Day 4, Part 1/2

This is Matt checking in to let the people know I’m alive. And by people I mean the 13 kind souls that follow this trip journal. Here is a recap of today:

We woke up and packed. The bags are getting fuller and the wallet is lighter, but hey, I signed up for this. We had one last breakfast at the Portrait Hotel in Florence and made our way to the train station for our ride to Naples. I was planning on giving the cab driver 20 bucks anyway since the ride was 15/16, but then he sneakily shut off the meter upon arrival and asked me for $20! Bold move calling your own tip bro. I begrudgingly paid him $20 but made a mental note to fart in his cab if I ever see him again. We boarded the train for Naples and both Katie and I took glorious naps for about 3.5 hours. Now that’s living! Katie shared foot space with a pretty good looking Italian stallion because our travel agent booked the wrong seats, and I got scolded by an elderly Italian lady for not wearing a mask which I guess are still required on the train.

We then got our ride from Naples to Amalfi which is a fairly treacherous road over and around the mountains to get to the coast. Shout out to our driver who was the smoothest stick-shift operator I’ve ever encountered - No joke. It was very interesting to see how the locals utilize every patch of farmable land, starting from just outside Naples where there are Urban Farms literally in between what appears to be working class housing midrises for several miles. The same concept continues throughout The mountains and the driver was very helpful as he pointed out different towns and what they specialize in (Granano- famous for handmade pasta; Argerola- famous for mozzarella cheese; All over the valley, they grow the best tomatoes in the volcanic soil; Furore— famous for white wine).Read more