Rental Car fun and Sorrento!

Buongiorno! This morning, Dad got up early to catch the shuttle to the airport to pick up our rental car – we decided of all the options for getting to and from Sorrento, this was the best, cheapest, and easiest option for all of us. So after some hassle at the rental counter and an hour of round-trip travel, he returned and we piled all of our luggage (all 7 bags) into our “luxury” Ford Focus and we got on the road! The trip from Rome to Sorrento (which is south of Naples – check your maps) is rather short and pleasant, only about 3 hours. We made it to our hotel in Sorrento in 3 hours and maybe 15 or 20 minutes because of some traffic and some confusion on the roads in this small city. The Hilton Sorrento Palace is located on the side of a mountain which overlooks the city/town of Sorrento, the Bay of Naples, the city of Naples which is visible across the bay, and also a cool view of Mount Vesuvius. Our rooms (I was lucky enough to score my own room again!) on the 6th floor give us a great vantage point for this fantastic view, and the layout of the rooms is such that the beds face the huge sliding glass door. It’s wonderful to wake up to, especially since there is a switch next to the bed you can press to have the curtains automatically open. So cool.

After checking in and settling into our rooms, we explored the hotel (it’s huge and has a conference center, three pools, gym, auditorium…just endless), and then ventured out to do a lazy walking tour of Sorrento. We started in the city center, Sorrento’s only piazza, Piazza Tasso. It’s very loud and congested with pedestrians, cars, busses, mopeds, dogs, and tables which leak out into the piazza and the road from the surrounding cafes and restaurants. On one side of the piazza you can see down a gorge and into the sea where the harbor of Sorrento is, and turning around you can see the main couple of streets in this city. From the square, we found the statue of Signore Tasso, the 16th century poet who is namesake of the square. Behind the statue, there was a cool indoor garden which apparently is typical of an 18th century aristocratic palace’s courtyard. It was kind of like a greenhouse with painted tiles all over the walls, a fountain and lots of greenery. After that we went down a narrow street, passed a couple of road-side shrines to Mary and some other saints, and found the local Cathedral which apparently houses the bishop of this area. Mass was going on so we of course stayed and tried to get as much out of the Italian service as possible. It is, as they all are, a beautiful church. This one however has lots of inlaid wood art in it, as this is the area’s artistic specialty and it is everywhere. I have never seen this kind of work so detailed and wood in so many different colors…the craftsmanship is just remarkable. So after mass was over, we wandered down some other streets, passed the Sorrento Men’s Club (which is so hilarious – it’s a closed off patio full of old Italian men gesturing, yelling, and drinking. Think of the Godfather, and any other stereotypical Italian scene where the women are cleaning and the men are sitting around talking about them. Just great. Also there are no phones allowed in this place…so funny. The guide book we’re using tells us an Italian joke that says that Jesus must have been a southern Italian, because his mother believed he was God, he believed his mother was a virgin, and he lived with his parents until he was 30. Haha! Anyways, after this bit of fun, we found the main shopping street! It is full of shoe stores, designer boutiques for men and women, small town stores, touristy places, and of course lemon products! The lemon is ridiculous in this region – they grow it everywhere and do everything with it.

So then it was dinner time and we made our way to a place that had been recommended to us by friends called L’Antica Trattoria, since 1930. This place was SO cute. The outdoor patio was covered in oleander, purple blooming vines, lemon trees, wild rose vines, and a bunch of other beautiful flowers overhead. They served dinner in a sort of set price menu style, where you pick and entire meal including all three courses for one price. So mum got the vegetarian meal, which was a plate of yummy seasoned vegetables for antipasta, a bowl of linguini with zucchini flowers (a specialty of this place – it’s a fried battered zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta cheese…so good) and pesto-ish sauce, and then eggplant cooked as we’ve never seen before…delicious. I had one of their “traditional spring” meals, which included a plate of fried vegetables (zucchini flower, fried carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, and onion), gnocchi in a tomato and mozzarella sauce, and then beef with potato cake and spinach…we learned we’re not so big on the gnocchi but everything else was great. And Dad had another of their traditional meals which included a local fish for antipasta (it was so good but weird – really thin and transparent), cannelloni, and then pork with potatoes and vegetables. All in all it was a great meal and we were all stuffed to the brim afterwards!

Tomorrow we are taking a day off from being world travelers and will be relaxing at the hotel…more to come!