For those of you who have got the Tina Arena reference in the title...congratulations, you are old and probably spent some time in Australia and New Zealand in the 90s. It was the first thing that came to mind when I found out I was going to be staying in Sorrento on our romantic getaway to Italy and I had assumed that Ms. Arena was singing about this beautiful cliffside town. Turns out she was singing about her childhood town in Victoria, Australia, but I digress...
Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast have long been on my hitlist but the Amalfi in particular is what many would deem a romantic spot, so I almost deliberately avoided it during my single days. Now, however, I no longer have that excuse, so I can now start checking off these romantic destinations in the way that I have always thought they should be enjoyed - with a partner.
We flew into Naples and after we were shoved into a shared taxi to the train station, the view outside on the way in was exactly what I expected - dirty, dishevelled and disorderly. I felt like I was back in Latin America or
India. I relished the chaos however, having been for so long in the relative order of Germany; the feeling reminded me of how I felt when being pulled through the intestines of Old Delhi by rickshaw. Britta wasnt quite as enthused and was happy she wasnt going to be spending any time here; she is flying straight back to Berlin after seeing the more serene parts of Campania, while I will stay on a couple more days afterwards to explore. So more about Naples later...
Once at Naples central train station, we jumped straight on to the train to Sorrento, which was a long, one hour and twenty minute ride on some hard plastic seats, the sun setting during the journey. The Circumvseuviana train service is a pretty cheap and handy way of getting between Naples, Pompeii and the Sorrentine Peninsula, the scruffiness and graffiti of Naples giving way to the donkeys and lemon trees of Sorrento and its surrounds.
Our B&B was a short, handy walk from the train station but we had a bit of trouble finding it, as it was hidden within a maze of apartment blocks with no clear signage as to where it actually was. It turns out to be a flat
within a residential block and was recently renovated and very nice. The balcony had a great view of the mountains looming over the town and was a nice view to have while enjoying your breakfast.
Our first dinner that night was rather forgettable though - as we had arrived in town late, we had to find a nearby restaurant that was open and while we got lucky with finding a place, we werent especially lucky with the food. Sorrento is famous for gnocchi alla sorrentina, which is gnocchi baked in cheese and tomatoes; while the version I had was nice enough, it wasnt
We set out to explore the town the next day and the first thing that struck me was that there was a bit of 60s glamour to the place; the second thing that struck me was the sweet smell of the lemon and orange trees that are all over the city, their fruits just casually dropping onto the street. This is in addition to the many plantations that one can see on the way in on the train. I wonder if anyone can simply pick the fruit from these public trees?
its lemons and some of the ones on sale were the biggest I have ever seen, with the biggest being the size of a small watermelon. Limoncello is also famously made here - which is something rammed home to every tourist by the scores of shops in the old town selling lemon and limoncello related tat.
Otherwise, Sorrento is the quintessential Italian town in many ways but it could really have been any old European town, not just in Italy but in Croatia or Greece for that matter, with its cute narrow alleys packed with tourists and tourist shops.
