Salerno is a city on the west coast of Italy, by the Amalfi coast. Salerno is very easy to get to by train and makes a good central location to visit both the Amalfi coast and Pompei. Both of which we had planned on doing.
Got to Salerno on a Sunday afternoon. And the place was positively dead. We had rented an apartment and thought we could pick up some food from the grocery store. No such luck. One grocery store had already closed by the time we arrived and the other is closed all day on Sunday. Luckily, we found a couple places open for lunch and grabbed a bite to eat. Fast forward to Sunday night to try and find dinner. Lo and behold the town had awakened. It seemed everyone was out enjoying a nice fall evening.
The next morning we had planned to take a ferry up the Amalfi coast to the city of Amalfi and then on to Positano. This area is different than the Cinque Terre, but equally as beautiful. The green mountains along the coast and the houses again buildt seeming impossible into the hillsides.
Amalfi was known at one time for their paper. The cloth rags to make the paper would come in from the ships and there was plenty of water to operate the mills. We found the paper mill museum and it was interesting to see how they made the paper in historic times. They also showed the progression of paper making into the industrial age. The machines still worked and we got to see how they ran.
Will found us a hike to do, the Valle delle Ferriere (valley of iron) hike. It’s listed as a 5km (3.2 mile) tourist class hike. Lorraine opted to take that time and do some shopping as Will has been rushing her past all the stores. The hike was very scenic. We didn’t do the whole thing as it is supposed to be one way and we didn’t have that much time. It starts by going through Amalfi and then through lemon tree farms. You pass by old ruins of paper mills and waterfalls. It was a nice afternoon to get out and enjoy nature again. By the time we had lunch it was time to head back and catch our ferry. Never did manage to make it to Positano. The day felt like it just flew by.