Besties!

 

    Meet my new Bestie Salvador. This banana-sling petite guy was larger than life greeting people coming and going on the ferry from Salerno to the Amalfi coast. I just HAD to have selfie with him. Bridget tells me that's me in 10 years. I told her just shoot me now....

    A long travel day today. We left Viterbo at 5am to return the rental car to Rome and then took the train down to Salerno to the catch the ferry to Amalfi. Talk about planes,trains and automobiles....It was car, train, ferry; but we arrived at noon here in overcrowded Amalfi.

    We are both feeling tired from moving and jet lag. We are hoping for a nice seafood dinner at our favorite restaurant here, Gemma (https://trattoriadagemma.com/) and then off to bed. 

 

    We rented a top floor apartment here for three days with a roof top patio and then went and bought bread, cheese and prosciutto along with wine to have lunches on our patio overlooking the Duomo cathedral and the sea. It's calling for rain tomorrow, so we'll see about the rooftop picnic is in the cards...

Wandering around taking typical pictures..

Amalfi at night

Dinner tomorrow night here!

Buona Notte;

D et B

We’re in HOT WATER!

    Today we visited Civita di Bagnoregio which was a hike up to this historic mountain town. A bit touristy but still ancient buildings to walk around. 

 

 

    Today we the went to buy this artisanal olive oil from a farm near Viterbo we found 2 years ago.

http://aziendaagricolasalcini.it/en/

    Some of you might remember the story from two years ago when we visited trying to get some of this amazing olive oil we had at a boutique restaurant in Rome. We hired a taxi in Rome the next day we to drive us an hour and a half from Rome to visit this farm and buy some of the olive oil. We arrived only to be turned away at the locked gate! Oh well,  160e later, we found the hot spring nearby and saved our visit to Viterbo which is why we came back here this trip. So today we rolled up on the closed gate and hit the intercom and…..They buzzed us in! We are shipping 10 bottles home…

 

    Later we got in hot water at the Tuscia Terme natural hot springs. Medium Rare for Bridget and Well done for Dave 👨‍🚒…

    We went for lunch at this lake nearby and I got the chef to make me something not on the menu, rigatoni carbonara which I saw the restaurant staff eating before they opened. Bridge was the nice one and ordered calamari on the menu. A nice relaxing time there.

    As we walked and drove around today, we kept seeing signs and markers for Via Francigena, the Italian ancient Catholic pilgrimage route that I mentioned yesterday in the blog. It reminds both of us so much of our Camino experience. It's almost like we had some kind of connection to the Pilgrims and the route.

 

https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/

 

    More than 3000 kilometers, from Canterbury to Rome and Santa Maria di Leuca, to walk step by step on mountain paths, mule tracks, rural and secondary roads, cypress-lined dirt roads or among majestic pines. Under your feet are the oldest streets of these beautiful countries. Streets paved with river stones worn by the passage of time, until you reach the “cobblestones” of Rome. The trail will take you through villages where all roads lead to Rome. The official route of the Via Francigena is the safest, and was carefully designed to be traveled by all ages.

 

Grazi mile;

Dave & Bridge

Plaza of Death

We made it to to Rome Airport early afternoon and with the usual waiting for luggage and finding the rental car with “oh, you really need this coverage and this insurance “ we made it to Viterbo and at having dinner in Piazza Della Mort, or Plaza of Death! We’re tired, but not quite dead…We wandered around the old town and came across the Via Francigena, the pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, its' very similar to the Camino deSantiago. We had dinner right off the Pilgrimage path at a corner outdoor restaurant. We grinned at the table of Pilgrims eating next to us. Brings back memories…

Dave &Bridget 

Via Francagena passing through Viterbo

Pilgrims at Dinner

What were we thinking

 

 

    Welcome to the start of planes, trains, autos and ferries for Dave and Bridget's European Adventure.

     What were we thinking? 

    I guess we are living large and most likely doing too much, but it's our personalities as well as the time in life to do too much.