We arrived to the Amalfi Coast in the dark, thanks to our late start, which was a bit disorientating as we had no idea what we were missing. Was that Vesuvius? Which part of the coast was that? The traffic was getting chaotic, not helped by a road closure when we were almost at our destination. We had notified our host of our lateness, and she suggested we meet her at a restaurant she was already eating at close to the accommodation, so we could have dinner before she showed us the house. We were definitely ready for a good Italian meal and this one certainly hit the spot. Then to our apartment, in her parents’ home in the hills above Sorrento. The terrace overlooked the Bay of Naples, and even in the dark, promised a stunning view the next day. We were so thankful to finally be back on track with our itinerary and looked forward to exploring this interesting part of Italy over the next couple of days.

We planned to catch a bus to Positano, a beautiful village set on a cliffside further along the coast. We had stayed there in 2015 and were keen to revisit this place again. Getting there proved difficult, as we waited for the scheduled bus to arrive, and waited, and waited… we almost got lucky, but it turned out it was a bus full of cruise passengers on their way, not a public bus. After over an hour of waiting, we investigated the option of a taxi – at €100+ we balked at this, but by now there were others waiting for the bus also – a group of young Americans. Another 40 minutes went by and we all got talking to each other about this frustration before they decided they would fork out for a taxi van, and asked us to join them sharing the costs. We agreed and the taxi arrived for our ride to Positano, finally. It took half an hour or more on these twisty steep roads, with stunning views out over the cliffs and sea, to reach our drop off point. The local drivers have nerves of steel as they navigate the curves and avoid oncoming traffic! Getting out of the van, we were faced with crowds of people – it was so much busier than we remembered it from our previous visit, even being shoulder season in early October the crowds were overwhelming as we fought our way down to the sea on narrow paths. We did not enjoy it at all, finding it very hard to stop and enjoy looking at the quirky shops and stalls with so many others pushing their way past and into/out of shops, as well as scooters, motorbikes and cars. Down on the beach, we looked around in dismay, there were people everywhere! The bars and cafes were overflowing. This was not what we had looked forward to at all. We changed plan and decided to catch the ferry to Amalfi, further along the coast for lunch and wandering, in the hope it would not be so busy. It was lovely to be on the water with views back of the coastal towns clinging to the cliffs, and Amalfi turned out to be less frenetic – busy, but not overwhelming. We wandered up the streets, looking for somewhere to sit and eat lunch, finding a seat on a terrace to enjoy a great antipasto platter of cheeses, meats and breads and a cold drink. Phew! That was better.

We enjoyed a good wander around this pretty town, past many souvenir stalls, gelato shops (of course I had to sample!) and took in the sights sounds and smells of the Amalfi Coast. Then to the bus depot, where all the buses were waiting to take everyone home – we had to line up as there were many waiting, more evidence that the tourists are back again. The bus ride home was even more exhilarating than the taxi ride there – a wider, longer vehicle negotiating tight curves, narrow tunnels and holding up a mile of cars behind every time they stopped to try and squeeze on more passengers! Who needs thrill rides when you can get more heart-stopping moments in a bus ride?

Day two saw us waiting at the bus stop again, this time in the other direction, towards Sorrento town. We had not made it here before and were interested to see how it compared to our day one experiences. Thankfully, the town was not crowded, it had a much more peaceful vibe – busy but not silly. We wandered our way down to the beach area, from the cliffside lookout to the water took not just a a few stairs, and we could see that in summer this area would be lovely. There were still a number of beach bars open this time of year, with entry fee to access the bar and the water. A number of younger people were enjoying the water play, but we wandered onwards, enjoying the walk. I then caught the (paid) elevator back to the town level while Chris climbed back up the flights of stairs. We found a pizza cafe to sit and enjoy before more exploration of this pretty town. We were very happy to have had a much more successful day, and agreed that Sorrento was definitely the best of the three towns we had seen so far on the Amalfi coast.

Now, we had some decisions to make – we had been notified by Peugeot Assist that our car was going to be transported to a repair garage and we calculated that, being the weekend, we wouldn’t see any fix until Monday. We had two days to fill, so we headed first of all to Salerno, a beach town just along the coast. We had thought we may fill time by visiting Pompeii again on the way, but by the time we got there the lines for tickets stretched out the gates, and finding parking was a nightmare – the cheapest we saw was €18, and so we decided to continue on our way. Salerno was another surprise to us. We managed to check in early and park the car at our accommodation then headed out to walk the beach promenade, finding lunch and bars, before purchasing a ticket for an umbrella and two sun loungers on the beach. The semi-sandy bay was calm and again surprisingly busy – I guess it was a Saturday, but many families and others were enjoying the early October sun and warmth – it was in the mid 20’s (~77^oF) and we both tried the Mediterranean waters to find it pleasant still.

We were disappointed that we had missed on Matera, so the following day we headed there to explore this amazing city. Our B&B was on a main road into town on one side, but the view off our balcony at the back gave wonderful views over the old town (Sassi). It was great to wander at leisure and enjoy this place, restored to some of its former glory and now an interesting tourist destination. We were so glad we had managed to finally get here despite all the disruption of our past effort.

After this very pleasant interlude, we were looking forward to being reunited with our car again and set off the next morning (on the road past where we spent a few hours waiting and dropping in a thank you goodie bag for our angels), arriving at the garage in Noci we had been told the car was being delivered, full of hope and anticipation, just after 9am only to discover our car was not there, and they had no knowledge of it at all! Just as we were gasping at this, the text message came through that our car was actually being delivered to Putignano about 20 minutes up the road (both these places were an hour away from Taranto, where the car had been towed to and was being stored). We headed to this new garage and yes, the car was expected, hopefully that afternoon – come back after 3pm, when we open again. At this stage I am starting to feel more frustration again … IF it arrives this afternoon, it’s unlikely to be repaired today, so I booked us another nights accommodation nearby, this time in the town of Castellana Grotte in a Trulli house like we had seen in Alberobello the day everything turned to custard. Marking time isn’t fun, in places you’re not meant to be at and haven’t done the research to find out what to do and see, and everything is shut between 12-3pm! We arrived back just after 3pm to the garage – the manager spoke quite good English and we were able to tell him our sorry tale. The car still hadn’t turned up, so he followed up with the tow company, to be told it wasn’t coming today and may not even be there tomorrow. Tears of frustration from me!! But in the meantime, this wonderful man had identified the brand and size of our tyre, and was able to say that if the tyre needed replacement rather than repair, he had one in store so once he got the car, no further delays. We decided that we’d head far away until we heard more news of the car, driving a couple of hours north of Bari to the beach resort town of Pescara to at least enjoy these unplanned days. Pescara was a surprisingly lovely place. Although the season was over and the beaches supposedly closed, we both enjoyed a bonus swim in the Adriatic, very pleasant water temperature and just what we needed to take our minds (briefly) off the frustration we were facing. And wonderful news later that afternoon, with a text message from the garage saying our car was there; we would pick it up tomorrow!!

What a relief to know that FINALLY, after 8 days, our puncture would be fixed and we could resume our planned days of travel, albeit modified and missing some anticipated sights – but we were heading north to Tuscany at last where we had a 5 night stay booked to enjoy.