Summer Days in Sorrento

Day 1 - Traveling day:

Today was an early day, with us getting up and leaving our Venice hotel at 6am to catch the 7:25am train to Naples. Our hotel was kind enough to have a simple take-away breakfast ready for us to grab and eat at our leisure. The quick Vaporetto ride to the train station was peaceful, as nobody else was up this early on a Sunday morning. We glided along enjoying the last views of Old Venice in the early morning sun.

The Trenitalia train was very modern and looked a lot like the Eurostar trains that go between London and Paris or Brussels. At some points during the over five-hour ride we reached speeds in excess of 300 kms, without any discomfort to the onboard passengers! Winding our way through the Italian landscape, we passed through Bologna, Florence and Rome, before arriving in Naples in what seemed like no time at all.

From the Naples train station, we transferred to the subway-like Circumvesuviana train which wound around the Bay di Napoli and had us arriving in Sorrento in a little over an hour. We passed by Mount Vesuvius and noted the stop at Pompeii, which we were scheduled to visit the next day.

Arriving at our hotel, we found our ‘economy’ room to be much better than advertised. It had a beautiful, sun filled patio that overlooked a laneway with a lemon tree, replete with oversized, fully ripe lemons. It was situated in a pedestrianized area close to the main square and just a minute from the beach. The nearby streets were quite touristy but were mostly filled with people who came to stay for several days or a week, instead of ‘day-trippers’, such as those who had just arrived off of a cruise ship or tour bus. This gave Sorrento the laid-back feel of a resort and it seemed much less crowded and chaotic than Venice had been.

We ate a wonderful pizza, sitting on the patio of a nearby restaurant and then purchased a small bottle of Limoncello from a shop. We enjoyed the sweet lemon flavour on our own patio, while being serenaded by a band playing at the restaurant downstairs. The ‘band’ turned out to be made up of just one man, with a mustache and accordion – maybe it was the smooth taste of our locally made drink, but he somehow sounded so good that night.

Day 2 - Pompeii:

After an early breakfast at the hotel, we hopped on the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii, where we were to join a small tour group that was meant to start at 9am. Despite our fretting and rushing, we arrived with plenty of time to find the meeting point and have a coffee. However, a family of five people were hopelessly lost, causing us to start 45 minutes later than planned. This was a bit frustrating because it meant there were more crowds and as it was later in the day it was hotter. As the tour was only made up of ten people, their absence meant half our group would be missing. To be honest, it was really generous of the tour guide to wait and to be on the phone with this family, the whole way directing them to the meeting point. It would have been a shame if they had missed this tour.

Speaking of our tour guide, Lelio was the very best! An archeologist by trade, he has been giving tours of Pompeii for the past 22 years. He knew everyone and everything to do with the site and kept the other guides on their toes as we passed by them. To keep us – his ‘family’, in order, he would tell us to move to the side and not mix with the ‘tourists’ (the other visitors to the site, just like us). He also gave some nicknames to people in his group – Mr. Movie director to the man with three cameras and Mr. Kangaroo, to Colin. His approach to the tour was rather novel and was based on the Socratic method, whereby he would continually pose questions to make us think about how they lived in the past. Needless to say, it was all great fun and we learned so, so much!

Pompeii was an ancient Roman city that was built in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. The volcano erupted in 79 AD and buried the city in up to 21 feet of volcanic ash, killing almost all of its inhabitants. When it was rediscovered about 250 years ago, it began to draw tourists and archeologists alike, and has been doing so ever since. What is incredible about this city is the realization of how many advanced, scientific amenities were created for them back in the day. In addition to a drainage system, which was a very much a tour de force of civil engineering, there were shops with display areas, a brothel (with a ‘menu’ of pictures!), homes (both small and large), and even bits of white marble were incorporated into the sidewalks to reflect moonlight, so that the inhabitants would be able to find their way around at night.

Archeologists who worked at the site noted that there would sometimes be gaps in the solid volcanic ash. These gaps were where bodies were, that had now decomposed. Plaster was poured into these holes which, once dried, recreated the bodies in dramatic detail, thus providing an insight into the nature of their death.

We found ourselves saying ‘Wow!’ out loud often, after each new revelation. The three-hour tour in the scorching, hot sun meant we only stayed an extra hour, but you could really spend days here wandering around in total wonder at what is an amazing historical and archeological site.

After we returned to Sorrento we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with more Limoncello on the patio and a take-away kebab, mostly in an attempt to curb the expense of eating out.

Day 3 - The Amalfi Coast

Today was another early day. We had arranged for a driver to pick us up and drive us around the Amalfi coast for the day. Tonio, from Monetti taxi, was lovely, and being with him was like having a family member drive you around showing you all of the best sights.

Tonio stopped at the best places en route, to allow for us to see the most superb views. Our first main stop was to be at the tiny seaside resort known as Positano. This is a very posh town that has been built up the cliffs, since it was a port in medieval times. Although it was a windy – yet sunny – day, there were still a lot of people descending down to the beach, as we did. Tonio left us for an hour to explore here, but that was nowhere near long enough, so we will definitely have to come back another time.

The vista of  Positano — The vista of Positano

Our next stop was Amalfi, where instead of heading to the beach, we explored the town square, including Amalfi cathedral. We wound through some of the narrow streets, even coming across a funeral procession which was slowly heading down to the cathedral, with mourners following the hearse praying out loud.

Our final stop was Ravello, where we were given two hours to explore and have lunch. We ate at a restaurant that Tonio recommended, where we enjoyed penne and gnocchi in a room run by a sweet lady who seemed like everyone’s ‘nonna’.

We thought the full day tour might be a bit much, but it was actually well paced and quite relaxing. Positano however, was probably our favourite, and we wouldn’t hesitate to spend more time there in the future. Also, if doing this tour, splurging on a driver for the day is definitely the way to go, as it allowed us an insight into what living in this part of Italy is like, including family life and old-world culture. Also, how the tourism industry, which is the basis of this livelihood, tends to shut down for five months in the year during the rainy, winter season.

Day 4 - Free Day

Colin and Melissa had intended to release a new blog, since our old, Travelpod site was no more. The only problem in Sorrento, is how poor the Wi-Fi access is, especially at our hotel. After a few frustrating efforts in the morning (too, too slow!) we decided that we needed to find a decent source of internet access, somewhere in town. A quick google and we wandered into an English café/bar that served delicious cappuccinos. They also had Guinness on tap, together with a wonderful friendly black Labrador, who was also named ‘Guinness’. By the way, the Wi-Fi password just happened to be ‘guinness’ as well – Very British indeed!

After finalizing our site, we decided to celebrate by heading down to the beach to the lovely seaside restaurant called Bagni Delfino. This place serves some very good food and it was such a wonderful place to relax, beside the beach with the sun at its zenith and the – not entirely dormant – Mount Vesuvius, just over our shoulder.

Ristorante Bagni Delfino, with Mount Vesuvius in the background

With lunch over, we went for a stroll, exploring a different way back to our hotel, where we settled in for a siesta. With our nap over, we went down to the seafront and watched the sunset of another perfect day in Sorrento.

It’s also worth noting that gelato here was marvelous, with interesting flavours such as ricotta cheese with honey and walnuts, or fig with almonds and basil – Mmmm!

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