We had train tickets booked from Naples to Salerno, and a plan to use public transport to get us to Amalfi. The Naples metro system is quite new, and regarded a extremely beautiful, so Boronia was keen to see it/use it. The day started with a two block walk to the local Metro station, our luggage on our backs and in tow, a descent below via a lift, ten minutes of confusion about which line to take as either the signage was inadequate, our language skills not up to the task, or our combined fur degrees and three postgraduate degrees not adequate to solve the problem immediately. Finally, we managed to ask for assistance and we found the correct platform. This took us to Termini, Naples main railway station, where we had no problem in finding the correct platform, and boarded our train with ten minutes to spare.
The trip to Salerno was fast and pleasant. Thirty five minutes later, around ten am, we had arrived.
Salerno seems to be a ver pleasant smaller city/town, so after a coffee, we found the bus stop and bought tickets to Amalfi in a nearby shop. After an hour wait in the sun, chatting to some Argentinian women, our bus arrived. It was immediately full, and we were lucky, by virtue of some adept footwork by Boronia, to secure four seats, and get our luggage on board. It was now only thirty kms to Amalfi, so we assumed we would arrive in around half an hour. How wrong we were.
It was a national holiday, so the coast road to Amalfi was choked with traffic. The bus was around thirty metres long, and the road had ore curves than straight sections. Each curve required the bus to swing out into the opposite lane, and even on a good day, would have required extremely skilful driving.
After three hours of nerve wracking travel, with the traffic inching along at a snails pace, and where the driver would regularly lean out the window and encourage the oncoming traffic to either back up or squeeze past with mere centimetres of space to spare, we arrived in Amalfi. Where we had started with a full bus load, we ended up with only six on the bus at the end as all the locals made decisions to exit and walk once they got within around 500 metres of their destination, as they could walk the last half km faster than we could drive.
Anyway, it was quite fun in a bizarre sort of way. The hotel run apartment we had booked is clean and central, the beds very firm, and thus comfortable, so by four pm we were set to head out and explore the town. After an hour or so having a drink and a late snack for lunch, buying some supplies for dinner and breakfast, we settled in for a relaxed evening. Boronia made some salads and the evening sped by.
Despite spending most of the day travelling, the consensus amongst the four of us was that it had been an interesting and entertaining day. Certainly the scenery along the road to Amalfi is spectacular.
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