May 20
In the morning Peppino was on duty in the breakfast room again with his smiling face. He was holding a frying pan with four sunny side up eggs, decorated with a tomato in the middle. Breakfast at Hotel Olimpico was a huge buffet with everything you could imagine.
It was a beautiful morning so we ate outside on one of the terraces and enjoyed the ambience. The grounds were perfectly manicured and landscaped and everything was gorgeous. I wish we were staying here for a couple of days.
There was a private beach just across the street and I could not believe all the amenities included in the price here.There were tennis courts that were free, bocce courts, a free shuttle service to Salerno and other locations on the Amalfi Coast.
This place is wonderful. It is family run and this morning I had the pleasure of meeting Gaetano, who is one of the young owners.
When I mentioned that we were driving to the Amalfi Coast and then on to Rome, he was so helpful in providing a map with detailed instructions to get to the Amalfi Coast road by bypassing Salerno.
There was a marathon going on today in Salerno, he explained and the streets would be closed to traffic in the center of town.
He also said that the autostrada from Sicily to Salerno is the worst one in Italy and is always under construction. He said that the one between here and Rome is a much better one, and in fact, the best in Italy. So at least that is something to look forward to for this last day of driving in Italy.
margieinitaly
The Amalfi Coast road is narrow and full of S-bends and switchbacks, where sometimes around a bend one car going in one direction must back down until the other car can go. This is why it is a challenge driving on it! I write more in a later post titled “Driving on the Amalfi Coast Road.”
The Blazing Trail
That sight of that road is really beautiful!
margieinitaly
Yes, even though driving on it is challenging!!!
The Blazing Trail
How is that?
Bonnie D.
Sounds like a great day and the owners instructions on how to get from point A to point B is a cosmic payback for the all day marathon of misery driving in Sicily! In re the Hotel Olimpico, beautiful place, in re the bocce courts being free, that is probably mandatory in Italy, lol! Here is a question that I have not seen answered. What does Amalfi stand for? We call this side of Florida the Gold Coast for the high number of millionaires centered in the Sarasota area and points south. Most coasts pick up various names like that so I wonder if Amalfi stands for “Margie keeps coming back” or something more local (____smiling____).
margieinitaly
Bonnie, Although one of the major towns along this coast is named Amalfi, and this area used to be the “Republic of Amalfi,” the name actually was from a beautiful nymph that was buried here by the Roman gods, and people flocked here to pay homage to her. You can read more about here here…http://www.italyvacations.com/destination/amalfi-coast/history-culture
Bonnie D.
This is my second attempt to respond. I love this blog but I am begining to hate wordpress. It keeps asking for my password and then taking me to a page that has nothing to do with this blog. I have no patience as you well know but I did want to say that I like the site you sent me to review on the Amalfi coast history. Pretty interesting place.