Driving in Italy = Screwed with a Capital S...
Just so you know, when you are driving a car in Italy, these are your options and your outcomes with each possibility:
#1: Drive with a GPS. Long story short, you're screwed.
#2: Drive without a GPS. Long story short, you're screwed.
#3: Just screw it and leave the driving to someone else. You guessed it, you could very well be screwed.
Chris and I went for option number one and guess what happened?
We were screwed.
Big surprise.
As for option #2, when driving without a GPS, let's be real: atlases are not fun to read for ANYONE. Much less in Italian words, with squiggly lines darting all over the flipping pages. Not to mention, you can never really guesstimate when you will arrive somewhere because, there are no guesstimations in Italy. It's worse than knowing what time you will get somewhere in NYC. One squiggle could get you somewhere in twenty minutes while the other squiggle requires at least an hour to conquer.
As for option #3, leaving the driving to someone else, sometimes you get thrown on and off buses with people shouting and shoving in Italian and before you can even try to question where you are or where you are going, and before you know it or can do anything about it, you are on your way...to somewhere...
And last, but not least, behind door number #1 is option #1, which is driving with a GPS. With GPS on the windshield, atlases galore upon my lap, as well as printed directions from the hotel itself, Chris and I were ready to make our 4 1/2 hour trip from Siena to the Almafi.
Let's just say Chris and I went upon a windy road to reach our afforable hotel on the TIP top of the mountain. A road where, once again, vespas, blind spots, non looking for traffic pedestrians, huge buses taking up two lanes, and pure hellish insanity is all happening at once.
While still trying to figure out where the hell we are going.
It takes us, what seems to be a lifetime to reach the hotel and when we enter, the man who greets us looks at Chris's worn face and says, "GPS?"
Sitcom material I tell you.
I do love this hotel due to the view of the entire mountain including Mount Vesuvius and Dino, our new hotel conceierge, who I think gets a pretty big kick out of the two of us (not the first...).
After recovering, Chris and I muster up strength and determination to take the shuttle into Sorrento. A beautiful town, Sorrento! Tucked into the side of the mountain--it's amazing how people have made these structures, towns, cities on the side of the mountains. Appalachain mountain people and life x's 1000! So impressed, I love the city and yet again, I find myself thinking that I could also move to this city in a heartbeat.
We eat at a restaurant called Aurora and we share a caprese salad (again, tomatoes here are to DIE for!) and I get gnocchi with red marinara this time while Chris gets a lasanga. While we dine, we chat with an adorable retired British couple who sit very close to us. We share our life stories and trip itneraries, as always. This is something I love and hate about traveling: you have to accept that you will meet a million people and you will always talk about your trip itnerary. Although sometimes exhausting, if you have a trip coming up, don't close yourself off to talking to as many people as possible-American or non-about your trip, life and etc. You can learn a lot for your next trip, what you didn't think about telling someone else, and what really sounds like it'd appeal to you and what doesn't!
Then, I ordered a coffee (no, it doesn't keep me up, even after eating at 10 PM!) and we get a lemon dessert. Lemon is what the Almafi is known for, much less lemoncello. If it's not from Almafi, it's not lemoncello, or so they say. This desert, strong in flavor and tartness, literally melted in my mouth.
My God, I'll be running twenty miles a day when I get back to rid of this vaca weight.
And after dinner, Chris and I, exhausted, defeated, but as always here, happy, turned in for the night. The next day, we knew would be a boat excursion for the Almafi coast. Excited much! :D
Ciao for now!
Love love,
Adrienne
#1: Drive with a GPS. Long story short, you're screwed.
#2: Drive without a GPS. Long story short, you're screwed.
#3: Just screw it and leave the driving to someone else. You guessed it, you could very well be screwed.
Chris and I went for option number one and guess what happened?
We were screwed.
Big surprise.
As for option #2, when driving without a GPS, let's be real: atlases are not fun to read for ANYONE. Much less in Italian words, with squiggly lines darting all over the flipping pages. Not to mention, you can never really guesstimate when you will arrive somewhere because, there are no guesstimations in Italy. It's worse than knowing what time you will get somewhere in NYC. One squiggle could get you somewhere in twenty minutes while the other squiggle requires at least an hour to conquer.
As for option #3, leaving the driving to someone else, sometimes you get thrown on and off buses with people shouting and shoving in Italian and before you can even try to question where you are or where you are going, and before you know it or can do anything about it, you are on your way...to somewhere...
And last, but not least, behind door number #1 is option #1, which is driving with a GPS. With GPS on the windshield, atlases galore upon my lap, as well as printed directions from the hotel itself, Chris and I were ready to make our 4 1/2 hour trip from Siena to the Almafi.
Let's just say Chris and I went upon a windy road to reach our afforable hotel on the TIP top of the mountain. A road where, once again, vespas, blind spots, non looking for traffic pedestrians, huge buses taking up two lanes, and pure hellish insanity is all happening at once.
While still trying to figure out where the hell we are going.
It takes us, what seems to be a lifetime to reach the hotel and when we enter, the man who greets us looks at Chris's worn face and says, "GPS?"
Sitcom material I tell you.
I do love this hotel due to the view of the entire mountain including Mount Vesuvius and Dino, our new hotel conceierge, who I think gets a pretty big kick out of the two of us (not the first...).
After recovering, Chris and I muster up strength and determination to take the shuttle into Sorrento. A beautiful town, Sorrento! Tucked into the side of the mountain--it's amazing how people have made these structures, towns, cities on the side of the mountains. Appalachain mountain people and life x's 1000! So impressed, I love the city and yet again, I find myself thinking that I could also move to this city in a heartbeat.
We eat at a restaurant called Aurora and we share a caprese salad (again, tomatoes here are to DIE for!) and I get gnocchi with red marinara this time while Chris gets a lasanga. While we dine, we chat with an adorable retired British couple who sit very close to us. We share our life stories and trip itneraries, as always. This is something I love and hate about traveling: you have to accept that you will meet a million people and you will always talk about your trip itnerary. Although sometimes exhausting, if you have a trip coming up, don't close yourself off to talking to as many people as possible-American or non-about your trip, life and etc. You can learn a lot for your next trip, what you didn't think about telling someone else, and what really sounds like it'd appeal to you and what doesn't!
Then, I ordered a coffee (no, it doesn't keep me up, even after eating at 10 PM!) and we get a lemon dessert. Lemon is what the Almafi is known for, much less lemoncello. If it's not from Almafi, it's not lemoncello, or so they say. This desert, strong in flavor and tartness, literally melted in my mouth.
My God, I'll be running twenty miles a day when I get back to rid of this vaca weight.
And after dinner, Chris and I, exhausted, defeated, but as always here, happy, turned in for the night. The next day, we knew would be a boat excursion for the Almafi coast. Excited much! :D
Ciao for now!
Love love,
Adrienne
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