Took us about 8 hours to drive to Maratea, but it was a lovely drive along the Autostrada. We arrived late after a hair raising drive through the mountains. The apartment and resort are outdated but our place was clean. We have come to really love this town and surrounding area. It rivels the Almafi Coast for breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. First full day here we just hit the local beach which is spectacular, ate chees, pancetta, bread and wine picnic. The beach has its own little blue grotto and crystal clear blue water with black and white pebble sand. Went exploring into another cove in water towards what we thought was a cave and I got a good sting on my butt, thigh and wrist from a jelly fish!!! Jim went to see if he could find out what stung me we thought it might be a sea urchin, he ran into an Italian pharmacist,that actually spoke very good English. His name was Tim, he looked at it and said it was a jelly fish. He was so nice and gave me some stuff to help with the burning.