We left early Saturday morning for a two hour train ride to Napoli, and then caught a local train to Sorrento which took one hour. I had already been to Sorrento twice before and love it. I went once in 1999 with my friends from Sydney who stayed in a fancy hotel while I stayed in the youth hostel. Then I went there again in 2003 with some other students from the ESM. We stayed in a caravan park. This time we did it in style!
When we arrived in Sorrento, we had lunch at a restaurant in the main square, then looked around the shops. Then we caught our shuttle bus to our hotel which was 20 minutes out of the town, up the mountain overlooking the Bay of Naples. We were very impressed!
The Hotel Vue D'Or
We spent the afternoon relaxing by taking a dip in the pool and then reading our books on one of the two sun decks, which also overlook the marvellous bay. In the evening we had dinner in the hotel's restaurant which also overlooks the spectacular bay.
The next day we went to Holy Mass in Sorrento, and then we went our separate ways. Paul hired a motor scooter and went down the Amalfi Coast....
While Kev and I wandered around town then spent the rest of the day by the pool - we really needed a rest!
Living it up
We met up again in the town for dinner. Paulie only had one beer with his dinner, while I drank a whole bottle of wine!
My bottle of vino and Paul's glass of beer
You gotta see these signs in Italy! I remember this intersection from seven years ago when my friends and I rented motor scooters. Back then each place name was on a different sign - at least now they have made it a bit more uniform. But when you are trying to balance on a bike, and doing your best not to go over the cliff, the last thing you want is to turn a corner and come across this fork in the road. There is not much time to read the 22 places on the left hand sign and the 26 on the right hand sign. Meanwhile, cars are piling up behind you and coming straight for you while you try and decide which direction you need to go. It actually looks like a joke but it is for real!
Time for a quick decision!!!
On Monday, we checked out of the hotel and went to Pompeii. I was so proud to be at such a special place with two very well-behaved and indiscreet Aussie men.
"The Basilica"
This is the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre, and was built around 70BC. For many people this was a place of major interest for it's historical importance. For Paul and Kev, it had a remarkable resemblance to an Australian Football stadium.
Paul takes an imaginary 'mark' on Kev's sunburnt and back-pack burdened shoulders
When we had walked around for almost four hours in the heat, we decided to head back to the station. The map indicated that we didn't need to go back to the main entrance, but could go to another station near one of the smaller exits. Just to confirm this I asked one of the staff where the nearest station was, and showed him my map. He said that we needed to go back to the start. I questioned him and showed him the station on the map. He insisted that we needed to go back to the start. We decided not to believe him and take a chance. Just as well. The other station was about 10 minutes away. The main entrance was over half an hour away. I just don't get it - he must have known!!!!
We got the train to Napoli to fulfill our plan to have a pizza from the home of pizzas, but we couldn't find anywhere that served any. We walked around for about 20 minutes, but had to settle for pasta at a little restaurant because we didn't want to travel too far from the station (for two reasons - we had to catch a train in one hour, and coz, well, it's a very interesting city!)
The train trip back to Rome was uneventful accept for the yelping dog in the next compartment that prevented half the people from relaxing, and had the other half thinking it was really cute. You can guess which category Kev and I fell into on a two hour train journey.
It was a great weekend
By the way, Paul went to Greece last week and not Estonia.
Dogs are cute.
ReplyDeleteAwesome specky pic!
ReplyDeleteI Love Sorrento but I prefer Portsea :-)
ReplyDelete