Vietri/Amalfi/Minori/Sorrento The Amalfi Coast!! 3/24

Today was our most exciting day so far.  I had gotten in touch with a family friend of the Rea’s who lives around Salerno, and Amanda and I met up with her and her friends for lunch.  Matera was warm when we left but by the time we got to Vietri to meet up with Roseann, it was cold and rainy so we once again stood out as Americans because we were optimistic and had dressed for warm weather.  We had coffee with Roseann and her friends and then they walked with us around Vietri.  Roseann’s friends have shops in Vietri so we visited them and bought a few ceramics because that’s what the area is known for.  Her one friend Cinzia, rented an apartment out in the town and the renters left that day so we went with them to see how they left the place.  The apartment overlooked the water and had balconies on both sides.  Cinzia offered for us to stay there for a couple nights but we had already made reservations at other hotels.  Amanda and I were so surprised at how much more hospitable people in the south were.  We had an amazing fresh seafood lunch where the chef just prepared what they thought we would like.  Roseann had convinced us not to stay in Naples for the night because for one, we were driving a Mercedes and Napoli is the crime capital in Italy, two, there is not much to see in Napoli, and three, Sorrento is much prettier.  So we called and cancelled the reservation for one night and made reservations to stay in Sorrento one night.  After lunch we headed to the Amalfi Coast to begin our beautiful drive.  The first town we came to was called Minori and one of the pastry shops there has its own show on an Italian cooking show.  Roseann told us we had to stop for one of their lemon pastries because the Amalfi is known for its lemons and the shop was known for its pastries. All along the drive were lemon trees up and down the mountains.  It was really cool to see.  Most of the lemons were the size of melons!  They were huge.  The next town we stopped at was Amalfi itself.  We actually parked and got out to explore the town.  Every store was selling some type of ceramic or forms of lemons like limoncello, gelato, pastries etc.  We went and checked out the church there and continued.  Amanda was driving the whole time so that I could take pictures, but it was a good thing she was driving because she gets carsick easily.  I have never gotten carsick before and I was feeling a little queezy.  The roads barely fit two cars and they are SOOO windy.  When you aren’t controlling the way you move and while trying to take pictures, your stomach gets a little upset.  I didn’t get sick but I had to open the window a few times for fresh air.    We were about half-hour from our hotel in Sorrento, when we noticed a road block.  They were working on the only tunnel that connects the towns together.  The only way to get through is a bus that comes every 3 hours.  We had to back track and go up the mountains instead of around.  It took us 2.5 hours instead of just half hour, to get to our place.  We are so thankful for the navigation system because we would not have known how to get to Sorrento from there.  Entering Sorrento was a task in and of itself because they were getting ready for their summer tourists and they had construction as well.  We were in stopped traffic for a while and then we inched the rest of the way.  At one point, our navigation system told us to turn left into a tunnel.  We thought it was closed but a chartered bus headed into it so we followed.  As we were driving through, Amanda said “It’s weird that no one is in her right now and that everything is so dusty.”  I thought that they just didn’t have the tunnel fans on.  Well…..when we got to the end, we noticed the bus was stopped because there was a gate in front of it.  Turns out, the tunnel was closed!!!  A man in a truck let the bus through and gave us the look of death.  He closed the gate behind us and glared at us until we were out of sight!