Dan and the hillside town.  This is more of the residential part of Vietri, I think, but don't quote me on that.

A view of the Vietri beach.  Just off to the left was a boat rental place.  Or at least I think that's what it was.  They had all sorts of boats.  It's no longer the tourist season so I think they were putting them away.

Amalfi Coast!  Wooooo! Yes I put my hand in the water (I was wearing tennis shoes so no toes).  The water was fairly cold, but very clear.

Crazy awesome blue house.  I had to take this photo on the second pass because the first time the guy who lived there was collecting his laundry.  I didn't want to be a creeper, or at least a super creeper.

I found an Italian Mermaid for my Norfolk friends.  Mermaids are the symbol of Norfolk, FYI.

These are fish plant holders that were atop the fence around the area we parked in.  I may have immediately thought of my father-in-law when I saw them.  I may have then decided I needed one, only smaller (this is probably about the size of a beach ball).  I'm not sure what that says about me other than I now have an amazing fish planter.  It's even cross-eyed.

Some photos between Vietri and Ravello:



Our next stop was at the town of Ravello to see Villa Rufalo.   It's from around the 13th Century and has gardens and old things.  We only stayed here about an hour because that's the length of time the only parking we could find would give us.  It also took asking several strangers and finally a bartender to get change to pay for parking.

Beautiful view from atop the mountain town that is Ravello.  This town is a slight detour off of the Almafi Coast highway.

The bell tower of the church at Villa Rufalo.  It's old.  And neat.

Another beautiful view including the pansy garden at Villa Rufalo.

This is the super creepy "statute/art" that was in the pond in the pansy garden.  It floats and moves around.  Dan poked it.  I did not want to touch it.

Look!  I was on this trip too!   Here's proof and pansies!

This is also old and neat.  I'm not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it is not so sure about whatever is going on.  :-\

At this point we were going to investigate Positano, but Dan was exhausted from the stress of driving the past two days.  I don't blame him.  I'm glad he was driving.  I would have cried several times if I was driving.

We made our way along the rest of the coast to a little town next to Sorrento called Sant'Agnello.
Sunset views from our hotel, Seven Hotel:

We went to the Museo Correale di Terranova in Sorrento.  The museum mostly houses work from Neapolitan artists.  To the left is an inlaid wood "painting."

This is an inlaid wood box.  Intricate inlaid wood is apparently a big deal around here.  It is also very expensive.

So this is a night clock made by Pietro Campani.  This type of clock was invented for Pope Alessandro VII.  A candle on the inside would illuminate the numbers when it was dark.

A fun walkway to a patio with gorgeous views. Also more proof that I was on this trip.

I am fairly certain that this is Vesuvius and Naples would be off to the left, but not 100% sure.

Walking around the streets of old Sorrento we came across this cut out.  This picture is for Dan's mom.  The old town was full of little shops, most of them selling Limoncello.

A view of an "road" in old Sorrento.  It got very crowded the closer you got to the center of town. Don't worry, we purchased Limoncello.

We headed home after wandering around Sorrento for a bit.  The drive back to Naples was wide and fairly straight.  At some point we went through a series of tunnels, including the longest tunnel I have ever been in. It just kept going and wouldn't end.  I'm glad I didn't try to hold my breath through it, or I'd've passed out.

The Amalfi Coast highway drive is beautiful but stressful.  It is narrow.  It is winding.  It has huge tour busses that come barreling around corners.  I don't have any good photos of what the road looks like, but I think the map gives you an idea.

As I said early, I'm glad Dan was driving because I would have cried and given up.  Several times.  But there are many things we didn't get to do on this trip, so I see heading back in our future.  Also, I want more beach glass/ceramics.

We Acquire a Car

Early-Mid October

Living in TLA on the Support Site is very limiting if you do not have a car.  You can basically take the bus over to base (Capodichino) and that's about it as far as I can tell.  You can also take any number of ITT/MWR day trips, but that gets expensive quickly.

You can acquire a vehicle one of two ways, you can purchase it from the Lemon Lot/another service member or you can purchase one from an Italian.  If you purchase one from a service member, the process is fairly simple - exchange money, fill in paperwork, notify CMVRO (it's like the DMV).  This can be done in one day.  If you purchase a vehicle from an Italian, it is a minimum of 3 weeks before you can legally drive your car around.  There is an initial registration appointment, a two week waiting period for all the police checks (Military, US, and Italian) to make sure the car isn't stolen, and then a second registration appointment.  The vehicle also has to pass a rather lackadaisical inspection.  At some point money exchanges hands.

Dan investigated and purchased an Italian car.  It is a Honda Civic hatchback.  It more or less looks like a station wagon.  It is also a manual.  We were able to take possession of the car before the final paperwork shenanigans were completed.  The advantage to this was we could practice driving.

Every night for a week (before the car was legal) Dan and I would take it to an empty parking lot and practice going into first and going into reverse and going into first and going into reverse and going into first and going into reverse.  You get the idea.  Dan did much better than I did, though I think he actually drove a stick with some regularity at some point.   I never have.

Finally after all the paperwork and insurance was figured out, we have a legal car.  To celebrate having a car, Dan wants to go to the Amalfi Coast this weekend.  He's driving.

I Promise I'm Not Dead

Hey all!

I know it's been awhile since my last update, but I didn't want to jinx our housing.   I will totally have new and exciting things up this weekend/early next week.

Some of the things are:

• We got a car
• I started volunteering with NMCRS Naples
• We went to/Dan drove the Amalfi Coast
• We hopefully moved into our house

I hope you are all well where ever you are, and that you can come visit us sometime after the new year.

Ciao!

House Hunting the Fourth (and Hopefully Last)

October 8th

Today we are going out with Peter again to look at houses.  Since the housing process can take several weeks, I hope we can make a decision on a place by the end of the week.


The first property for today is in Licola.  It is tucked behind the equivalent of a subdivision and seems to be in a pretty quiet area.  It has a big field across from it that is used for feed weeds.  I think we would be allowed to let Ta run around in it.

	The outside of the house.  It is fenced all the way around, which will be good for letting Ta roam.
	This is the front yard.  The yard runs all around the house.
	Oh my goodness there's a pool! And banana trees!

This is the main room with a pass through to a bathroom and the kitchen.  It also has stairs down to the basement. The kitchen is a little small, but has lots of cabinet space and is well laid out.

Here is the basement.  It was nice that it is divided into rooms.  There are two rooms, a bathroom, and then the garage.

This is the upstairs hallway (left). One of the bedrooms (right).

The view from one of the balconies.  I have been told that you cannot see the ocean from here.  What you are seeing is the sea.  Facts. It doesn't look like it from the photo, but you can see water (that isn't of the pool nature) from here.

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The second place is also in Licola.  It was fine.  There was nothing terribly impressive about it, except that the neighbors' dog was on their roof.

Another yellow house! The backyard needs a little work...

The main room.  It has a fun tile design in the floor. The kitchen here was pretty decently sized and had lots of cabinets

		The patio off of the main room.
	The garage.  It's tiled, though not as nicely as other garages we've seen (left). One of the bedrooms (right).
		The view from the bedroom balcony.  In the far distance is the ferris wheel for Magic World.  I think it's a local amusement park.
		Dog on a roof!

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The third property is maybe in the Licola area. I lost track of where we were at some point. It was a nice property with well kept gardens.

	Look!  It's a yellow house!  I haven't seen one of those before.
	The side garden.
	The garden around back.
	This is the main room.  To the right are stairs, and through the area Dan is in is the bathroom, kitchen, and dining area.
	The kitchen.  It again didn't have much counter space, but there was enough space in the kitchen itself to add storage and things as needed.

This is the upstairs hallway (left). One of the bedrooms (right). The floors here are parquet, which was an interesting change from all the tile.

	A finished off room in the basement.
	A tiled garage!

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The fourth property for today is over by the NATO Base in Lago Patria. It is right next to an international school. It is very cute, but the yard is too small.

	It's such a cute house. That's Peter our realtor on the right.
	This is the yard.  There is not much too it, but it's bigger than some we've seen.
	Driveway and back door to the kitchen.
	The main room.   The steps to the left go to the kitchen and the basement.
	This kitchen is one of the larger and nicer ones that we've seen.
	One of the bedrooms.
	The only balcony overlooks the international school and the yard.
	A finished off basement room.
	The garage.  Oh look, tile!

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We have now seen 15 different places and I think we have a good idea of what is available to us.  I don't think we are going to see anything much different without drastically altering our parameters for a house. 

We have eliminated ones that just won't work for us, and have narrowed it down to a few that we really like.  Now we just have to decided which is the best for us.

I am hoping that we can make a decision and get the paperwork started by Friday.