Day 17

Buongiorno,

Our day started with another breakfast at Villa Oriana. The breakfasts here are amazing, and Maria, the owner, bakes fresh cakes every day for the breakfast buffet - lemon cake, apple cake, plum cake. Villa Oriana is a beautiful place to stay, and Buzzy Bee did not want to leave. He had to have a picture with Maria and Marika.

Then we were off along the Amalfi Coast.

SS163 is the official highway number, but it is nicknamed the Nastro Azzurro (Blue Ribbon). It is one of Italy’s most stunning roadways. It was completed in 1853, wending its way along the Amalfi Coast’s entire length, snaking round impossibly tight curves, over deep ravines and through tunnels gouged out of sheer rock. It’s a magnificent feat of civil engineering, although it can be challenging to drive and in certain places it’s not wide enough for two cars to pass.

Today the roadway is shared by cars, scooters, tourist buses, taxis, delivery vans and pedestrians, as well as parked cars and scooters. It is a very busy road, traveling is slow and you have to have a lot of patience.

We drove to Sant’ Agata sui Due Golfi, then down to the little port of Marina del Cantone. This was a pretty little beach, a pebble beach. We hired a couple of sun loungers for €5 each and lay in the sun reading our books and occasionally swimming. The wind was up, but the water was still warm.

After a relaxing few hours, we headed off to our hotel, located in the little village of Praiano.

We did not have very far to go, but the Nastro Azzurro is narrow and busy. We just had to take our time. To be honest it is the crazy scooters that cause most of the trouble. They are always trying to pass you, and do not like slowing down for any reason. But when two tour buses are blocking the road, they don’t have any choice.

Our hotel is nice and has stunning views, as you can see in the pictures. Tomorrow we are planning on a wee bit of exercise.

Love to you all from Grandma and Koro and Buzzy Bee.