Bagni Salvatore

What can you say about Sorrento? It is lovely, tacky, beautiful, busy, hot, bustling. It’s a mix. But once we caught the lift (ascensore) down to the bottom of the cliffs and made our way to the Bagni Salvatore private baths, any negative feelings from up top, which were few anyway, melted away in a picture straight out of the movies or indeed, a painting.

Bagni Salvatore has crystal clear green water with plenty of good-sized fish sharing in the fun. It is surrounded by sheer cliffs and is built on the ruins of the Villa Agrippa Postumus from the first century AD. Agrippa was the nephew of Emperor Augustus. Its arches are still there and the large carved rocks are still in the water. There is flowering oleander growing and tufts of crimson bougainvillea sprouting from the edges of the rocks. Swimming around in a Roman ruin idirectly connected to the first Emperor of Rome was a first for us both and was very special.

The water was warmish, but still refreshing, around 22-23°. The umbrellas and sun bed were pricey (very) but this was possibly a once in a lifetime experience, so we splurged on the brollies and sunbeds and had a very nice time of it. The baths are part of the Bay of Naples so you’ve got the gorgeous green of the water under you, the remains of a Roman ruin at the beach under the cliffs, and Mt Vesuvius continuing to sleep on the other side of the Bay. Quite extraordinary. Boy, did I ever feel retired, as I languidly swam from one end of the baths to the other.

Since we abandoned our tour of Pompei, today was earmarked at once for rest and relaxation, some time to catch up with ourselves, for with travel, there is always this relentless propulsion to keep pushing yourself. You have to see this. You have to experience that. When you go, it will still be here and if you didn’t go, then you’ll have missed it. All very well, until you realise that the human body and mind are just not made nor equipped for constant, daily trudging from this monument to that museum to this beach to that gallery to this show to that restaurant, from this city to that town. That kind of travel is exhausting and it is something Chris and I now actively avoid. We would much rather put some roots down in a place for a while and get to know it a little while taking a more leisurely pace.

We both had a lovely nap this afternoon, I read some newspapers from home, and around 4.30pm, we set out for a stroll through the market place vicolos of Sorrento. It was fun and we did end up buying something. At the end of one of the vicolos we found a friendly bar (in Italy, the word bar covers bar, café and restaurant and some of them are all three) where we enjoyed aperitivo, this evening’s made up of a meat and cheese board with Negroni Sbagliati spritzes. They were so nice, we both had a second. Gelato back up in the market alleyways and a gentle stroll home for a further tiny nap and a relaxing evening.

Things are good. We’ve both slept better, and it is nice to have the luxuries of a hotel over an Air B n B for a change. Our hotel is indeed very nice and is beautifully appointed in every space. I am writing this piece down in the lounge area with leather lounges and tub chairs surrounding me, a good-sized grand piano up one end of the room and a bar, closed at the moment, with its lights on. There is no-one else here in the lounge, so I have the whole thing to myself.

Tomorrow brings a temporary voyage to Salerno, where my Italian teacher lives and works. We’ll catch the ferry to Amalfi, then take a bus ride to Salerno where we will stay overnight. This stay is necessitated by the schedules of the ferries back to Sorrento. They don’t work for us. So, we’ll stay over-night, probably meet my teacher for breakfast the following morning, before catching a direct two-hour ferry back to Sorrento along the Amalfi coast. I am looking forward to all aspects of this little side trip. It should be very nice.

Ciao ciao 😊Baca selengkapnya