Driving the Amalfi Coast

I woke up in Salerno. After breakfast, I rented a car to drive to Rome over my remaining five days. I figured it would be much more rewarding than taking a train, even in the pouring rain.

Driving here is no joke. These Italian roads rarely offer more than a few hundred meters of straight tarmac. The endless curves nearly made me carsick. But when the rain paused and I finally found a nook to park with a view, I could take in the Amalfi Coast—and wow, was it gorgeous. The dramatic cliffs, terraced hillsides, and a patchwork of colored houses clinging to the rock made it feel like I had stepped into a painting.

Between showers, I stopped in the small town of Ravello. After circling for a while, I found a parking spot. As if by magic, the clouds lifted. I had just enough time to wander its narrow streets and take in the breathtaking views—ocean, valleys, farms, villages. Beauty in every direction.

It humbled me.

To realize that people have lived in such extreme, beautiful, and unforgiving places for generations. That they carved lives into cliffs and cultivated meaning into the most dramatic landscapes.

And me—where will I end up tomorrow?

No matter where I go in the world, my best moments always happen among people who live with nature, not against it. My nervous system exhales in those places. I feel more myself. More alive. More whole.