Minori – Costiera Amalfitana– Campania

Stunningly gorgeous!  Rocky cliffs plunging directly to the sea all perfectly punctuated with small towns clinging to their sides, crumbling remains of castle towers, perfectly appointed Mediterranean villas, and rows and rows of stacked terraces of olive trees, grape vines, kitchen gardens, and lemon trees heavily burdened with ripe fruit.  And yet with all this beauty, the most incredible feature is the never ending stairways that tie neighbor to neighbor, tiny village to large town, city to country, and sea to mountain.  These stairways are everywhere and are extremely well built with heavy stone.  As you repeatedly find yourself on these stairs in odd, remote and very high places, you can’t help but wonder about the people who labored through the punishing task of creating them.  The sea here is amazing and draws enormous crowds, yes we did partake in the “Italian style rented chairs and umbrella beach day” J .  But as soon as you venture away from the shore and into a valley, it is as if you have driven hundreds of miles to a place untouched by progress.  As one would expect, the food here shifted heavily to seafood, which has been fantastic.  Given the sun and the sea, we found ourselves enjoying the wonderful Italian tradition of the pre-dinner dolce:  our addiction ……. gelato!!!  The next stop for us is a quick two days in Rome and then home.  We can’t believe it is so quickly coming to an end, but what a fun and amazing journey this has been J