Last Day in Italy

MONOPOLI TO ROME

It was lightly raining again this morning when we awoke, so Tom and I ate quickly, finished packing, and checked out of the Casa Amalfitana in Monopoli. We would have a 5 1/2 hour drive to Rome, and we wanted to get an early start. It took us longer than expected to get out of Monopoli - our poor GPS, aka Sofia, hasn't figured out all of the one-way streets, and she took us in circles !

We finally were able to get on the highway, where we headed north, and closely followed the Adriatic coastline for about an hour. Not many crops grow in the rocky limestone soil, but olive groves and vineyards were thriving on both sides of us - now we have a better sense of Italian wine coming from the Apulia Region.

When we turned inland to cross toward Naples and Italy's other coast, we found ourselves in the land of mountains, hilltop villages, and wind farms. It rained on us several times . . . just enough to clean the windshield !

It was a pretty drive, and the highways in Italy are comparable to those in the U.S. except that Italian drivers are everything we had ever heard - rude and aggressive with many of them topping speeds of 170 kph ! There don't seem to be any rules. Some people drive really, really slow, and others totally ignore the speed limits, and honk if you are in the way. They don't stop at stop signs, and honk if you are in the way. If you go through an intersection where they are supposed to stop, they honk because you are in their way. Last but not least, all of the signs are written in Italian.

And, something strange - on a 2 lane road many Italian drivers straddle the middle line of the road - or, they will ride on top of the passing lane road markers so you don't know which lane they are going to use.

Tomorrow will be the last of my blog posts as Tom and I return home - stay tuned for the last installment !