Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompeii - October 2008

3 Nights in Sorrento - Home of Olive and Lemon Groves

Our first experience on a passenger train was when we left Rome and headed for Sorrento. We left early in the morning and were in Naples in 2 hours. We got off there and explored Naples for half the day before heading on to Sorrento. Naples is the home of organized crime as well as pizza. It was a Monday and the main street of Naples was crowded with people. Naples ended up being a crowded, noisy city (3rd largest in Italy), but we rewarded our survival by having pizza at the end of our walk. Some of the restaurants we went to had the menu in Italian and English, some places were just in Italian. This pizza place, supposedly one of the best in town, had the menu in Italian, so we didn't really know what to order. We knew ham (prosciutto) and mushrooms (funghi), so that's what we ordered. It was pretty good, but I didn't think it was the best.

One of the hardest parts of our train travel was getting from Naples to Sorrento. There is a separate train that runs between these cities. Once we got back to the main station, we followed signs to the separate train station, bought tickets from a window, and made our way to the tracks. The tracks didn't seem to be marked as well as they were in Rome, so we ended up jumping on the wrong train. Luckily, we discovered our mistake and jumped off a few stations down and waited for the correct train to come. Mike always says things will work out, but I was a little stressed. I think the train stations caused most of my stressing out moments, but it all worked out!

Sorrento is a nice little town that sort of reminded me of La Jolla, CA. There are lots of little boutique clothing stores and limoncello everywhere (it's made in this area). A lot of visitors to the town are from England, so a lot of people spoke English.

We spent a day taking a bus from Sorrento down the Amalfi Coast.  It was gorgeous. We got off in Amalfi and walked around and had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants from our trip. Meals in Italy usually consist of bread, wine, primi (pasta), and secondi (entree of meat or fish). Of course, there are appetizers and dessert as well. Most of the time, we ordered pasta, but a few times, we had the full on meal with entree and dessert. We always had wine. You could order by liter or mezzo liter (half liter). After meals, most Italians have espresso, which we got into the habit of doing as well. And, we had gelato, usually in between meals.

Breakfast in Italy is different as well. The usual breakfast consists of espresso or cappuccino and a croissant. Most Italians drink their coffee standing at a bar. It costs extra in some places if you want to sit down, or in train stations, you can stand at a table. Most of our hotels included breakfast, but each place did it different. Our hotel in Rome had a spread of pastries, cereal and some yogurt. Our hotel in Sorrento gave us coupons to take to a bar for cappuccino and a croissant. Our hotel in Cinque Terre did not have breakfast. Our hotel in Florence brought breakfast to our room. Our hotel in Venice was the most extravagant,  because it was a Hilton.

Another day, we went to Pompeii.  It is a town that was destroyed by a volcano and the ruins are still standing. It's a very touristy place to visit, but it is worth the visit. We opted for an Audioguide to explain some of the things we were looking at. The place is huge, we spent about 2 and 1/2 hours there only to explore 1/3 of the place. You could probably see more if you weren't listening to the Audioguide though.

The weather these 3 days of our trip were mixed. It rained at night while we were at dinner once and a little when we were coming back from Amalfi on the bus. Our warmest day was in Pompeii and I was wearing long sleeves.

LODGING:

Palazzo Starace (TA Review) – Great Location, Friendly Owners

The owners live on the top floor and have a phone on the floor with the rooms in case you need them for anything. They were all super-friendly. One of the owners spoke the most English, the other just a little.

The location of the hotel was great, right on the main street of Corso Italia.

The hotel gave us coupons for breakfast, which was available at Bar Danielle during our stay. The coupon was for a croissant and a coffee (we always had cappuccino). There was a fruit stand next to the bar, where we bought fruit to supplement our breakfast. We usually spent 2 Euros for 3 or 4 pieces of fruit. The bar had 4 small tables outside to sit at (for free) if you wanted.

ATTRACTIONS:

The Amalfi Coast and Amalfi Town – Dramatic Coastline

We took the 930am bus out of Sorrento to tour the Amalfi Coast.  Rick Steves mentions the buses get crowded after 10am, so we were trying to beat the rush.  The tickets for the bus were 6 Eu per person for all day passes.  It takes awhile to drive to the other side of the coast, but once you do get there, you will have amazing views!  Try to sit on the right side of the bus when going there.

We decided not to stop in Positano and just visit Amalfi.  I've been reading lately about a lot of people planning their weddings in Positano, so I guess we need to go back and visit there someday.

In Amalfi, we tried to go on a hike, but found it to be an actual hike that we weren't prepared for.  So, we ended up having a nice lunch and some gelato before heading back to Sorrento.

The bus ride back to Sorrento was a little crowded, people were having to stand up in the aisle and the bus couldn't pick people up in Positano on the way back.  So, try to visit Positano first to avoid getting stuck there for a while.

Pompeii – Town Destroyed By Volcano

We got on the regional train from Sorrento and got off at the Pompeii stop to visit the ruins of Pompeii.  We were able to do this day trip in 4 hours.  We opted for the audio tour here and followed the recommended 2 hour tour on the guide they provided.  There were also 1 hour, 3 hour, 4 hour, etc tours listed.  The guide listed which places in the town to visit and the audio guide would explain how it was living in Pompeii before it was destroyed.  For example, we visited the Forum, the bath room, homes, the bakery, the theatre, and the brothel.

We visited the Archaeological Museum in Naples, which has a collection of things from Pompeii.  Things we saw in Pompeii were referenced by other things we'd seen at the Museum.  I'm glad we went to the Museum first, although I don't think it's necessary.

RESTAURANTS:

Pizzeria Trianon –  A Traditional Pizzeria in Naples

After our walk through Naples, we stopped to have pizza before heading to the train station to go to Sorrento.  With Naples being the home of pizza, we had high expectations of the pizza.  We arrived during a lunch rush and it was very busy and noisy when we got there.  We found 2 seats across from each other at the end of the table and looked around to see what everyone was eating.  I noticed how large the pizzas were and I also noticed the message in the menu saying you couldn't share.  Yikes!

The menu was in Italian and we didn't know many of the words for the different vegetables, so we ordered one pizza with ham and one with ham and mushrooms.  I wish we'd been a little more adventurous, but we were starving and ready to be done with Naples.

The pizza arrived and I was able to eat most of it, but I felt so bad leaving some that I covered it up with a napkin and hurried out.  I didn't see anyone else leaving any behind!  I really didn't like the pizza very much, but I guess I'm used to our American version with plenty of sauce!  I did like the thin crust though!

We spent 20 Euros here for 2 pizzas and 2 cokes.

Pizzeria Aurora – Many, Many Choices of Pizza

This restaurant is located in a popular area of town of Sorrento.  There are many restaurants on Piazzo Tasso and I wished we had chose a different place.  It was raining the evening we ate here, but the outdoor seating was pretty well covered.  The menu is in a few different languages, which is usually a sign of a place that may not be the greatest, but it was recommended by Rick Steves.

There are several different kinds of pizza on the menu.  We had Aurora #1(ham, mushrooms, and tomatoes) and the Napoli (anchovies).  The pizza was just ok.  They didn't have a house wine like most places we ate did, but a large selection of bottled wines.  We ended up going with the server's recommendation, but we didn't really like it.  Overall, I wasn't really impressed with this restaurant.  We spent 51 Euros here that also included 2 espressos.

Trattoria Il Mulino – Family Run Restaurant

After attempting a hike in Amalfi that turned out to be more strenuous than expected, we came across this restaurant as we made our way back to the main area of town.  It was a restaurant that had an outdoor seating area that poured out onto the town's main road.  We looked at the menu and decided to give it a try.  I had gnocchi and Mike had putanesca.  It was a delightful meal and we really enjoyed the quietness of the area.  It was a little ways from the shopping and tourist area.  We were the only ones eating there at first, but by the time we left, there were several other parties.

We spent 18 Euros here for lunch and that included a 1.50 Euro coperto

Ristorante Delfino – Fresh Fish and Awesome Service

With the dim light throughout the streets in Italy, it was a little erie walking to this restaurant from Sorrento.  It took us about 30 minutes to walk here from our hotel.  Supposedly the harbor, Marina Grande, is a separate town from Sorrento.  This restaurant only serves fish caught in the harbor.

We arrived a little before dinner service was to officially start, but they sat us anyway and others were already seated as well.  Italians like to eat dinner later than what we are used to in the U.S.  A lot of the places we ate at during our trip had mostly tourists in the early dinner hours and locals in the later hours.  We tried to wait to eat later when we could for the ambiance.

The servers and owners of this restaurant are so nice and very outgoing.  Most of the time, the service in Italy is slow and not very personable.  The slow service was not really a problem for us, but it was very nice to have someone check on us during our meal to make sure it was ok.  I ordered the swordfish and Mike had the fresh catch, which was sea bass.  They brought the bass out whole and filleted it at the table.  The fresh catch is definitely the way to go here.

Because we had our Rick Steves book with us, we each received free limoncello!  Our meal here was one of the most expensive on our trip, but well worth it for the fresh fish.  We spent 60 Euros.

Continue reading our trip:

3 Nights in Rome

2 Nights in Florence

3 Nights in Cinque Terre

3 Nights in Venice