Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Europe Day 15: The Amalfi Coast




The Amalfi Coast is a 50 km stretch of coastline on the southern coast of Italy and is a popular tourist destination, attracting thousands annually, us included.
We figured if we got an early enough start we would beat most of the traffic ... on a Sunday ... in May.















Driving the coastal route is not for everyone.


Its a 2 lane road, that sometimes goes down to 1 lane, that snakes along the mountain. Traffic came to a stand still a few times as buses negotiated around blind corners and cars going the other way. Sometimes it was a tight fit, other times you and the line of traffic behind you had to back up to a spot suitable for the traffic going the other way to squeeze through. 






In the very middle of the seaside route lies the city of Amalfi; of course we stopped to check it out.












Traffic got crazier and crazier the closer we got to the end of the route, and after almost 3 hours of white knuckling it around the corners, driving "Italian style", we were done.
But not done with the crazy Italian traffic...






One thing that I did find really cool was the amount of bicycle traffic going up the mountain on a Sunday morning. 








I was suitably impressed.

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