Ciao Italia

Today we left  the Amalfi coast to make our way back to Rome for one night before leaving for Dubai on Tuesday afternoon.

The journey from  the Amalfi coast is a long one because as mentioned it involves buses, ferry and trains . So it's been a tiring day commencing our day at 830am and arriving at our accommodation around 4.00pm.This gentleman you see here in speedos is at the port in Salerno and is there helping out. Quite funny and not an especially pretty sight but anything goes really.

Tomorrow we leave for Dubai and the final few days of our holiday before going home and back to work.

 From my perspective as someone whose heritage is Italian, I feel honoured to have had the privilege to finally become acquainted with the birthplace of my parents and sister. Unfortunately, I didn't meet any relatives but maybe another time.

Italy is remarkable in so many ways, it has the antiquity of centuries of history, masterpieces by the world's greatest artists, history everywhere you go and each turn in the road you come across something new that's usually old of course. The coastline is also beautiful.

In general, I found some people friendly and others rude and unhelpful, but that's people anyway.  I have enjoyed the challenge in making the effort to speak Italian and I have had several Italians who have said to me that I speak well and that's been a thrill to hear and they also pick me as being Italian.  Funnily enough, I have had random people ask me questions in Italian clearly assuming that I am Italian . I think I can fit right in with the locals.

I have no doubt that Italy has issues like all nations but what I did observe is the number of young African men whose status I wonder about and random numbers of people who I suspect are Syrian refugees who are homeless. Some of these people are old, some families some single and this was a situation witnessed across across France and Spain . Don't know what the answer is but it's a sad state of events.

Capri and Praiano

Another day begins and we head into Positano on the bus and on roads where no road rules are adhered to and no bus waits for anyone so if you happen to be standing in the doorway it shuts and off we go. Hold on!

We decided to visit Capri because that's on the to do list if you visit the Amalfi coast. The island of Capri is beautiful and the coast is spectacular but sadly the amount of people impacts on the capacity to appreciate the entire experience and for us we were happy to leave and come back to Praiano to enjoy some quiet time and admire the view.

We decided that we wouldn't be going to visit Amalfi on  our last day for the reasons already mentioned, the crowded buses and the swarms of people.  We opted instead to have a relaxing day . We took a leisurely stroll to the beach in Praiano and Barca nice lunch without the masses. A quiet drink in the afternoon made for a nice last day on the Amalfi coast.

Final comments: The Amalfi coast is beautiful and spectacular and well worth a visit. The peak season is  over the summer months but  there were lots of people visiting at the end of September and that's bad enough so I can only imagine how hectic it must be in peak time. If you don't like crowds then choose another time to visit. I think that  as already mentioned, tourism had gone mad and the natural offerings of this coast line has been overtaken by the commercialism . Everyone is out to exploit . I suppose, on the other hand, it keeps these towns alive and profitable. I think we sometimes forget that these towns care people's homes and the invasion of tourists must be an invasion of their privacy.

Tomorrow back to Rome for one night and then we' re off to Dubai a world of difference to what we have experienced.