To Slowing Down in Sorrento

After my family left us in Rome, Ethan and I wasted little time before taking on our next part of the journey.  We took the metro to the train station and got on the train to Naples.  I will keep my opinions about TrenItalia short and sweet because I am sure I am not the only one that thought they were dirty, cramped, and hard to navigate.  We finally found seats in a car and settled in prepared for a very long train ride (unfortunate side effect of trying to do Europe inexpensively is taking trains with multiple stops).  After a dramatic incident or two and a lesson in getting our tickets stamped, we made it.

Erin warned us that Naples was a little bit sketchy (other than the pizza) so we decided we wanted to go straight to the next train that took us to Sorrento.  Boy what an experience that train was.  This regional beauty is called the circumvesuviana (please don't ask me how to pronounce that because my attempts are poor) and takes passengers from Naples to Sorrento.  It is regional and filled with a lot of locals and takes you through a scenic route through the graffiti filled train stations south of Naples.  It also does not have luggage racks which can be a challenge for all of the tourists taking it to Sorrento.  I guess I will just have to say that it makes TrenItalia look luxurious but still... I guess I am just thankful I survived. 

Once we got through the last tunnel on the train, the scenery completely changed into a beautiful, tropical wonderland.  I instantly knew that if Sorrento was anything like that I would be okay.  We got off the train and began our hike to the hotel (had to save those Euros). We walked on one of the most popular streets in the town and it was lined with cute shops, patisseries, and a few grocery stores.  So far so good.  The stone sidewalks did get tricky to navigate my wheeled suitcase, not to mention all of the other tourists hanging around, so after a while I was feeling tired and ready to be there.  Once we started the hill and I had a chance to check out the view of the water, a huge weight was lifted.  IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL! We finally got to the top of the hill and to our hotel to check in.  Mission accomplished. 

I wasn't kidding about its beauty!

I cannot say enough good things about the hotel.  It was located just enough off of the beaten path so that it was quiet and serene and perfect.  The hotel was owned by a really cute Italian couple who took the time to get to know us; the husband even told Ethan about all of his travels to New Orleans and his memories of Bourbon and Canal in his super precious Italian accent.  After we got settled in we walked down to town to get some things to make for dinner (they had a kitchen we could use which was great!). 

View of the water from the roof of our hotel

same spot, I loved it!

After some gelato and a nice little walk, we came back with pasta, bread, salad, and wine! What more could anyone need? We cooked dinner and chatted with a family from Georgia that was also making dinner, it was so nice to see some Americans! The breakfast area had an accompanying balcony where were ate dinner before heading back up to our room.  The room was really big and had its own balcony with a table and chairs! We bought a citronella candle so we could enjoy the sunset and some wine to wind down and relax.  It was so great!

The next day we got up and were able to enjoy a beautiful continental breakfast, the wife made everything homemade! That area is known for its lemons and she made lemon jam and this wonderful lemon cake! Feeling full and happy we set out for Pompeii, which unfortunately meant another ride on the circumvesuviana.  Luckily this time it wasn't so bad.  We got off and made the short walk to Pompeii.  Ethan absolutely LOVED it.  We had a Rick Steves tour that we were able to use to learn a lot while we toured and Ethan supplemented the book with some of the facts he learned in class.  It was incredible how a city was able to be so well preserved, well except for the bodies-- I wasn't a big fan of seeing that. My two favorites were the baths and the brothel, both were immaculately intact.

Ethan loving his life at Pompeii

This famous statue was a decoration in the house of one of the wealthy residents, it was really neat!

After a long, hot day of walking at Pompeii we got back on the train back to Sorrento.  We did some more wandering around the town, tried some Lemoncello, and bought a few souvenirs before heading back to the hotel.  Then we made dinner and spent the rest of the night on our balcony, it was lovely.

View of Sorrento as the sun begins to go down

The next morning we got up and had another delicious breakfast thanks to our hosts.  Next, we headed back to the train station so we could catch the bus to Positano, a neighboring town on the Amalfi coast. There was a huge line of tourists waiting to catch the bus too, typical, but we finally got on and were able to get seats on the right hand side of the bus SCORE!  It was definitely a "white knuckling" experience because the bus took some really sharp, narrow turns but the views made it all worth it! After 45 minutes, the bus driver stopped in the middle of a street and told us it was time to get off.  The views were spectacular because we were at the top of Positano so we spent the morning walking the streets to get down to the beach.

View from the window of the bus

View of Positano as we were making our way in on the bus 

More Positano, I could not get enough

On our way down, the views were incredible

There were a ton of shops, restaurants, and tourists! It was great! We stopped in a deli and grabbed delicious proscuitto and mozzarella sandwiches before we got to the beach.  Then we decided to purchase our tickets for the water taxi back to Sorrento and spend the rest of the day at the beach. Neither of us were beach prepared which meant that we had to buy a beach towel and sunscreen, but hey they were just useful souvenirs right? Ethan braved swimming in his shorts and said had the time of his life.  I opted out of getting too far in the water but I was able to see the views of the town from the water and I was in awe.  

After narrowly escaping bad sunburns, it was time to get on the water taxi and head back.  This sounded like a good idea in theory but something happened and our ride turned into a 2.5 hour slow cruise instead of the 45 minute water taxi we had planned on.  We are still not sure what happened there.  Luckily the seasickness that we were both feeling was easily cured by a gelato once we got back to Sorrento.  Exhausted and ready for some air conditioning, we went back to the hotel so we could make dinner and relax.  We had an early train to catch the next morning.

Sorrento was easily my favorite place on the trip. Maybe it was because it was the first time we were finally able to slow down or because it catered so much to British and American tourists? I don't know but either way it was lovely and I cannot wait to go back.  If you plan on going, I would highly recommend staying where we did.  Ethan found it in the Rick Steves book and although it was a 1 Star, it had 5 Star service. 

One more picture, so beautiful!

For now,
Lindsay