Sorrento

My sister Susan and I arrived in Sorrento at a reasonable hour, but it took a while to find the bus stop, which naturally turned out to be on a hill that we had to climb with all our luggage. The hotel was located on the Via Capo, and was supposed to be just a short walk from the train station, but since we were carrying all our luggage and "short walk" seems to have a different meaning in Europe, decided to take the bus. Sorrento sits on a cliff overlooking the Bay of Naples, and although it has some Greek walls and ruins, it is all about the view here, one of which can be seen in the photograph on the left.

Sadly, it rained most of the time we were there, which is always a drawback when it is the town itself that is the attraction and not museums or other tourist attractions.  And I also have to add that it appears the British have taken over the place lock, stock, and barrel.  There are British pubs all over the place (the English Inn, the Celts Bar, the Irish Pub, etc., not to mention that half the hotels in town have British names).  The night we arrived we checked into the Hotel Britannia and had dinner at the Mannequin Piss, named after that delightful statue in Brussels and filled with English patrons watching the soccer game.  Considering that it seems to rain almost 24/7 here, they should all feel right at home. Our hotel was located above the fishing village of Marina Grande, seen in the photograph on the right, which we passed each time we headed to the center of Sorrento.  And yes - that is indeed Mount Vesuvius in the distance across the Bay of Naples.

The day after we arrived in Sorrento we took a bus ride along the Amalfi Coast to Positano, seen in the photograph on the left.  The bus was so crowded we had to stand, but fortunately we were at the front and could look out at the scenery, or at least what we could see of it, considering it was pouring down rain and you often could not see more than a few feet.  Susan did get to experience driving along cliffs that plunged down hundreds of feet to the Bay of Naples, with the bus coming within inches of the edge. Of course, the entire time the bus driver would be driving with one hand and gesturing with the other.  You can't beat fun like that.

We were hoping to take a boat to Capri from Positano, but the weather was so miserable we decided to take the next bus back to Sorrento, where we had lunch and then went back to the hotel.  Susan needed to rest, and so I went out on my own to take photographs and explore a bit. That 4 hours was the one time I saw the sun in that town.  I took the opportunity to take the photo on the right of one of the more luxurious hotels there, hugging the cliffs above the port. When I collected Susan to walk into town for dinner, it started pouring again.  The restaurant we ate at was very nice, however, with good food.  It was also very popular - there were even people waiting in the rain to get in. The next morning we considered taking a boat to Capri, but since it was still raining off and on, decided to head to Naples instead.