Heading down south made me feel like a tourist again.  Northern and southern Italy are very much like different countries.  In fact Italy as we know it is a newer nation than the U.S., the separate "states" not becoming unified until the late 1800's.  There is the typical animosity between the north and the south here.  The south is more rural, agricultural, poorer and influenced heavily by various factions of the "mafia". The north is urban, industrial and wealthier.  Northerners consider Southerners criminals, (in fact most crime is in the south), and do-nothings,(much higher unemployment), who live off the state.  Consequently the north resents the south being supported by it's tax dollars and would happily revert to a dividing line south of Florence.  All of that in mind I went down there expecting to have my bag snatched the second I got off the train in Pompeii.  It didn't happen.  Of course we spent our time in areas that live off the tourist's dollar but still I found most everyone helpful and friendly and felt perfectly safe wherever we went.

Amalfi

Vicki and Grace being foolish

Limoncello!

Grace on stairs/road

mules carrying building equipment

Deni on stairs of one of Amalfi's breakwaters.

This was especially true in Amalfi.  If you've never considered going there - do!  The Amalfi coast is an array of small towns and tiny villages hanging on the cliffs and crowded onto the very narrow shore of the Mediterranean Sea south of Naples.  We took a stomach churning bus ride from Salerno to the town of Amalfi on Tuesday.  The roads are all twisty and turn-y, very narrow and often right on a precipice over looking the sea.  It is really something to see.  The hillside are covered in orange and lemon groves.  The towns have few passable roads and in fact are mostly trafficked by foot up and down steep stairs and paths.  We spent the next 3 days walking up and down those stairs and paths visiting a few villages, exploring the town of Amalfi and building up appetites for daily gelatos.  We drank fresh Limoncello at a bar by the shore on a sunny afternoon, ate seafood in a wonderful little restaurant tucked into a corner of a tiny piazza, climbed and climbed and climbed, which explains the sore calves.  Every corner was exciting because we never knew what would come into view.  We ran into young men riding donkeys carrying construction gear in the tiny village of Scala.  In fact donkeys and goats are symbols of the area as they are used for hauling stuff up and down these treacherous hills.  I hope to return in warmer weather some day and see the place in bloom.  It must be spectacular.  xxoo me