Sorrento - Ups & Downs

First the ups-
We are in sunny (average high of 24) Sorrento now - this town reminds us of Hawaii- it is full of tourists (mostly our age or older) who seem to be spending a lot of money on souvenirs and clothing, and there is a great choice of restaurants also. The scenery is dramatic with the town perched up high on cliffs, and marinas down below for the boat trips to Capri and Naples. Mt Vesuvius is clearly visible in the distance and I am happy to report that it is not smoking at the moment! The cruise ships are moored offshore so that adds to the number of tourists downtown.
Today we took a bus to the town of Amalfi, and Rick Steves describes this drive as follows: ..."one of the world's great bus rides...will leave your mouth open and your camera's memory full".
Try to imagine a 500ft sheer drop to the Mediterranean, a road so windy and narrow that the buses sometimes have to back up to get past each other, and villas clinging to the steep cliffs. It was impressive! We went through the town of Positano and spent several hours in Amalfi Town, which also had a cruise ship offshore and was overrun with tourists! We had originally planned to stay in Amalfi and use it as a base to go hiking, so we were glad we had changed our plans. Not to mention that the hiking would be pretty challenging, with the trails going straight up!
Now the downs-
On our way to Sorrento a few days ago we took two different trains, one from Rome to Naples (comfortable & pleasant) and the other from Naples to Sorrento (overcrowded, standing room only, 35 stops!). I had read of the risk of being pickpocketed on this train but nonetheless Russ was nabbed and partway along the way he realized he no longer had our passports, some cash, as well as his credit cards. It was a sickening feeling. We spent the rest of the day with Russ on the phone as well as filing a report with the local police, which was extremely frustrating, as they had to call in an interpreter. The financial matters are sorted out but we have to return to Rome next week to meet with the Canadian Embassy staff and get our temporary passports, which we need to travel home. Our family and friends have been wonderful...we are blessed to have them! We are staying in a small hotel and the staff here have been very kind as well. We were feeling pretty shocked for the first few days, so it was nice to just hibernate in our room! So things are better now and we are enjoying ourselves once again.
We have not yet been to Pompei and the only way to get there is the same train, which also was on strike yesterday. We plan to make that trip tomorrow, as it's a priority to see that.
When we return to Rome we will take a bus...for some reason there are no buses to Pompei.
I will post a few photos of Sorrento and our hair raising drive today!

Ciao for now,
Linda




Linda Haas
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