Sorrento

Our day started well as we made it to the station and navigated the tickets and were comfortably on the train without much fuss. The trains are great but we had this woman sitting near us that constantly talked on the phone …all four of them!  I have no idea what she was talking about but at times she was not very happy because she’d thump the table and raise her voice. Then it was like the person hung up because she would look at her phone and then dial again.

The next part of the trip was an experience and not something you would want to do every day. We decided to take the local train (the Circumvesuviana train) from Naples to Sorrento and it take about an hour. The funny thing is, there does not seem to be any limit on the number of people it can carry. You think there is no room and as you approach the doors everyone shuffles a bit and you squeeze in. We thought us getting in was the limit but at least four or five got in after us. All we could do was laugh. At Pompeii lots of people got out and American lady and I got a seat. We ended up having a lovely chat with her and her husband.

We arrived in beautiful Sorrento early afternoon. After quick walk from the station we found our way to the hotel and only had to redirect once this time. Although Terry did keep giving these looks that translated to where on earth do you think you are taking us (that’s the censored version). Thankfully Google was spot on again and we arrived at another large wooden door that we had to buzz to get in. 

Raffaella (the manager) met us in the courtyard and she was just as lovely as she seemed to be from her email. She is a vibrant, outgoing and fun young woman with a great sense of humour who almost includes you as one of her family. She seemed really happy to see us. I guess she would though because we had already booked another night with her.

After settling into the room, we went for a wander to check out the shopping and to see what options we had for dinner. There is a main street that runs the full length of the town with a piazza in the centre. It’s from the piazza that it gets interesting for shopping and eating. Obviously as Sorrento is on the coast, all the shops have a that costal theme with lots of blues creams and sandy colours. There are lots of little interesting lane ways that are filled with lots of stalls and the most common are the ones based around lemons. 

Sorrento has an abundance of lemon trees. It’s one of the prime industries in the area. There are very cheerful looking stores and are filled with all things lemon. Lemon marmalade, lemon lollies, lemon biscotti and most importantly limoncello. A liqueur they seem to drink any time of the day, as a digestive of course.

The whole town is full of tourists and it’s almost shoulder to shoulder everywhere you go. It’s fun though. I don’t think it’s normally this busy this early except on the “Workers Day” public holiday. It falls next Tuesday day so I think the everyone takes the extra day for a long weekend.

We’ve explored the centre of town and found the Valley of the Mills.  It’s a large crevice where they built flour mills back in the 13 century. As time progressed the milling of flour was moved to the large pasta making factories and the mills fell into disrepair. They are now crumbling and overgrown with moss and ferns. It’s an unexpected and quite beautiful site in the middle of the town.

After wandering around for a while we returned to our guesthouse to get some of advice on where to eat as there were so many to choose from.  Raffaella suggested a restaurant down near the water but as we had a long day we preferred something a little closer.  So, she then told us she knows of another one but it’s “very far”. We opted for that one because we realised she was joking about the distance and it was two doors down the lane one the opposite side to us….we only just made it! The meal was delicious and the staff were lovely and welcoming.

Well our first day in Sorrento has been a success and I already know we are going to love it here!