Sorrento, Italy
Sunday, June 25, 2006
In order to make the overnight Monday ferry in Brindisi, we left Rome with two days to spare, decided to make a pit stop in
Naples for some pizza and then take in a couple days in
Sorrento along the
Amalfi Coast. I don't know if any of you have stopped in Naples, but in place of a "sparkling city nestled on the bay" we found a city heaped in trash, littered with street vendors and reeking of decapitated fish. Despite Mary's exasperated declaration of wanting to get the heck out of
Naples, we made our way to one of its hidden gems. Naples, the creator of the Margherita pizza- tomato, basil, olive oil and mozzarella-holds a lovely pizza place that has been famous for over one hundred years. Within five minutes, we had a nice big Margherita pizza in front of us for only $5.00. After our lunch pit-stop, we hopped on another train to take us to the beautiful
Sorrento. I found the
Amalfi Coast to be a bigger, more commercialized Cinque Terre, beautiful, big and inviting. Anxious to do the bus trip along the coast from Sorrento to
Salerno which Rick Steves assured us would "leave our mouths open and our film exposed" we decided to spend one of our non-travel days in a bus touring the coast
. What good old Ricky fails to mention is that the cramped, stuffy, rickety bus dripping with "air conditioning" and literally catapulting you around corners does indeed leave your mouth open, but forces you to close your eyes so as not to be sick. Mary found this trip to be delightful, as she laughed at me for having wanted to make this bus journey to see the beautiful coast and then, ironically, being forced to keep my eyes closed as we jolted around some of the windiest roads to exist in the world 500 ft above the ocean. However, her laughter soon stopped as we finished watching the England game in
Amalfi and found that we had to take the dreadful, gut-wrenching bus ride to get home. Although she does not even get carsick, after about twenty minutes into our hour and a half ride, she asked me if I had a bag and buried her pale face into her lap. All in all, the
Amalfi Coast is beautiful, but beware of the bus ride not unlike a wicked roller coaster. We didn't get to spend much time in this region, but enjoyed the beautiful views. We decided we like Cinque Terre much better, as it offers more of an Italian feel with the resorts and hoards of people removed. However, we would love to have spent more time in this area.
Comments
Sad : (
I am supposed to be there right now for Jenny's wedding. Take a special picture for me!