Sorrento, Italy Trip Report

Sorrento, Italy - 17th October to 24th October, 2010

For our October break, Devin booked us a flight to Naples for a week's stay in Sorrento, on the Amalfi coast.

Day 1 - Flight from Bucharest to Naples, Bus to Sorrento, Taxi to Hotel

We flew from Bucharest to Naples using WizzAir, one of the budget airlines of Europe. We'd heard horror stories about WizzAir, and the Baneasa airport we'd be using. A few people and travel books suggest it's the worst airport in Europe. So we prepared for trouble all day by bringing extra food and money. Turns out, things weren't too bad. We got checked in, stood around waiting, boarded on time and were on our way to Italy like nobody's business. Heck, they even sold food on flight, allowing us a quick snack. We arrived in Naples, collected our bag and waited about an hour for the bus to Sorrento. Tickets: 10 Euro each for a comfortable bus with luggage storage underneath. Certainly a reasonable price. The bus dropped us off at the Sorrento train station. We could huff our luggage to a bus pickup point to catch a free shuttle to the hotel, or we could catch a city bus and huff our luggage from the bus stop to the hotel, or we could catch a taxi. We opted to catch a taxi. Price: 40 Euros for the 15 minute ride up into the hills around Sorrento to our hotel. Ouch. But the setting of our hotel is lovely, so the price tag of the taxi was quickly forgotten.

We settled into the room and hung out on the balcony, taking in the fresh air and the beautiful scenery. Dinner was a nice (but pricey) affair in the hotel restaurant with service by two very proper Italian waiters. Quite a cultural experience, to say the least.

Day 2 - Hanging out in Sorrento

We needed to change rooms at the hotel (they didn't have our room available for all of the nights, so we were upgraded the first night) in the morning, so after a very expensive breakfast at the hotel restaurant and the room change we hopped the free shuttle into Sorrento and just started walking around. We knew we needed to find the tourist office, but figured we'd find it eventually. We wandered the alley ways looking at shops, stopped in for coffee at a few places, spotted some ceramics we'd like to buy, took in the views of the waterfront and marina, had lunch and just enjoyed the day. The weather held out for us, and the temperature was quite comfortable compared to Bucharest.

Check out the pictures below. Remember you can click on each image to see a larger version.


Devin and David stopped at the FIRST shop they found and bought a little trinket.	One of the back alleys of Sorrento full of shops.	A nice stall with wonderful produce.	Check out the size of that lemon!


The Sorrento Opera Society (or something like that). It looked cool regardless.	The family on the waterfront, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.	A bit closer look at Mt. Vesuvius across the bay.	Looking down at the marina, with more beautiful scenery in the background.


A cool street that goes to the waterfront. We had coffee in the cafe on the left.	I'm not sure why, but I felt it was a requirement that I take pictures of any and all statues in Sorrento.	Statue 2	Statue 3


David and I in one of the alleys.	"I'm a real boy."

Day 3 - Cloudy skies make for a quiet day inside

It was raining all day, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the couches in the lobby, play some checkers, and read a lot of books.

Day 4 - The Ruins of Pompei

Pompei is a place that both Devin and I have wanted to go for a long time. And David was intrigued by the idea of seeing "real-live dead people" in the ruins after seeing some pictures in a book from his library. So we had breakfast at the hotel, then hopped a train from Sorrento to Pompei. The train stop is right next to one of the entrances, and on the way from the train to the entrance we were besieged by people selling their wares. Everything from bottled water to "real Italian pizza" for lunch. Yes, Pompei is a tourist trap. But as I have decided along my travels, some things are tourist traps for a reason. This was a really cool day for all of us. I'm not sure that much description here would be beneficial. I'll let the pictures do the talking with 30,000 more words below.

Check out the pictures below. Remember you can click on each image to see a larger version.


Devin and David on the train to Pompei from Sorrento.	Ruins	Family Portrait	Urns, vases, etc. in the collection.


"Real live dead people" in David's mind. He was fascinated by this idea.	A house.	Devin posing by a cool patterned wall.	An oven of some sort.


Devin peeking through the wall.	Some structures we saw repeatedly that we couldn't identify.	Marble counters.	A street view.


David	Lowell	HUGE rock structures by one of the entrances to the city.	Painted walls.


Part of the baths.	A fountain in one of the houses.	Holding up the walls.	Stairway to ...?


The big theater.	Outside the theater.	Another family portrait.	Looking down the road to some columns.


Another painted wall.	And more marble. We were often awestruck by the marble.	Drainage pipes in one of the walls.	The coliseum. This was the highlight of the day for me.


Inside the coliseum.	Looking at Mt. Vesuvius from one of the courtyards.

Day 5 - Positano

On the other side of the peninsula lies the small town of Positano. It is picturesque, with stunning views of the cliffs around town and houses that seem to tumble to the sea from the steep limestone faces above the beach. We hopped a bus from Sorrento to Positano and spent a few hours walking the streets, mesmerized by the beauty. The bus ride was spectacular for me. I had stunning views from the road straight down to the ocean in quite a few places. Devin and David, on the other had, had stunning views of the Hanes boxers of one of the teenage passengers that got on late enough to not have a seat. As with most everything on this trip so far, I feel as though the pictures tell a much better story...but one funny thing happened on the way back. We grabbed dinner in Sorrento at a restaurant and happened to be seated near some folks that were in Positano and rode the bus back with us also. They were from the south of England, and commented that they "enjoyed our accents." Hah! Silly me, thinking they were the ones with the accents. It was worth a good laugh. And Devin suggested I try to write more about the bus ride back. We waited patiently at our bus stop, even arriving early. The bus shows up (we thought we were at the origination of the bus line here) and several people disembark, but the bus is still quite full. We have to practically beg our way onto the bus with a driver that was half rude and half apologetic for the packed bus. It was difficult to figure him out. In the end, he let us on. So of course, we provided the views to the passengers around us as we stood near the front of the bus. But luckily, our style of dress prevented us from showing off our skivvies.

Check out the pictures below. Remember you can click on each image to see a larger version.


The view down to the beach from the bus stop.	Looking up one of the narrow streets to the mountains behind town.	The boats lined up on the beach.	The houses/hotels, etc. of the town.


From the beachfront, looking back at town.	A local catching some lunch.	Devin and David on the waterfront.	The waves crashing, with the town in the background.


The beach. Yes, David and I got our feet wet. The water was a bit chilly.	The buildings right behind the beach.	Looking east from the bus stop, further up the coast.

Day 6 - Sorrento

We planned on hitting the island of Capri today, but we all overslept, not having set an alarm the previous night. So we just decided to hang out around Sorrento and hit a museum that Devin found and a park for David. The day didn't have a lot of excitement, but a few pictures below show some of the fun we had.


An Ape, a small "tuk-tuk-like" vehicle that we observed a lot around town. We saw a family of three in one of them. I often had Ape-envy.	Mt. Vesuvius across the water.	Looking down at the marina and one of the ferries.


David's Gelateria. Sadly, David tried gelato twice and had an allergic reaction both times...so no gelato for him.	And David being a kid, enjoying one of the local parks.

Day 7 - Island of Capri

Our last full day in Italy we figured if we were going to get to Capri, we needed to set the alarm. We planned to wake up at 7:00 and catch the 8:30 shuttle to town to get to the island early. At 8:36 I woke up and realized my phone had ran out of battery overnight and we had overslept. Oh well. We're on vacation. Sleep is good. So we had breakfast and hopped a shuttle to town just in time to catch a ferry to Capri. We had some coffee, Devin bought some bus tickets, and we planned our day. We rode the funicular up to the top of the hill, then had some lemon granitas. Very yummy. Then we hopped a local bus to Anacapri so that David and I could ride the chairlift to the top of Monte Solaro. Devin decided to enjoy a cappuccino while David and I shared some father-son time. David was a bit apprehensive at first, but once he got on the chairlift, he loved it! At the top, the views are stunning. We walked around a bit, taking it all in, then went back down. The views from the chairlift on the way down were even better than the way up. We hopped a bus back to Capri, found a place for lunch. Of course, we'd already had a snack earlier (see David with the pizza below). Our entire trip seemed to revolve around food. I think I managed to gain a few pounds with all the pizza and pasta.


David REALLY enjoyed this pizza.	David and I enjoying our lemon granitas.	The view of Capri.	Our mini-bus to Anacapri.


Looking back at David on the chairlift.	Self-portrait.	Looking up the ridge while riding the chairlift.	At the top.


Looking down from the top.	On the way down, looking over the town.	My view.	David about to disembark.


Devin and David on the bus back to Capri	The funicular.	The marina in Capri.	Devin and David on the ferry back to Sorrento.


Looking up towards town from the Marina.	The road we walked up.	The stairs we had to walk up.	And David on the stairs.

Day 8 - Back to Reality

We flew back home on Sunday after a WONDERFUL vacation. We walked through the doors about 7:30 PM to an empty refrigerator. Of course, I had a grand plan before we left to stock the freezer with some frozen pizza. I thought it would be quick and easy to prepare once we got home, since the grocery store across the street would be closed by the time we returned. So we fired up the oven and cooked the pizza. Well, after a week in Italy eating the real thing, the pizza was absolutely nasty. My view of frozen pizza has been spoiled forever. It's debatable whether this is a good or bad development...

Until our next trip report, Ciao!