Day 2 - Naples, Italy -> Maiori, Italy

Fri, June 14

47.2 Miles (60.0 total)

We had a light breakfast at the bed and breakfast, including a tasty chocolate filled croissant, and left straight for the store. Top of the list was sunscreen, and we got some fruit for the ride. After that, we headed to Salerno. Naples has a couple cobblestone streets, which are terrible for cycling. The bike shakes so much, you think everything is going to fall apart. 

Again, the flow of traffic is crazy. Cars and scooters passing each other constantly, people parked where it feels like they shouldn't, everyone driving almost bumper to bumper, vehicles parked with a good bit of their car jutting into traffic. Just wild. Everyone has been good with cyclists though. No one honks at us or anything. The only trouble comes from navigating traffic circles or stopping and starting again then pulling out into traffic - their driving is just wild.

It's hard to find water here, unless you pay for it. The gas stations aren't like the US, where you can find soda fountains and food. They're just pumps and places to pay for the most part. And in the whole ride today, we only passed one McDonald's, which we usually rely on fast food places for Wi-Fi and water in the States. And even the restaurant we ate at for dinner made us pay for water. Stupid.

We're both feeling a little uncomfortable with our bikes at the moment. Mine makes a clicking or rattling sound that I can't pin down, and the front tire rubs against the disc brake, causing a little resistance. Dad said the front of his bike just feels funny. A little unsettling, but they're working.

We eventually made it to Salerno and the Amalfi Coast! Just gorgeous. Super blue water and towns built into the side of hills. We went down the road much further than we intended, getting the whole way to the beach, which was beautiful, but meant we had a nice big hill back up. We spent about two hours there before climbing some more hills to Maiori. The road was beautiful, all along the side of a mountain facing the water. We were worried at first about cars and the roads, but traffic was light and we didn't have any trouble, other than struggling uphill.

We eventually found our bungalow in Maiori, tucked away from the main street - the Capricornio Club. It was a nice little space, with plants and lemon trees everywhere. We dropped the bikes off, jumped in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and washed up. We didn't eat a lot today and got a burger, pizza, and calzone for dinner, followed by gelato. Good way to end a long day!