Amalfi Coast

As you journey down the fabled Amalfi Coast, your route takes you past rocky cliffs plunging into the sea and small boats lying in sandy coves like brightly colored fish. Erosion has contorted the rocks into shapes resembling figures from mythology and hollowed out fairy grottoes, where the air is turquoise and the water an icy blue. In winter, Nativity scenes of moss and stone are created in the rocks. White villages dripping with flowers nestle in coves or climb like vines up the steep, terraced hills. Lemon trees abound, loaded with blossoms (and netting in winter to protect the fruit—locals joke that they look after their lemons better than their children). The road must have a thousand turns, each with a different view, on its dizzying 69-km (43-mi) journey.