Rome, Italy

We arrived in Rome getting on pretty late.  Still Luca picked us up at the airport, (in the airport no less) and brought us to our hotel, then to this little plaza area for dinner.  Finding it and a parking spot were a significant part of the adventure, but Luca seemed un-phased the entire time, and determined to get us to this place.  It was rustic and the buildings and surroundings seemed a little tired, but many people were streaming in, and having a good time, which is contagious. 

What seemed like in the middle of the street and plaza were a number of these nice little ristorantes.

We ended up at Elettra, with traditional Italian cuisine.  The food, including my fish was delicious, and the salad with crispy onions, also delicious.  The pictures don't capture the fun-ness of the place.  Casual, yet elegant.  Not too expensive, yet so tasty.  Great waiter (I think), Luca talked with him in Italian.  Anyway, I felt a bit local here.  Really liked it.  Luca, thanks for such warm hospitality.

Amalfi Coast, Italy

We had a meeting in Pagoni, not far from Naples, and I noticed a sign for the Amalfi Coast.  It's over a range, quite steep hills and narrow roads with tight turns.  In some places, not room for two cars, in fact there were a couple spots where we had a car face-off, and had to back up to let the opposite traffic through.  Another interesting diversion was this goat herder and his flock.  See his herder dog behind the truck?  Totally awesome.

 There was a lot of cloud cover, so the views were a little interrupted, but here's an idea of the rugged, steep hillside, and the coast below, with an olive tree to border.  The olives, and lemons from this area are renowned, well at least the lemons, which are a special variety.

A blurry picture out the car window, showing the steep hillside.  This is characteristic of the houses and terracing around.

Water view from the road.

Gotta love these guys waiting for something.

Here's the beach view from the center of town.

And looking the other direction, here's my travel partner, Mark.

Here is the cathedral in the town of Amalfi, Saint Andrews.  I'm not sure about that much about it, other than it's beautiful, and they were holding Monday afternoon mass just as we visited.  The bells were ringing and so on.  Quite moving.  Apparently it was first built in the 9th century during the medieval times.  Since then, it's been added onto a couple times over the centuries.

Inside St. Andrews Cathedral.

Mark and Luca talking shop.

As we were leaving the church bells started ringing.  Incredible sound adding to the ambiance.  Take a listen and look.

This is the limoncello made from lemons exclusively from the Amalfi coast.  Not much of a picture, but it's the place we purchased.  Super nice shop and people.  The aroma is pungent with lemon, more than limoncello I've had elsewhere.

As night was setting in, and we were driving along the coast, I saw this place, seemingly dangling over an incredibly high cliff.

On the way out of the area, near, or in Positano, Luca, our incredible tour guide and now friend, had a locally famous pizza place in mind.  I did not catch the name, but awesome pizza, served ever so personally by two waiters, all 100 cm of hand-made deliciousness.

Jib Jab

Here's my two traveling buddies to the Amalfi coast.  Luca is the sales exec who invited us to meet with his account outside Naples.  We finished the 2.5 hour drive from Rome to here, and 5 hours of meetings with the customer, and I noticed a sign to Amalfi.  Luca seemed to pick up on it, or had it in mind all along, I'm still not sure which.  Either way, he took us over the range, shown behind us here, to the goat herders, and beyond.  It turned into about a 19 hour day, which sounds either grueling and terrible, or incredibly awesome and a day to remember for a long time.  Last night, Kirsty and I enjoyed our delicious and special Limoncello, and I remembered our fantastic experience again.  Thanks guys, for going for it and taking me with!