Amalfi Coast, Campania, Italy
Sunday, June 14, 2009
We arrived in Sorrento, only to find we had made a critical error in judgment when booking our room. We highly recommend that when choosing a hotel, you pick one with a reception desk (or at least a place you are able to check into). Of course, we didn't know this at the time of booking, but when we arrived at our hotel, Blurooms. We rang, but there was no answer. We saw a sign on the door, but it had no telephone numbers. Paul ran across the road and called the cell phone number that we wrote down from the booking information, but the numbers were wrong. Thankfully, we met a man who knew a woman who knew the owner. The manager finally showed up, and we were no longer hanging in the heat like the famous lemons of Sorrento. Enough about that bullshit. We dropped off our bags, and immediately headed to the beach (Marina Grande). Sorrento, and all of the Amalfi coast, is surrounded by cliffs that have houses built right into them. We relaxed at the beach and swam in the Ligurian sea. That night, the local marching band paraded through the streets , playing traditional Italian music with a large horn section
. After a relaxing evening, we turned in early. The next day, we boarded a vessel and headed to the island of Capri. Like many places we’ve been to on this trip, it was unlike anything we had ever seen. The island was a giant mountain that emerged from the ocean, and is surrounded by incredibly bright green seawater. Beautiful, fuchsia flowers were speckled in bright green bushes, and surrounded by lemon trees. Some of the lemons are the size of soccer balls! We spent the day at the beach, and swam until late afternoon. That night, we drank a bottle of wine and went for a night walk in Sorrento to have dinner. Already tipsy, we ordered a litre of red wine to go with our gnocchi and pizza. We smoked cigars, in homage to our fathers, and completed the meal with espresso.
The following day we changed hotels to one that featured a pool with outside bar (and a reception desk). We were excited to hear that the Penguins had won the cup, and that Sidney Crosby is now a true Canadian champion. We were going to visit Pompei, but it was way too hot and the beach was calling our names. We took a bus to Lubre Masse, and walked down the cliff to the beach. It was much nicer than the beach at Marina Grande, and had 100 times more people. We had happy hour at the pool bar, and made it even happier by bringing our own bottle of Cutty Sark whisky. We grabbed two big bottles of Peroni and headed into the night. We came upon the two worst street performers ever, and watched them while sitting on the front steps of a small church in the narrow street. Paul was certain it was a cover band of Tenacious D . We went to have pizza and pasta on an outdoor patio, and met some Brits in town for a wedding. They were pretty drunk, and we couldn’t understand half the shit they said. It was just like Boomers. The next morning we took a swim in the pool, and took the local train back to Naples, where we would move on to our next destination. Where to next? God only knows. Keep the peace in the Middle East (Moms, relax, we’re not headed there. It’s just a saying). We see you, eh!
