From Naples, we headed south to Sicily with a couple of stops along the way. The Cilento Coast was the first as we’d heard it was a more chilled version of the Amalfi Coast and given we’d just hired a car for this journey we were looking for less busy places. Italian driving can be challenging enough without extra traffic (not to mention the narrow, cliff-edge roads).

The fun started with our “upgraded” hire car. Normally this is a good thing, but given the narrow streets and even smaller parking spaces we expected to encounter we’d have preferred not to have the larger car. The only other option was some tiny Fiat Pandas which just wasn’t going to work with four of us and luggage. Oh, and the car in question had a massive scratch all along the passenger side. So much so, the front passenger door audibly groaned in protest every time it was opened or closed. At least this means any dents we put in won’t matter, right!??! (And yes, don’t worry, we did fully document the damage before we drove out of the parking lot!)

We based ourselves in Santa Maria di Castellabate for a few days. As it was early October we were a bit late for the beach season, though there were a few brave folks swimming! It was still lovely weather with lots of sunshine and pretty sunsets. The little town we were in was lovely and walking the quiet cobblestone streets was a real highlight, especially with very few people (tourists or otherwise).

One day we ventured up the hill for a great view of the crystal blue waters. This meant that we had to drive through some streets so narrow that M was extremely relieved when we finally parked and switched to walking! Just so cool to wander through narrow alleyways, seeing where they might lead… (damn you Google maps for destroying the art of getting lost!)

You’ve got to love the stone steps, old doorways and random mosaics. (Unless you’re a kid and then they don’t mean anything and it’s boring and can we go back and have some screen time now?)