Our first hang on the beaches of Italy
After our death defying bus trip up the Amalfi coast we settled in for 4 days tripping around Sorrento. Truthfully, Sorrento has little to offer other then it's location to other great things to do. Our room at the "Elios" hotel was the right price, and it came with a "partial" bay view that was amazing. Giana, the hotel owner, was happy to give us advice about the many day trips we had planned.
Day 1- We had planned to relax and check out Sorrento, but Gabe "suggested" that we try to get out to Capri. We woke up late and this started a day of tragic moments. When we arrived at the port, the ferry we wanted was booked. The ferry we got on was filled with a million pushy people and was double the price. We arrived in Capri suffering a bit of shock, in part because we weren't used to being in such a touristy environment. We made a good decision and a bad decision right off the bat. We really wanted to get away from the crowds and were willingly suckered in to a "private" tour of the south end of the island. This was certainly one of the best things we did while in Naples, but we paid through the nose for it. The tour was on a small fishing boat with an "English Speaking Guide." We were told his name was "Christian" but we are sure it was more like Giuseppe. We visited the White grotto, Orange grotto, and passed through the famous Fraaglioni rocks. The water was incredibly clear and blue. The tour ended more quickly than promised and dropped us in Marina Piccola. We were told this was one of the nicest places on the island and it most certainly was. So, we had been in Capri for 40 minutes and had blown our entire budget for the day. With 5 hours left before our return ferry, we were a bit shell shocked. In an effort to recover, we decided we needed food. We hiked back up to Capri town and searched for the cheapest piece of pizza possible. After fighting the crowds, we discovered there was no cheap pizza in Capri. One tiny slice later we had significantly cut into tomorrow's budget. After getting hit in the face by a purse (the same woman had accosted us on the ferry), Shilo decided she needed a gelato to help her make sense of this travel moment. She ordered the small, which was ridiculously priced. The younge server scooped it up and went to hand it to Shilo. Just before the hand off, the old woman who ran the shop said "No", scooped half of it back in to the freezer, and handed Shilo the tiny cone. This was the last straw. We hiked to the top of Capri and tried to let the incredible view sooth our souls. Gabe was unwilling to spend any more money and would not pay to use the toilet. Needless to say, a few lemon trees will produce some sweeter fruit next year. We returned to Sorrento thoroughly beaten. The day's saving grace was the leftover pizza we had planned to eat for dinner. Par for the course, it had been mistakenly thrown out of the common fridge. We went to bed grumpy and pizzaless.
Day 2- We awoke early and struck out for Pompeii. First in the park and armed with audio guides, we planned to see every inch of the dusty city if for no other reason than to ensure we got our monies worth. We packed a lunch making sure we would not go hungry again. Seven hours later we were covered in dust and had walked all of Pompeii.
A review- Pompeii
Shilo's thoughts- This has come up a few times while we have been visiting ruins, but it struck me the most here. Although the city is amazingly preserved, most of the artifacts have been sent to a museum somewhere else. Many of the frescos and mosaics there were reproductions. The originals have been sent to Napels and Rome, making it hard to piece it all together. That being said, the most amazing part of the complex was Villa dei Misteri. This was the real thing. Depicting a young woman's right of passage into the cult of Dionysis, this wall fresco made the site.
Gabe's thoughts- In Pompii a light went off for me. Coupled with the temples of Agripoli, the theatres of Sicily, and Paestum, I started to have a firm grasp of what living in a Greco-Roman city might be like. More specifically, Pompeii is kind of a dangerous place to visit. Not easy walking. We saw one woman fall a long way only to land head first on a big rock. She seemed ok, but I couldn't tell you what happened as two hundred other tourists pushed me out of the way to get a good look. I love bus tours.
We felt better at the end of this day, but Capri was still on our minds.
Day 3- Capri: we re-due it. Up at 6 and on the first and cheaper ferry by 7:30. Bus to Anicapri and done the "Grotta Azzurra" (Blue Grotto) by 9:45. We headed back to Marina Piccola. On the rocky beach we gazed in to the clear blue water for the rest of the day. This was the Capri we wanted to know, and with a little planning and determination, we made it happen. We ended the day in Sorrento with pizza at our favorite joint in town "Frusti Sorrentina." Gabe had the original stuffed crust pizza called "Pizza Cornicione Imbottito." A margherita pizza with a crust folded over like a crown. In the crown was fresh riccota and zucchini flowers. It's worth repeating the best pizza is in Campania. There is a reason there are no Pizza Huts here.
Day 4- Naples, pizza holy land. We were prepared for the worst. Some of Gabe's relatives were convinced we would get stabbed here. On the train in I thought they might be right as the crowd was shady and the graffiti plentiful. Two stops before Naples a younger man decided to put on a show for our train from the platform; it was not a pretty picture. Once we reached Naples, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We hit the museum and took in all the naughty art from Pompeii, then wondered the crowed streets of the old city to view the famed "Christmas Crib" shops. As it was the birthplace of pizza, we had to have one con mozzarella di bufala. "Trianon da Ciro", who claimed to be the oldest pizza parlor in Italy, was where our pilgrimage ended. Shilo watched them cook our pies in the wood oven and observed the cooking time- 1 minute, 30 seconds.
On the train back to Sorrento we were tired and fell slept quickly only to be awoken by a busking violinist shaking down our car. After hearing the "Macarena" and "Oh, Susanna", our trip to Napoli was complete. Filled with highs and lows, the sea and music sweet, sweet violin music.
"Piccola" (small, as in Marina Piccola- the small harbor, also see gelato in Capri)
Shi and Gabe
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