Sorrento is a bit of a love-at-first-sight kind of place. The people treat you like family (like our sandwich man at the grocery store, and the family who owns the restaurant we ate at the first night), it’s welcoming and full of character. Mom and I were greeted with open arms, right from the get-go. After dropping our stuff at our “hostel” – luxurious resort-style hotel is more like what it actually was – we went to a little pizzeria and sat at a table on the narrow cobble-stoned street, watching the Italy versus New Zealand football match (tie game), eating marinara pizza – which I highly recommend – and drinking that tasty Italian beer. Two Italian gents watching the game cheers-ed us, and ended up sending another beer each to our table. We were flattered. We ran into them again as we continued to explore the narrow streets, and they invited us to join them for another drink. Hello, Sorrento! It was a very fun and silly evening, indeed. After they left, we continued our night by sampling lemoncello at all the local shops. Delicious! The next morning was raining and grey, so we decided to stay in town and see what more there was. We started the day at a little place that all the locals seemed to come into – cappuccino for mom and espresso (best ever?) for me – checked out the two marinas, and went in and out of the little shops. At Marina Grande, I went into the water just up to my ankles. While letting my feet and shoes dry, I wrote some postcards and walked them to the postbox. A cute old man stopped me and patted the empty space on the bench beside him for me to join. So we chatted – he knew a bit of English and my French knowledge is quite useful with the Italian language – and played a bit of charades. Mom turned at one point to see where I had gone off to, as she could hear me talking away.
The next day we climbed Mount Vesuvius and went to Pompei. We were only at Pompei for about four hours…I could have easily spent four days there, seeing every little piece. It is so fascinating. I was expecting it to be much less preserved than it is…a real treat. Our bus ride from the base of the volcano back to town was open-air…it was so exhilarating and the smells from all the flowers and trees were lovely.
The island of Capri and Anacapri was our next day trip. We took a fast ferry there. (There was a tour group with an especially obnoxious guide, who kept instructing to, “close ranks!” and, “get your elbows up!”, while also requesting, “does anyone have an winterfresh gum?” I have peppermint. What are you going to do about that?) Back to the island: Wow. Wow. SO beautiful. The town is built such that you must walk up from the harbour to get to the centre. The view even from the main square is stunning. The island is full of great walking trails and lookout points; the turquoise waters below look so inviting. We hiked up about a million stairs to a grotto (many laughs along the way), and then to a natural rock archway. We took a bus to Anacapri, and from there we took a chairlift to the highest point of the island. The chairlift was a good 15 or 20 minutes up! Definitely a honeymoon-worthy destination. There was a family of four that walked by us at one point, and the mother was saying that she had never been to Hong Kong. “I have”, says her three-year old son, perfectly serious.
That evening, back in Sorrento, it was raining lightly. To go out to dinner, mom and I were each wearing our rain jackets. My hood was up. At one point I felt a particularly heavy drop of water hit the side of my hood, but I thought nothing of it. We continued to walk around and found a very busy restaurant on a quiet little side street. It wasn’t until the end of the evening, when I was putting my coat back on that I noticed that the heavy rain drop was actually bird poop. I had been walking around with bird poop on me – quite close to my face, might I add – around the town, into the restaurant. No wonder so many people were smiling at me!
Thursday we spent the best seven Euros each – it buys you a 24 hour bus pass to use along the Amalfi Coast. This goes on the top of my list for best bus ride/coast line I’ve ever seen (a close second is the coast of Croatia). We lucked out with getting window seats each time, on the “good” side of the bus too. We spent time in Amalfi, Ravello, and Positano, all cute little towns along the coast.
Yesterday was soooooooooooo relaxing. We saw the coast yet again, but from a boat. We stopped at Capri near one of the grottos, and I stayed in the water until they made me get out. So refreshing. So blue. The captain pulled me in to take a picture of my driving the ship, and then in fact he had my steer for a bit. At one point he said, “you’re the captain now” and he went below the deck and left me in charge. There were two British couples we befriended and they were complaining about my steering – can you make the boat stop rocking so much? – all in good fun. They applauded me when the real captain took over again. Later on, one of the crew members came up behind me and presented me with two little pastries. I smiled and thanked him, and thought he was giving them out to everyone. Nope. Turns out the captain sent them just to me and everyone on my side of the boat witnessed this. The couples had a good laugh, and were teasing that the captain fancied me. Unfortunately he wasn’t really my type; I don’t usually go for men 35 years my senior. That was about as amusing as one of the restaurant hosts telling me that I was the most beautiful girl he’d seen in seven days. Haha.
Last night was a bit stressful, as our ferry plan to Sardinia backfired – all sold out. But here we sit on a train to Palermo, with a cheap flight to Sardinia tomorrow in the early afternoon, so it all worked out. Beach and resting, here we come! After we got it all sorted, we had a nice dinner at the Marina Grande, sitting right on the water. A perfect last meal in Sorrento. I love lemon too much not to return there someday.
The next day we climbed Mount Vesuvius and went to Pompei. We were only at Pompei for about four hours…I could have easily spent four days there, seeing every little piece. It is so fascinating. I was expecting it to be much less preserved than it is…a real treat. Our bus ride from the base of the volcano back to town was open-air…it was so exhilarating and the smells from all the flowers and trees were lovely.
The island of Capri and Anacapri was our next day trip. We took a fast ferry there. (There was a tour group with an especially obnoxious guide, who kept instructing to, “close ranks!” and, “get your elbows up!”, while also requesting, “does anyone have an winterfresh gum?” I have peppermint. What are you going to do about that?) Back to the island: Wow. Wow. SO beautiful. The town is built such that you must walk up from the harbour to get to the centre. The view even from the main square is stunning. The island is full of great walking trails and lookout points; the turquoise waters below look so inviting. We hiked up about a million stairs to a grotto (many laughs along the way), and then to a natural rock archway. We took a bus to Anacapri, and from there we took a chairlift to the highest point of the island. The chairlift was a good 15 or 20 minutes up! Definitely a honeymoon-worthy destination. There was a family of four that walked by us at one point, and the mother was saying that she had never been to Hong Kong. “I have”, says her three-year old son, perfectly serious.
That evening, back in Sorrento, it was raining lightly. To go out to dinner, mom and I were each wearing our rain jackets. My hood was up. At one point I felt a particularly heavy drop of water hit the side of my hood, but I thought nothing of it. We continued to walk around and found a very busy restaurant on a quiet little side street. It wasn’t until the end of the evening, when I was putting my coat back on that I noticed that the heavy rain drop was actually bird poop. I had been walking around with bird poop on me – quite close to my face, might I add – around the town, into the restaurant. No wonder so many people were smiling at me!
Thursday we spent the best seven Euros each – it buys you a 24 hour bus pass to use along the Amalfi Coast. This goes on the top of my list for best bus ride/coast line I’ve ever seen (a close second is the coast of Croatia). We lucked out with getting window seats each time, on the “good” side of the bus too. We spent time in Amalfi, Ravello, and Positano, all cute little towns along the coast.
Yesterday was soooooooooooo relaxing. We saw the coast yet again, but from a boat. We stopped at Capri near one of the grottos, and I stayed in the water until they made me get out. So refreshing. So blue. The captain pulled me in to take a picture of my driving the ship, and then in fact he had my steer for a bit. At one point he said, “you’re the captain now” and he went below the deck and left me in charge. There were two British couples we befriended and they were complaining about my steering – can you make the boat stop rocking so much? – all in good fun. They applauded me when the real captain took over again. Later on, one of the crew members came up behind me and presented me with two little pastries. I smiled and thanked him, and thought he was giving them out to everyone. Nope. Turns out the captain sent them just to me and everyone on my side of the boat witnessed this. The couples had a good laugh, and were teasing that the captain fancied me. Unfortunately he wasn’t really my type; I don’t usually go for men 35 years my senior. That was about as amusing as one of the restaurant hosts telling me that I was the most beautiful girl he’d seen in seven days. Haha.
Last night was a bit stressful, as our ferry plan to Sardinia backfired – all sold out. But here we sit on a train to Palermo, with a cheap flight to Sardinia tomorrow in the early afternoon, so it all worked out. Beach and resting, here we come! After we got it all sorted, we had a nice dinner at the Marina Grande, sitting right on the water. A perfect last meal in Sorrento. I love lemon too much not to return there someday.
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