Fri 8th – Wed 13th May
Accommodation: Eden House.
Fri 8th May
It was with some trepidation we entered our Sorrento apartment, following on from the disappointment of our Caserta lodging, but we were pleasantly surprised and then more some! The place was amazing! It was clean, modern, spacious, well appointed, with great natural light and had two balconies with the one off the lounge offering great views out over the Bay of Naples and towards Mt Vesuvius. We’d hit the jackpot with this place which was great as we were booked in for 5 nights.
No sooner had we unpacked than it was time to head out for our 6.30 pm dinner at Taverna Allegra. The benefit of being in a larger, more touristy town was the option of being able to dine before 7.30 pm. Sorrento was very busy on this sunny and mild evening with loads of tourists, especially Americans! Neither of us could remember Sorrento being this busy, or this extensive, when we last visited in 2007. Our restaurant was located off the beaten track but was only ok and not a place I’d say was a must-visit. We strolled the town a bit more after dinner but were back in the apartment by 8.30 pm for Mark to have a glass of red wine out on the balcony whilst soaking up the glorious view. It had been a full day and we were both exhausted, Mark especially, as the drive down from Caserta was quite challenging along the very narrow and winding road with bikes weaving in and out of the traffic. I’d asserted, more than once, that this was the last driving trip I’d do overseas.
Sat 9th May
It was a glorious sunny morning with a clear blue sky and Mark set off early for his first bike ride of this tour. I took a walk and covered old ground from when we were here previously, in 2007, with Tom and Annabelle and it was comfortingly quite familiar.
Our only scheduled activity for the day was a walking tour at 1 pm so this allowed for a slower paced morning which we both appreciated as we’d been on the go non-stop since landing 3 days ago. Our apartment was so lovely that it was actually a bit of a trap as we didn’t want to head out and down into the crowded streets below. The view from both balconies was just glorious and could have kept us occupied all day!
Our 1 hr 45’ walking tour was with a young local guy, Dashel, and he took our small group through parts of Sorrento we hadn’t previously explored so the outing was worthwhile from that perspective. There were 7 or so others on our tour, from 3 different groups but, interestingly, they well all from the midlands of the UK. I was hoping to hear a bit more about the history of the area but Dashel’s focus was more on local crafts and food, with lemons in particular, language (he had great fun trying to correct the Brits pronunciation of ‘grazie’) and where to dine. However, it was a beautiful day, Dashel had a sense of humour and the Brits were entertaining so it was a fun way to spend the afternoon. We strolled the shops a bit more after the tour but then headed back to the apartment for a night of dining in. Our meal was delicious and I don’t think there would be many dinner views better than that available from our balcony.
Sun 10th May
It was an early start for us this morning as we had to drive up to Pompeii for our 10.30 am tour of the archaeological site. There was a train and bus strike over the weekend which meant we had to drive which was a little bit annoying. We started the morning off with a visit to our local cafe, Gentile Cafe. It is our ‘local’ now because we have been here twice and they recognised us with a cheerful greeting and gave us an extra treat with our coffee this morning. Our car was parked just outside the town centre but the parking fee included a valet service which was very handy as they dropped the car to us at 8.30 am and came and picked it up when we returned at 3.30 pm.
Our tour of Pompeii was supposed to be a small group tour with an archeologist but I’d say it was more of a large group tour with a guide. Sara was knowledgeable though and spoke slowly but her heavy accent did make her a bit hard to understand at times. Although we’d been to Pompeii twice before most of this tour covered ground we hadn’t previously explored so we were kept fascinated for the entire 3 hours. In fact, Sara explained that to cover the whole site would take 7 days at 8 hrs per day! It was an enjoyable afternoon and much better discovered with a live guide than with an audio guide.
Some of the interesting facts I was able to clarify from Sara included:
- The Greeks inhabited the area for 5 centuries prior to the Romans: from 6th century BC until the Romans conquered in 82 BC. The Romans then only reigned for 2 centuries.
- Pompeii (110 acres) was excavated in 1748 and Herculaneum (50 acres) in 1738. Initially discovered by farmer digging a well.
- Only 20% of Herculaneum has been excavated whereas for Pompeii the figure is 70%.
- They can time the Vesuvius eruption that devastated Pompeii to October 79 AD at around 1 pm. An earthquake in 62 AD had caused a lot of damage to the area as well.
- Herculaneum was inundated with molten stone, which is not as hot as molten lava, and this had the effect of vacuum sealing the town therefore many timber and organic structures were preserved. Pompeii, however, was inundated with hot ash and molten lava so most organic matter perished.
It was after 6 pm before we ventured back out as we had dinner booked for 6.30 pm at Restaurant Donna Sophia which was a nod to Sophia Lauren as the actress was an honorary citizen of Sorrento and filmed some movies in the area. Our meal was very pleasant, as was the setting, but we noted the venue was full of tourists, us included. We decided at that point to cancel our final remaining restaurant booking and to spend the next two nights dining at home because the view from our balcony could not be beaten.
