Day 34-36: Sorrento

This is our last night in Sorrento and we finally managed to find Wifi at a bar in town.

We took the train from Florence to Naples on Friday and had the best pizza of our trip in a little Neapolitan bar by the train station. Naples as a city isn’t our favorite, but the food definitely made up for it. We took a metro from Naples to Sorrento, and then a bus to the place we’re staying. It was described to us by a friend as a hostel/campground-type establishment with tents, a swimming pool, coastal access, and lots of young travelers. That description turned out to be close to accurate, but the young travelers are replaced by older, loud, Italian families in RV’s, many of whom have been at the campground for months. Basically, they are the Italian version of rednecks.

Luckily on our first afternoon at the campground we met some young English-speakers. It turned out that there was a tour group of 40 Australians and Canadians staying at the campground for two of our three nights. Their tour guide (an awesome Aussie named Dax) was taking them to a restaurant in town so we decided to tag along. Dinner was great and afterwards we followed the group to a bar for drinks. No one minded us joining in the festivities and we talked to a lot of fun people.

On Saturday we were determined to find a good beach to swim and tan. Allyson consulted her guide book and found a good recommendation within walking distance from our campground. It was a rock beach (as in giant slabs of rock, no pebbles or stones) and ended up being a bit of a hike. We each bought an inflatable raft on the way, which ended up being very useful as pillows. We both fell asleep in the sun for a bit too long and have pink backs to prove it. Luckily we are quickly fading to tan!

We went into Sorrento for dinner that night and ran into one of the Canadian couples from the tour group we met- Brad and Stacy. We got drinks by the coast, did some shopping, and then found a fun place for dinner. Midway through our meal we were ambushed by Sorrento’s marching band. They were crazy and dressed in traditional garb. So fun!

Sunday we woke up early to get on a boat tour to Capri. We lathered on the sunscreen and set off for the beautiful island. The boat dropped us off on the island and we had six hours to explore on our own. We took the scenic walk from the marina town up to Capri. It was gorgeous the whole way up! We walked around Capri, looking in all of the ritzy shops and soon decided to keep exploring the island. The highest point on the island is in another city, Annacapri, and involves a 15 minutes chair lift to reach the top. At the top of the lift was an amazing look-out deck with a 360 degree view of the island. There used to be a mansion at the peak, but it has been converted to a bar and restaurant. Andrew was especially jealous of the view from the swimming pool. We ordered a liter of water at the bar and sat with our Kindles and read for an hour. We arrived back at the marina to meet our boat with just enough time to got for a quick swim in the ocean. The water is so warm and clear!

We leave for Rome tomorrow morning- the last stop in our European adventure!

Travel Blunder: While looking for a good beach spot on Saturday we stumbled into a men’s only (possibly homosexual) beach. Andrew was oblivious, but Allyson was very conscious of the thirty men in Speedos giving her strange looks. As we were quickly leaving the area we noticed penises spray-painted onto the rocks. Wish we’d seen those on the way in!

Culture Shock: It's not unusual to see dogs with diapers around here. There is just something not right about that.

Gourmet Moment: At the top of the walk up to Capri there was a stand selling real lemon slushees with fresh orange juice. We shared a large one and immediately regretted it. It was the most delicious and refreshing drink we’ve ever tasted! We got two more on the way down in the afternoon and we could have gone for more. Yum!