Not ready to leave the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, and wanting to stay south to stay warm, we took a short Flix bus ride from Napoli, just past Angri,( the town, not the mood) to Salerno which is wedged between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Dolomites of Campania mountains, at the edge of the famous Amalfi Coast, which was the main reason for the visit.
We had no expectations for Salerno, itself, viewing it as a good place to access the neighboring Amalfi coast, but as often is the case with a somewhat randomly chosen location, it ended up being unexpectedly great. It started with our “mini-hotel”, the Botticelli suite! It was inspiring, although seaside towns are not built for winter (it was freezing). So much for finding warmth.
The introductory walk-around-town led to more un-imagined surprises. (more on the murals https://travelamalficoast.travelmar.it/it/street-art-a-salerno-murales-e-graffiti-nella-citta-dai-mille-volti
An evening stroll was even more illuminating!
The Amalfi Coastline is a series of small picturesque seaside towns, best seen by approaching via a boat. But ferries don’t run during winter and the towns basically shut down in January and February. So we boarded the bus for a slightly harrowing, white-knuckle drive on a questionable two lane wide cliff-hanging road in an over crowded city bus. In fact, most of the drive consisted of the driver honking his horn and stopping as he approached every curve.
Safely disembarked from our bus, we spent an hour wandering around Amalfi, between the square and the pier, enough time to be glad to be off-season and to gain our composure for the bus ride back.
Staying south and warm but looking for something a bit different, we rolled the dice and took a chance and headed east towards the sun to the opposite coast and landed on Monopoli on the Adriatic Sea. We didn’t pass Go, but Monopoli had a nice boardwalk, railroad station, a few motels, plenty of free parking, a ship, some top hats, a canon, and a very old jail (okay, it was a Castle, but probably had a jail).
Bari, less than an hour north by railroad, was a one night stop over so we could catch an early train to a Ravenna. Even the 17 hours we spent there (including sleeping) may have been more than enough. We did enjoy a walk back through time, meandering along one street that started at the nondescript train station, then past striking early 1900s buildings
and ending up at the big old St. Nicholas church that housed THE St. Nicholas’s body. It was a combination Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox Church (upstairs/downstairs). Like a Certs, two churches in one, with that we kissed Bari goodbye.
Chosen Fugue 
One thought on “Coast to Coast”