sorrento and the amalfi coast

On our fourth day in Italy, Pete and I took an early morning bus from Rome to Sorrento, a beautiful resort town just south of Naples. We went from a city of 2.7 million to a town of 20,000. As we approached the Bay of Naples, the scenery changed dramatically, and in front of us were gorgeous ocean views, lemon and orange orchards, and colorful homes perched on cliffs. In Sorrento, we stayed in a spacious B&B right on Marina Piccola; from our room, we had a view of the bay and Mount Vesuvius.

Day 4: arrival in Sorrento, nap, Capri
Day 5: touring the Amalfi Coast
Day 6: quick trip to Pompeii, train from Naples to Florence

From Sorrento, we visited Capri (who knew it was pronounced like cat pee?), famous for being the playground of Roman emperors. It is now a shopper's playground, filled with luxury stores like Prada and Miu Miu. We steered clear, getting lost in a residential neighborhood.

The next day, we took the public SITA bus (after waiting quite a bit in line; there are only 2 buses every hour) to the Amalfi Coast, stopping in Positano for lunch, skipping Amalfi, and ending our day in Ravello. The bus stop in Positano left us at the top of the cliff, and we found our way down to the harbor via narrow, winding steps (which doubled as door steps and alleys).

We probably could have spent the entire day exploring Positano, but we decided to take the bus onwards to Ravello. The town sits up in the hills and is the only Amalfi coast town not on the water. We loved Ravello. It was far less crowded than Positano, with sweeping views of the entire coast and many more of backyard vineyards and orchards.

Our entire trip, we were lucky with transportation. Had we spent one more day in Rome, we would have coincided with a bus strike (preventing us from seeing the Amalfi coast) and a train strike (delaying our trip to Florence). Tugging along a tired Pete the next morning, we stopped in Pompeii on our way to Naples. Pompeii is an enormous site--I had no idea! We got badly lost (Rick Steves failed us), and I got sunburned. Seeing this preserved city (with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background) was memorable, but not entirely enjoyable (quite a few exhibits were closed and we were cranky; lucky for us there's a Pompeii exhibit in NYC right now).

After Pompeii, we took a train to Naples, and then a high speed train to Florence. The ride back north revealed new scenery: Tuscany. Fields after fields of sunflowers and hill top castles kept me awake (Pete? Not so much).


The bus ride into Sorrento.



Our hotel in Sorrento and Capri. Sadly, we missed the famed Blue Grotto.


Capri town and Sorrento; how these homes exist on cliffsides, I have no idea.


Catching the SITA bus from Positano (we barely squeezed on!), a harbor between Amalfi and Ravello.




Scenes from Ravello. The statue and terrace are from Villa Cimbrone, where we saw preparations for a wedding. Can you imagine?!



Pompeii: the main forum, a fast food counter, and the remains of temples.


Garibaldi Station in Naples; sunflower fields.