sorrento

ciao i tutti!

a bit of time has past since we last wrote - getting more tardy as the time ticks by... sorry to all our fans out there!

just to close on Napoli, while our trip to the Museo didnt eventuate, we did stop by the Catacombs for a personal tour - very interesting but em was hoping to see bones strewn about the place but all of the excavated remains from the tombs had been buried in a nearby cemetary. was still pretty cool though, it had a functioning underground chapel, and we learned that it acted as a bomb shelter, refugee camp, and hospital in WW2 (given that Napoli was a big target cos of its massive port).

the rest of the time in Napoli was spent wandering around the streets, trying out the famous pizza, and negotiating our way around the chaos that is traffic in the city. its totally different to any other city we have seen in italy - by far the dirtiest and craziest. as far as first visit impressions go, it was a must do, however sim was on high alert all the time due to crime, traffic, smog, smokers, (you see the general trend) and so it was a very mentally tiring experience.

it was great then, to board the ferry to sorrento after a couple of days in the big smoke. mt vesuvius looked incredible - it was massive, and cant believe so many people are living just a km away from the peak!! apparently scientists predict that it should erupt every 35 or so years, and given that the last one was in the early 40s, it is well overdue!! we didnt climb it this time, maybe next visit.

sorrento was a breath of fresh air, literally, from napoli. the ferry was definitely the best way to approach given the amazing coastal views. the town itself is quite touristy, and most shop keepers speak excellent english, however we keep trying to practice our italian on them, and find that it often is more appreciated and warmly welcomed.

we spent four nights overall in the town, in which time we visited and explored pompeii (really interesting - massive, so it took up a good 5 hrs and we didnt even see the whole lot!), took a trip (bus there, ferry back) to the amalfi coast, explored sorrento itself, and Marina Grande, where, as some of you might know, sim's nonni was grew up. we even found out that we were staying on the exact site that nonni was born - an olive grove that her parents leased to work the land.

the amalfi coast was amazingly spectacular. em has put it as no.1 above the great ocean road, which must be saying something!! the bus trip down was slightly hairy, narrow roads, steep cliffs, and tiny villages with numerous near misses (millimetres, not feet!!), all seemingly a normal part of the experience. we saw a huge bank up just out of amalfi, with two buses coming each way, blocking the entire road (even the scooters stopped, and thats something!!).

it was great to see Marina Grande, finally, after I (sim) had heard and seen so much of it second hand. we explored the rock pools where nonni would of played, and walked the same streets - it
was a little surreal actually. we also found the school where nonni went, but were too shy to buzz ourselves in on a school day as the friendly old italian man suggested we do after giving us directions. we found a trattoria on marina grande that had been there for 60 years, and enjoyed some of the best fish yet.

that's our sorrento experience, in a nut shell!