Sorrento, Italy

From Verona, we took a high speed train to Bologna, where we changed to another one that took us to Naples. The first train was almost entirely in tunnels. That was probably about 90 miles of tunnels, the longest train tunnels I've been in. Both were very fast and at one point, we were cruising at 248 KPH, or over 150 miles per hour. When we got out of the train in Naples at lunch time, it was like we landed on another planet.

For 8 1/2 weeks we've been in North and Central Europe, where everything works and people are chill. Stepping outside, it was pure chaos. It was dirty and smelly and loud. But at least there was no garbage strike, and Naples is infamous for those. People honked to be heard over others honking. Ambulances were stuck in traffic and the siren just kept on going. Nobody noticed except us. Bike food delivery drivers screamed at each other on the sidewalk as we walked by. But the sun was shining.

We needed a bus to get to the ferry to get to Sorrento and you need to buy bus tickets at a tobaccanist shop and not on the buses. We walked quite a bit to find one and got bad info from Google maps and we never did find one. There was no place at the station to buy bus tickets either, so we went back to take a Metro to the ferry port. The lines to buy Metro tickets were long. Either there is no app, or locals don't use it because it wasn't just tourists standing in line. Long story short, there was no option to buy the Metro line 1 ticket on these machines. Finally, I went to a random store and asked to buy bus tickets and luckily the guy sold them. He was very nice about it. An hour after starting our search, we got on a bus that took us near the ferry. If we had taken the train, we would have been in Sorrento by then. E la vita.

I found a restaurant by the port with good reviews and it was amazing. We sat in the street which looked like an alley. It was a Saturday at noonish and families were out for lunch. Kids screamed at each other at the table behind us. Our waiters were good and fast and the bacalo (cod) meals we got were amazing. A bottle of Pinot Grigio settled us in.

From there, it was just a short walk to the ferry. Too bad we couldn't sit outside to get better views, but the ones we saw of the Gulf of Naples were pretty good. We hugged the coast until we got to the port of Sorrento.

Once there we hopped on a shuttle bus to take us to our apartment, at the top of the cliff and next to the train station. We REALLY wanted that boat trip. It would have been so much easier to take the train.

It's a steep city and there was no way we were walking with luggage. The bus only left when full, like in SE Asia or Turkey. We met our host at the apartment we rented for 3 days. Wow. It's definitely the biggest apartment we have stayed in on the trip, and probably the best. It's a 2 BR unit with a humongous balcony we have it to ourselves. It boasts great views of Mt. Vesuvius and the city and bay below.

The famous island of Capri is just a short ferry ride away, but this balcony is heaven. Who would come all this way and not go to Capri? Us. After 9 weeks of travel, we need to chill out in the sun instead of walking down another charming street. Capri will always be there, but eating breakfast, drinking wine, and reading on our sunny balcony is just what the doctor ordered.

We did get out and see the sights. We walked back to the port to buy ferry tickets to go to Amalfi and Positano. And we ate lunch at a restaurant. But this is the most touristy city we've been to on the whole trip. It sure looks like cruise ships dumped a lot of people here during the day. That's not our scene. So we went to the grocery store and bought food and wine for meals and enjoyed the balcony for the next few days.

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