Italy 2010 - Sorrento

Sunday, October 10, 2010

We were up before six and paying our hotel bill before 7.  The man at the desk had never dealt with a chip credit card before so this took several tries with me showing him how it works, but eventually it worked and he called a cab for us.  The cab soon arrived and within minutes we were at the train station an hour early for our 8:18 departure for Florence.  We had time for a coffee in the cafeteria and then took the tunnel to platform 3 where our train was waiting. 

The train left on time and we were in Florence at 9:50.  After a short wait our train was indicated as coming into platform 5 and we walked to the point that indicated coach 4.  The train arrived on time and we climbed aboard.  It was a comfortable trip with a free cookie and coffee and we spoke to our fellow passengers travelling to Rome.  They were from Indiana – he looked like a politician and it was her first trip outside the US.  From Rome we were joined by a couple from Melbourne and we talked the entire trip to Naples.  In Naples we checked with the information office, found our train to Sorrento and bouht a sandwich for lunch.  By 1:43 we were on a train – like a subway train – headed for Sorrento and about 50 minutes later we arrived in Sorrento.

We walked to our hotel – actually a youth hostel which turned out to be a very comfortable room with a king sized bed, bath, and TV with CNN.  They have Wi-Fi in the lobby and breakfast is included.  A real bargain.  We enjoyed our nap and around 5 PM went for a walk to find our dinner restaurant.  We went down to the marina where there were many restaurants including two recommended ones.  They both look good but it is too early for tonight so we kept walking back up the cliff and found a street full of tourist shops and restaurants.  We Kept walking, found ourselves back in Piazza del Torres where we  were on the way to the hostel, and I checked the guide book for restaurants.  There was one – Sant  Atonino’s which was nearby so we opted to go there.  We had a tomato and garlic bruschetta, Sword Fish, vegetables and mushrooms with a litre of house vino rosso followed by tiramisu.  An excellent meal even if a little more expensive than we had intended.

Monday, October 11, 2010

We woke to the sound of heavy rainfall – too bad as today is our only opportunity to go to Pompeii.  We went down for breakfast which is served in a large airy room off the lobby.  They provide an excellent buffet continental breakfast of cereal, yoghurt, ham, cheese, bread, croissants, jams, juices, fresh local fruit including oranges and various choices of coffee.

It was still raining when we ready to leave for our train to Pompeii, but not as hard.  We took the 10 minute walk to the train station and bought our tickets (3.80 euros return) for the 30 minute train trip.  The train leaves every 30 minutes and we had a 20 minute wait on the waiting train.  We arrived at the Pompeii Scavi station which is a two minute walk from the Pompeii ticket office, bought our tickets, picked up our free maps, and started our Rick strives audio guide on our MP3 player.

We spent over 2 hours walking around Pompeii with our audio guide.  It rained off and on for the first hour or so then cleared.  The top of Mount Vesuvius was shrouded in cloud through our entire visit.  A benefit of the wet weather was that there were probably fewer visitors to contend with, although there were some large tour groups.  I won’t go into detail about the entire visit, but some highlights included the overall impression of the magnitude of the place; the forum baths which have survived relatively intact; the tragic poet’s house with the “cave canem” or “beware of the dog” mosaic at the front door; the bakery with flour grinding systems and baking ovens; the “fast food” outlets across from the baths and the theatre with well-preserved marble counters with cavities for soup and other food; the plaster casts of bodies of victims; and the theatre.  We didn’t get to the amphitheatre which is some distance away from where we were and the house of the Veteii , the best preserved house in Pompeii, was closed for restoration.

The plaster casts of bodies were made when archaeologists discovered cavities in which bodies had decomposed.  They filled the cavities with plaster recreating the bodies exactly as the individuals died.

Around 1:15 we took the train back to Sorrento for a late lunch.  From the train station it is a short walk to the Foreigner’s Club which is a restaurant, high above the Mediterranean, with a superb view along the coast and across to Capri.  There was no service on the open patio as rain still threatened, so we went into the covered area where we found a table and ordered a pizza and salad to share along with two Italian beers.  We returned to the hostel for our daily nap.

We caught up on our journals and on captioning our photos and around 7:30 headed for the restaurants we checked out last night.  We elected to eat at Ristorante Bagni Delfino located on a pier at the end of the “strip” at the south end of the Sorrento waterfront.  The waitress was very helpful and all of the staff were very attentive.  We decided on Mussels for an appetiser, then sardines with fries and a tomato salad.  We had a bottle of their house wine which is locally produced by or for them.  In addition we received a “free” appetiser of bruschetta with tomatoes – in exchange for the 2 Euros per capita “coperto”.  It was all excellent and while we again spent more than we intended it was certainly worth what we paid.  We last had fresh sardines in Portugal.  It was better there – these were much smaller – like the canned variety – but still very tasty.  As happened last night we were also served a complimentary lemon liqueur – limoncello – which makes an excellent end to the meal.