Sorrento, Italy

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May 17

May 15, 16, 2008

Sorrento, Italy

We arrived in Sorrento after a fairly long drive from Orvieto. The road is good and the drive is easy but takes a few hours.

We have spent a few hours in Sorrento previously and enjoyed the city the first visit. We were not disapointed as it is still as nice as we remembered. They are experiencing some minor problems with garbage not being collected ( and piling up ) but not to the extent of the problems in Naples where it is a major problem. We never did get the whole story but it is somewhere between a union problem and not enough landfill space.

Sorrento is a beautiful city on the bluffs overlooking the sea. ( most of the city is very high on the bluffs with only the port area and a few small beaches at the bottom ) Our hotel was built at the beach a few KM from the main town. ( not a problem for us as we have a car ) We spent the first afternoon touring around the city center.

On Friday we spent the morning in town and spent the afternoon on the Isle of Capri, a short ( 30 min. )
ferry trip from Sorrento. Capri is a very small, but beautiful, island that pretty much survives on tourists with an interesting funicular from the port area to the main city center on the hillside. There is a very nice garden with some spectacular sea views from the top. There are a lot of very high-end Villas and homes built on the hillsides and surrounding the city. Nice afternoon and a short ride back to Sorrento for some shopping and dinner. The city is famous for inlaid wood products ( and music boxes) and lemoncello liquor. Spent some cash on both !!

This is a very nice place and for us would be in the same league, for us, as Nice, France as one of our favorite places to visit in the world. Very civilized, ( except for the completely crazy motorcycle and scooter drivers ), very good food and a beautiful place to be.

Off tomorrow to work our way to Sicily.

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