Exploring via Auto

We finished today's orientation schedule early and decided to head out on our first major exploration in the car. As I've written numerous times, we are staying out in the country. As we want to live down near the coast, we wanted to drive around in the area and take a look at the various villages / towns. A couple from our orientation joined us, and off we went. Yet again, we had no plan and no directions. Nathan was here in June and drove all over in his rental car, so he was hoping to find some roads he recognized and take a little coastal drive. We got off the autostrada (freeway) and headed down to the sea, driving under this interesting ruin (possibly the remains of a Roman aqueduct?)



 Driving the coastal road was harrowing at times, but had some great views.

 Early on in our trip, we got our first Naples "kiss:"

Following this minor issue, we took off of the main road and ended up in a very narrow shopping district. Great little town - I think it was Bacoli. Very cute, clean (!), nice shops and restaurants. Did I already mention the narrow street? It was time for passagieta (stroll - many Italians go for a stroll in the early evening), so the already narrow street had cars parked on one side and pedestrians strolling on both sides - no sidewalks. With our windows down, as we passed one group, we heard a lady give a small yelp, indicating we may have ever so slightly bumped her. Actually, she was a little behind us, so she bumped us as we were passing. Or...she'd just noticed the "SALDI" sign in the shoe store. Regardless, since we were only moving about .25 miles per hour (and no one started screaming or chasing after us), it was not a huge issue, and as our new friend, D., commented later on in the evening (when we were complimenting Nathan on his driving), the driving was a success - we only hit one car and one pedestrian (maybe). We're going to call this one a win.

One last photo to leave you with - the port of Pozzuoli. We'd very much like to live somewhere near here. However, we hear from realtor after realtor that there is just no inventory right now and that this is unusual. It must be unusual because when we talk to other military families about our house search, they say things like, "Oh, you'll see 60, 70 houses. You'll find a good one." Meanwhile one realtor had one house to show us, another had nothing, yet another says she has nothing but will try to find something by Saturday (when we're due to meet her), and our Sunday appointment also said there is nada, or should I say "niente!"