Sorrento is a wonderful town, wedged on the side of a mountain and spreading down to the coast of the Mediterranean. Approximately 20,000 people live in Sorrento and apparently in the summer, that number nearly doubles. However, this is tourist off-season and we had a great time exploring the area today.

We started with an excellent breakfast at the hotel – which included champagne. It was raining a bit as we enjoyed the wide variety of food offerings, but it had stopped by the time we were ready to head out. Right next to our hotel is a gorge, with Greek steps and ruins from the fifth century BC. We wandered the streets of the historic old town, stopping in at a church, looking out over the sea and just generally soaking up the atmosphere. We followed the sea cliffs and down a path to the area of Marina Grande, a delightful little fishing village. As we returned to Sorrento’s narrow cobble-stoned streets, we visited a few shops. We then decided to stop for a late lunch, sharing a pizza and a very cute 1/2 litre carafe of red wine. While we were lunching, it again showered but stopped before we left. We decided to follow the Italian custom of an afternoon rest so headed back to the hotel, where we rested, read and blogged. Again, it rained while we were in – this was working out quite well for us.

Around 6 pm, the rain had stopped and we felt it was time for a walk. There had been a Carnevale celebration while we were in and the streets were littered with soggy confetti and silly string. We didn’t mind that we had missed these wet celebrations. We headed in the opposite direction from our previous explorations and perused a few stores in the newer town, as well as checking out the train station. This is just a block from our hotel and we plan on taking the train to Pompeii later in the week.

We had a couple of ideas for restaurants for dinner, but unfortunately both were closed (one for the season, one for the evening). As we were wandering, a young man convinced us we should come into his establishment. It was a good decision! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner of linguine with mussels (Harv) and rigatoni with meatballs (Bev), accompanied once again by red wine. Hmm – 3 meals today, all with alcohol – perhaps not the best habit to get into, but enjoyable for a day! Cheers,

B&H