Driving in Italy has been a crazy experience. Countless of warnings were given but nothing can prepare you for these maniacs. Their flashing lights, their overuse of car horns, their death defying overtaking techniques and their overall agressive driving attitudes required a lot of deep breathing and relaxing to avoid giving them a quick upper-cut to the chin. On top of this their car parking is hilarious. No stretch of road, curbside or even in a cafe is safe from an impatient local just stopping their car in all sorts of places and putting their hazard lights on, as though this makes it OK, as they go about catching up with a friend for a quick smoke , totally ignorant of the fact that the excessive car horns that is interupting their conversation has been a result of his choice in a car spot. Apart from this and the fact that no-one accepts credit card here (its always to be in cash - the cash economy is booming here) there has been a great deal to love about Italy, and they were all experienced in our next destination - Amalfi Coast. Wonderful hospitality, breathtaking scenery, over 2000 years of history and amazing food and wine, all made this place a great location. The only thing that stopped this from being an awesome location was the weather. Driving into Amalfi Coast was amazing. After spending over 3 hours on the Auto Route at speeds of over 130km / hour, and still being overtaken by lunatic italians with flashing lights and horns tooting. We began the hair-raising drive on the cliff edge and the views were amazing, although I was too busy trying to avoid the buses and trucks on the narrow streets (who were also trying to avoid randomly parked cars). The views went for miles of beautiful beaches and cliff hugging villages. Once we arrived we checked in quickly to get down to the beach for a quick swim in the deep blue waters. In between bouts of rain and cloudy weather, we enjoyed these rare moments to explore other parts of the area, including Pompeii, Sorrento and the Isle of Capri. There were all amazing places but vastly different. Pompeii bought out varying emotions as you walk through this ancient city that was destroyed by a volcano eruption almost 2000 years ago. Walking through and gazing at historic buildings, roman baths, ruined houses, stadiums, gladiator exercise rooms, brothels and shops, just to name a few, was awesome. But the highlight for both of us was seeing the plaster casts of actual people who had died that day, with their facial expressions and their hands attempting to protect them from the heavy and poisonous ash and gas, permantly captured for future generations to see. Sorrento was nice, a big coastal city, with large piers to receive countless numbers of cruise ships dropping off frenzied tourists. The views were great, but we enjoyed just walking around the narrow streets and talking with the locals. Our attempt to see the Isle of Capri had been mixed with good and bad experiences, but still a highlight of this area. Several days had passed due to bad conditions, so when our last day arrived and the tour had been cancelled again we were disapointed, but determined not to the let the weather beat us. So after catching several different boats to different ports, we finally found a boat that was heading out to the island. Our excitement grew as we got closer to the island and the weather had turned into a glorious and sunny day, unfortunately when we arrived the famous Blue Grotto was closed. We were still determined not to let this get us down, so we jumped on a small boat and went around the island to see the other beautiful spots that this island has to offer. These included the natural arches, the Green Grotto, the White Cave. Hopefully the photos do these spots some justice, as we have never seen water so beautifully amazing before. Another interesting experience of this week here was having great meals with very hospitable and generous people, but the most memorable would be when I was asked for some financial advice, when a local (who didnt know very much English) had heard that we were Australian and asked for me to read a letter and statement that he received from his UK pension fund (he worked in UK for 10 years about 20 years ago). He was very lucky as he had to make an important decision regarding his fund and it advised that he should seek financial advice. It was his lucky day since the Aussie that he chose was me. It was fun as it took me back to being my old work self, even if it was only for a brief moment.