Sorrento, Italy

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Saturday, 26^th May, 2012

Success – we made it from Rome to Sorrento with no pre-booking of trains or accommodation!! At the time of writing this, seems like a good time to leave Rome – it’s 8:45 pm on Saturday evening and in Rome it’s 18C and thunderstorms! Here it is pleasant but overcast – probably rain tomorrow when we strolling around.

A description from a web site

Sorrento, wedged on a ledge between the mountains and the Mediterranean, is an attractive resort of 20,000 residents and — in the summer — as many tourists. It's as well-located for regional sightseeing as it is a pleasant place to stay and stroll. The Sorrentines have gone out of their way to create a completely safe and relaxed place for tourists to spend money. Everyone seems to speak fluent English and work for the Chamber of Commerce. Spritzed by lemon and olive groves, this gateway to the Amalfi Coast has an unspoiled old quarter, a lively main shopping street, a spectacular cliffside setting, and easy public transportation.

The trip from Rome to Napoli (Naples) was about 2 hours in a Eurostar fast train (cost: <span> 49 Euros each), then we got off that one, and on to a regional train – lots of stops and about an hour and a half from Napoli to Sorrento, where we arrived about 2:15 pm (cost 4 Euros each).

Despite some peoples’ apparent desire to make life difficult for tourists, we managed (for the most part) to maintain our sense of humour.

We’ve learnt a few lessons for future train trips which will make us a bit more prepared – eg load distribution between bags. For some reason today, the bags were heavier than when we left Sydney and we hadn’t bought anything to carry since leaving AUS.

We also need to be first on to the fast trains as luggage storage is minimal.

Although we didn’t encounter any obvious thievery, we were on constant alert. Naples has a bad reputation for hawkers, con-artists, scammers, schemers and pickpockets.

Another lesson learnt – don’t appear lost. And if people approach you with offers of assistance, or to get you a taxi or accommodation – politely but firmly say no – they all expect to be paid – some exorbitantly. Perhaps the best method is not to make eye contact with any of these people. Only ask assistance from someone you believe trustworthy – eg local constabulary, rail employees, nuns. There were certainly plenty of suspicious looking characters between Rome and Sorrento, but happy to report we encountered nothing more adverse than multiple offers of assistance and taxi rides.

After arriving in Sorrento, we had a quick bite to eat then started looking for accommodation. It’s amazing the number of businesses who don’t have phone books that you might borrow! So we trudged the streets in the heat for a while, with bags in tow. After a while we sat down at a café with a cool drink and decided that Gail would start looking on the internet for accommodation and I’d go walking around the town. Only one place was apparent in the area that we were in had vacancies – so we decided that we’d had enough of traipsing around and took it. A beautiful (and rather expensive) place overlooking the Bay of Naples.

The food and drink here is at least half the price of similar items in Rome. We just had a lovely dinner at a sidewalk restaurant in a narrow alley. A half-carafe of wine, a beer, a large bottle of sparkling mineral water and a lasagne – for 15 Euros (about $AU18?). I’m guessing that meal would have cost us about 40 Euros in Rome. Even the mini-bar prices in the hotel are reasonable.

We’ve booked in to this hotel for 2 nights – tomorrow we’re catching the regional train back to Pompeii to have a look around the old city. We may extend our stay here for another couple of days (but will be looking for cheaper accommodation if we do!). The only commitment on our time is that we need to be Urbania (east of Rome) on the 3^rd June so Gail can start her course.

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