On Monday morning we drove south three hours through farms, towns, industrial areas, mountains, passing by palm trees, fruit trees, olive trees, the occasional herd of cows. So many spots I wanted to stop and take a photo of the sites but it wouldn’t be safe to stop abruptly and try to pull over with the craziness of the driving experience here.

The last 45 minutes of the drive wound us through the mountains of the amalfi coast — tight, somehow two lane roads with no visibility around the corners. Miss M stated she was not getting back in the car and D kept saying “whoa” and “this is insane” as Paul zipped us around corners and cars, busses and trucks passed us on the narrow road. D sat in the front seat and hugged Paul grateful for his life when we arrived at our destination.

Parked the car in Maiori and then walked around the bend to the town of Minori which we had stayed in twice previously. It was so nice to be back in the town and the kids were super excited too. It was a lot quieter than we had remembered previously which Ana (see next paragraph) said is because it was July and our previous visits had been in August. It’s July 26 and this week is the beginning of the peak summer season.

Lunch at Bar Europa where the owner Ana remembered us. We swam for several hours at the public beach and walked around town reminiscing. An assortment of pastries at Sal De Riso for afternoon snack (Ricotta e pere, Delizia Al limone amalfitana, Azteca, Freschezza ai Lamponi, Sentimento di Sal, Babamisu)

At 6:30p Paul drove us up to Ravello so I could buy another plate from Pascal at http://ceramichedarte.com. Pascal and his wife are so sweet. Happy for them that after the pandemic their business has boomed and he’s backordered on many pieces/patterns until 2024. Some day, maybe when I retire, I’ll buy a whole set from him and use it daily, like fine china.

After popping into a few stores, grabbing a pizza to go from Mimi and some gelato from Baffone (both which we had remembered from four years ago), we began our return trip to Sperlonga.

Paul did a great job again navigating the amalfi coast drive at night getting us back onto the autostrada by 9:15 and to Sperlonga by 11:30.