Salerno, Italy

Tuesday, July 17

Lively and animated yet relaxed and carefree..... there are many ways to describe this ancient city.

Founded: Officially established as a Roman colony in 197 BC.

Region: Located in southwestern Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea at the threshold of the Amalfi coast.

Population: 158,900 (est. 2014)

Climate: Mediterranean

Language: Italian

Currency: Euro (EUR)

Today we had a private tour with Peppe from Amalfi Coastal Driving Dreams. It was a full day tour and there were 6 of us in total.

The first village we visited was Vietri sul Mare which wasn't very far from the ship. This little village was still waking up with a lot of the shops just opening up and a lot still closed The cobblestoned streets were very quiet with no tourists just the locals going about their business. As this place was up in the hills there were beautiful vistas down along the Amalfi Coast.

Our next stop was the seaside village of Maiori. This was a bigger town than Vietri sul Mare and was much busier with holiday makers as it is local school holidays, and tourist season. We had plenty of time to walk up the Main Street and stroll along the seaside. We even tried some of the local buffalo cheese which was just superb and a coffee for Peter and a walk to the church at the top of the hill for Shaz.

Further along the coast we stopped at Minori, a slightly bigger seaside town also very popular with holiday makers. After more free time to walk through the village and meander to narrow streets we drove up into the mountains to the beautiful town of Ravello. Here there were more beautiful vistas over the Amalfi Coast.

Ravello was very busy with tourists and it was hot! We had enough free time here to walk through the gardens at Villa Gimbrone, which offer amazing views of the coastline. At the end of the walk we rewarded ourselves with the best limoncello sorbet.... yum yum!!

We were all feeling peckish and lunch was our next stop. Beppe had made a reservation at Tenuta San Francesco Winery in the Tramonti valley which also included a tour of the 500 year old vines and winery and had been in the same family for 4 generations. Our lunch was very enjoyable and included watching the women of the winery cook and serve our meals made from local fresh produce. It was a shame that they were a bit stingy with the wine as we might have been tempted to buy some!

After lunch we had time to revisit Vietri sul Mare (which was my favourite out of all the towns we had visited) before returning to the ship.

Another successful private tour in a beautiful part of Italy.... I just love Italy!

Tomorrow a much needed sea day!

Our first stop Vietri sul Mare