Saturday, September 8th

Leaving Florence, we had a car transfer to the train station to save us the struggle back across the cobblestone streets with our bags. The train ride was longer on this leg and would make a stop in Rome before we would disembark in Naples.  Unfortunately our train delayed leaving Florence, which was putting us in Naples 10 minutes after the car rental shop closed. As a result we spent the entire train ride trying to contact the rental car office, our travel company, or the main office for the rental agency to make sure the could get a car when we arrived. There was no luck in reaching anyone that could help us. As soon as the train stopped in Naples, Chris jumped off and ran to the rental office. Miss Sarah and I unloaded all our bags and gear from the train and then transported it like a pair of Sherpa out of the station. We got quite a few odd looks as we went along.

We met Chris at the rental car office and fortunately there were a bunch of other people trying to get their cars as well. Chris was the last person in line, but we did get our car. It was amusing that they rental company told him multiple times that our car was big. They were concerned about maneuvering it around the small streets in the Sorrento area. It was not big to us, and anything smaller may not have fit all our bags.

We had an hour plus drive South of Naples, passing through several mountain tunnels before getting to the Amalfi Coast. Once we were near Sorrento the streets got narrow and switched back and forth along the side of the cliffs. We headed into the mountains passing lemon orchards and agro-tourism hotels. The view was beautiful, but it seemed to take forever to get to our next stop. We had rented a villa in Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi, with views of the Gulf of Naples and Capri.

While dinner spots open before 6 pm had been tricky in the other cities, it was almost impossible here. Nothing was within walking distance of our villa and after the long drive our goal was to quickly get something to eat and buy groceries and then be in for the day. We tried three or four restaurants and were about to have gelato for dinner when we found Mr. Gregory Pizza. It was clear they were open just for tourists, as the only other diners were American and Russian. Dom and the little Russian girl played together on the patio. The fact that they both had cars was more important then being able to talk to each other.

We then stocked up at the grocery store and returned to the villa to enjoy the evening drinking wine on the patio looking out over the valley.

Sunday, September 9th

This was our day of rest; of just relaxing at the villa. It was a great place with an inside and outside kitchen, and a large fenced in yard. Miss Sarah took the bus to explore the Amalfi Coast and Dom played outside all day in his pajamas. We cooked meals outside, read books, drank wine, and recharged a bit for the final leg of our trip.

Monday, September 10th

We woke up and drove back towards Naples to Pompeii. We had booked a private family friendly tour of the ancient city. It was definitely the right thing to do. The scale of Pompeii was hard to understand until we were there.  Our tour guide loved Dom, wanted to take him home with her, and was above amazing helping us see as much of the site as his little legs could handle. It is hard to describe what we saw. It was not what I expected, but that is neither good or bad. It was hard before we went to really understand how many people were affected when the volcano erupted. To see, and learn, about how the Romans did everything from get take out food and wash their clothes was remarkable.

It was a two hour tour, and by the time we finished we were tired and very sweaty. We were happy to climb back into the air conditioned car and drive back towards the Villa; this time stopping the Sorrento. The city was just as tourist filled as Florence had been, but it was more individual tourists than tour groups. We walked down to the port and had lunch at a waterside restaurant. Then we put our toes in the water before taking an elevator back up the cliffs and looking out over the water. We stopped for gelato, picked up a few snacks, and walked back to the car past lemon groves.