Sorrento where lemons rule
Lots of yellow in Sorrento honouring the lemons that grow under wooden chestnut structures and covered with netting to protect the trees that fruit 3 times year. Many shops are painted yellow. There is an enormous selection of men’s, women’s and children’s clothes, made with fabric printed with lemons, china, soap, lollies, and multitude of tourist gifts with a lemon theme, plus of course the famous lemon liqueur Limoncello made of Lemon rind, alcohol, sugar and water.
Sorrento sits on the coast overlooking the Bay of Naples, and is a very popular town to journey from down the Amalfi Coast itself before taking a ferry to the island of Capri.
Leaving Rome proved to be rather stressful, as a strike made taxi’s hard to get. I had arranged for a bus to collect us, but they are limited to stopping near the train station. Finally an hour late we were loaded and comfortable. We spent a lovely quiet two hours just sitting, in contrast to all the walking we had done on our previous four days. Pompei was our afternoon visit and we meet our guide Giovanna before our classic Pizza Lunch . It was hilarious – in contrast to my chosen restaurants we found ourselves being given a salad and choice of drink , then had to choose either a Margarita Pizza or Spaghetti Bolognese followed by lemon ice-cream. This place feeds 450 people in a sitting . It was a refined operation and you know what – suited the purpose for today.
Giovanna guides at Pompei often. We all knew there had been an enormous eruption from Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD and it destroyed the cities and towns that sat at its feet. Plus, we know that Pompei was completely covered with volcanic ash material and everyone who lived there was suffocated by the fumes and gasses. It was not until the mid 1750”s that Pompei was found and archaeologists have worked and are still working discovering and unearthing the city (with 5/6 ths still to go). An exciting new section is expected to open soon. Giovanna provided a well planned informative tour over two hours. The site is huge and could take days to walk every street. But her well-chosen sites gave us a perfect understanding of one of the world’s famous catastrophic events.
Driving in this region of Italy is pretty precarious. Traffic crawled along as we crept towards Sorrento. I required help from the hotel to transport our large bags to the hotel and a guy on a bike turned up and proceeded to pile suitcases onto a platform on the front. It was a short 5 minute walk to find Palazzo Starace. Very central, very original, very tastefully decorated and it was fun going into each other’s rooms to see what colour fabric was on their headboards . Three flights of stairs and no lift – but they did have an ingenuous hoist. Breakfasts were exceptionally good and the wonderful Alessandra, Lorenza and Maria spoilt us for our 4 days.
They suggested excellent local restaurants which also introduced us to Marina Grande – the dining area down by the old fishing port and obviously fresh seafood was prominent, however, Gnocchi is the traditional dish here.
Our three days were spent :
1. With Giovanna – Bssing out of Sorrento along the Amalfi coast to Positano , then water ferry to Amalfi. The views of the coastline were stunning. Crowds of tourists were pouring into Amalfi . Some of us chose a seafood lunch overlooking the water and others the opted for famous fried fish served in a paper cone. Immediately, after our visi we met up with our bus again and slowly wound our way up the narrow road to Ravello . I love Ravello – it has magnificent views and we were entertained by a large elegant Italian wedding. The peace and quiet was evident to the bustle of popular Positano and Amalfi . Once again the rules have changed and buses can no longer drive back on the Amalfi Coast – so it was over the hills for our return trip. Our daughter Hannah has joined the tour now and she chose to walk the famous ‘Path of the Gods’ . But, given our timing she climbed 1700 steps out of {Positano before her hike began for the next two hours . She just missed the bus back to Amalfi so it was another 1700 steps down and bus and a ferry back to Sorrento . A pretty tired girl by the evening.
2. In an attempt to beat the tour groups, we caught the 8.30 am ferry to Capri. I think we were first to catch the open air taxis to Anacapri – this has to be the best ride with the exceptional views . At Anacapri I wanted everyone to experience the Villa and garden of San Michelle. It sits looking back at the Gulf of Naples and the view is stupendous. Axel Munthe, the famous Norwegian doctor chose Capri to live in and designed the villa himself. His story is told in the book” The Story of San Michelle ‘ and is well worth the read. By 3 pm we had enjoyed lunch in Capri, had a good look around the designer shops and were back in Sorrento for a free afternoon .
3. Our last full day again took us out of Sorrento – past the 2nd largest city in Campania called Salerno and onto the countryside which boasts the main Buffalo Mozzarella production in Italy. The swampy ground originally favoured the Buffalo from India. The 320 Buffaloes each produced 4kg of milk a day, that, in turn was made into 1 kg of Mozzarella. The cheese is unpasteurised and has a shelf life of 15 days. Very simply the milk curd is formed . Hot water is added and mixed until the curd is stretchy . Balls are pulled off and dropped into cold water. Machines are mostly used now – but the end product is incredible. ‘Barlotti’ the Producer , also makes Buffalo ricotta, many other cheeses, yoghurt, ice-cream and the thickened whey. Our typical lunch was served at a huge table under a grapevine and gave us a chance to taste the cheeses, with prosciutto, tomatoes, grilled vegetables and stuffed zucchini flowers.
For two hours after lunch we had an archeological visit to Paestum. This impressive collection of 3 enormous temples and Roman artefacts remain from the Greek community that inhabited this area in 500 BC. Over 200 years they established the temples of Hera, Athena and Poseidon. Our guide Adele walked us through this quiet eyrie place where the lives of 10’s of thousands of people had lived – she taught us so much in a short time.
This region has heaps to offer – although I think it is easier being on a boat than it is driving the narrow winding roads. Cruising is certainly less difficult and the views across the bay of Sorrento and the Bay of Naples are stunning from the water.
We drove through the biggest thunder and lightning storm we have all experienced – our bus driver tackled a water washed autostrada through to Chianciamo in Tuscany to where we will start our new adventure in Tuscany for the next 7 days.
Sorrento Suggestion :
Hotel : Palazzo Starace – if you want a central hotel this is perfect
– https://www.palazzostarace.com/
Guide | Giovanna | info@albireotravel.it
Bus company | Pasquale | venierobus@gmail.com
Restaurants :
Porta Grande; BAGNI DELFINO , SOUL AND FISH: reservations are required for these two restaurants.
PORTA MARINA, TRATTORIA DA EMILIA: these two other restaurants don’t take reservations, so you have to go there and wait in line.
In Sorrento
‘Meating’ – 5 steps from the hotel and ‘Gnocchi’