Shamit

We drove along the coast road rather than the freeway and stopped numerous times to check out the beach. Other than the colour of the umbrellas it didn't change much. The seaside towns we vdry quaint though. We ate our gourmet picnic (last nights leftovers) down by the water and it tasted pretty good the day after. We decided that we were not going to find anywhere to stay on the coast so we turned inland towards Urbino and decided that the first place we found after we turned off the freeway would do. As we drove into to Urbino we saw a sign for Casa Dolce Casa (home sweet home) and headed there. It was another rare gem. Right on the side of a hill, looking over the valley toward the walled town of Urbino, ... read more

For our last day in paradise we decided to do like the Italians do and hired an umbrella and bed. We went to Ferdinando's and he set up a tab called Australia and told us we could pay in a couple of days! Everybody else had to pay up front! We spent the day reading, swimming and relaxing. We had lunch at his restaurant. It was a fabulous day. He even gave Mum and Dad a limoncello when they paid the bill! Fabulous. For dinner we went back to Pupettos which was nice but not as nice as the first time. We had a different waiter who was nowhere near as nice as the first one. I had lemon risotto which was delicious. Back on our balcony after the final climb of the killer stairs we ... read more

A bit of lie in, breakfast on the balcony and then we headed into the downtown area of Positano via the beach path. We decided to explore it later in the day when it was cooler and hopped on a ferry to Amalfi. Great views of the coastline from the ferry, lots of umbrellas covering the beaches. In Amalfi we wandered around, visited a limoncello factory and the Basillica. Only the girls went in the Basillica because you had to pay, but it was worth the 3 euro. It houses the remains of St Andrew and was very interesting. We enjoyed lunch overlooking the beach, before claiming a tiny section of the very busy public beach and having a swim. We went back to the limoncello factory right before we got the return ferry and bought ... read more

Today is a public holiday in Italy, known as Ferro Agosto. It was very quiet on the streets of Rome as we left. Headed south on the A1, with the countryside drying out a little but still lots to see. Had lunch at a large rest stop as we didn't think we would find much open if we turned off the highway. As we got close to Naples we could see Mt Vesuvius in the distance. We actually went quite close to it as we skirted Naples and headed for the Amalfi Coast. The traffic was not too bad and the views were as spectacular as we remembered. Followed the online directions for the parking for our accommodation and wound up at a parking place that was tucked into a niche in the hillside. There must ... read more

Headed off reasonably early as we wanted to be in Manziana for lunch. Arrived abut 12.30 at Raechel's host family's house. As we had to wait for Maria to finish work Raechel took us into Bracciano to show us around. She showed us her school, the lake and the castle, the best preserved medieval castle in Italy and where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married. Back at the Gonelli's Maria cooked an amazing lunch in honour of Dad's birthday. We had proscuitto, melon and mozzarella, the pasta with beans, then chicken with peppers, melon gelati, fruit, cake, champagne and limoncello and crema. Yummmmm! We didn't finish lunch until after 4! After saying goodbye to Elena we followed Italo into Rome. We drove down the perspective street (where the dome of St Peters get larger and ... read more