Part 2 – Sorrento and Capri on the Mediterranean
On Saturday morning (January 31), Mike and I packed our things and caught a train down to Napoli (Naples). We arrived at lunch time and I had a mission to eat pizza in Naples. I’ve been told it is widely viewed as the best pizza in the world.
We didn’t have to go far. We crossed the street from the train station and immediately found a suitable place. We ordered what the waiter recommended and watched it made in an oven right in front of us. It was delicious. What surprised me is there was no shredded cheese on it. It was simply a very good pizza crust burnt perfectly in the oven with good ingredients on it- olive oil, fresh basil, fresh juicy cherry tomatoes and chunks of buffalo mozzarella. The olive oil and tomato juice made it soupy. I ate a whole pizza and didn’t feel full or sick like usual. It was simply delicious.
best pizza in the world from Naples, Italy
We caught an hour long commuter train from Napoli to Sorrento. It wasn’t the greatest experience, but it worked. I had no directions in Sorrento, but an old man was happy to help point the way to our hotel and we found it fairly easily. Hotel Mignon Mueble is designed to be cool with blue tiles everywhere and big windows for breezes. Our room was twice the size of that in Rome for the same price. We had a balcony overlooking an orchard with clementines and lemons as well as a cliff beyond.
our room in Hotel Mignon Mueble
little boats at dusk
Mike candid
That afternoon and evening, we were content to wander around Sorrento looking at the shops and drinking wine. I also had a bit of limoncello, a drink they are famous for in Sorrento. I indulged my urge to find the places I had gone as a teenager. When I was a freshman in high school I came to Italy with my Latin class. Sorrento and the Isle of Capri were my favorite part of the trip and a big reason for bringing Mike there.
Here’s the story: Admittedly, I had a bit of a fondness for trouble makers then and tagged along with a boy to smuggle liquor into our hotel. We wandered through a back alley to avoid being caught by the teachers and climbed a wall to toss the liquor in to a first floor hotel room belonging to fellow students. Then we walked around front and got caught without having a chaperone. The punishment was spending a day in my hotel room in Rome instead of being allowed to explore. Ironically, that is where I smoked my first cigarette while watching the movie Speed 2 in Italian. I smoked for one summer then stopped because I didn’t like it.
So, the hotel looks a little different eleven years later. It has received an update since then, but I was able to find it and retrace my steps through the back alley to find the wall we climbed on. To this day, it is still that first impression of Sorrento’s narrow cobblestone streets that comes to mind when I think of Italy.
On Sunday I wanted to take Mike to the Isle of Capri, but it was raining miserably. We brainstormed before we left the hotel and decided to catch a bus and view the Amalfi coast that way since it was bit drier. We headed out to the station to catch it, but life had its own ideas. First of all, the rain let up after we left our hotel. In fact, we saw a beautiful rainbow over the Mediterranean Sea. Second, a marathon was just finishing up in front of the station so of course we became distracted and started taking pictures. By the time we had taken our fill of photos, the sun had come out a bit and it was beautiful out. We ditched the bus idea and opted instead to walk down to the water to get photos of the good views.
To get to the water, one must walk down several flights of steps deep into the ravine that leads to the shoreline. Sorrento is situated on top of a cliff with a small settlement at the bottom. Rick Steves said in his tv show about the place that those living at the bottom are rumored to be descendents of pirates. The whole place intrigues me.
When we got to the shore, we walked out on the pier for the ferries and were not disappointed. There were picture perfect views with beautiful sun and moody clouds. It was straight out of a brochure. Needless to say, we took a lot of photographs with several different lenses and relaxed there for awhile.
rainbow over the way to the water
marathon runner
fresh rain
coast of Sorrento
the photographer
1, 2, go
moody skies
3 wise kitties
The weather was holding so I made a decision- we would try to go to Capri. We hiked back up the steps to our hotel and repacked for the trip. We picked up some pizza on the way and made it back down to the dock in time to catch the ferry to Capri. At that time, there was only one ferry there and one ferry back for the rest of the day. The whole time it threatened to rain, but it really only sprinkled for a few minutes (long enough for me to wrestle with my broken umbrella and then ditch it).
At this point I must digress and tell another little story. I have been wanting to bring Mike to Italy for a few years because he’s 100% Italian in heritage but up until this point had never been there. I wanted to go back to Capri because it made a big impression on me as a teenager. So, I posted a magazine photo of a picturesque shot of the coast of Capri on my bulletin board to manifest that it would happen. This is many months ago, before I knew I was taking this trip. Apparently, this method works. I really felt like divine intervention made it possible for Mike and I to find the exact view in the picture.
When we got off the ferry, we wandered up the steep hill into the town and up and up without a map. I knew somewhere there was a little park to see that view from but I had no idea where. I had it in my mind but I wasn’t even actively looking for it. It kept threatening to rain but then didn’t. We wandered and eventually there it was- the little park with the amazing view I had posted on my bulletin board. We walked in, snapped our fill of photos and marveled at the beauty. Just enough sun poked through the clouds to give our photos good contrast. We had only been there about six minutes when a little Italian man showed up and dangled his keys, kicking us out so he could lock up.
Like I said, it really felt like the whole experience was in the hands of powers beyond my control- We were going to hop a bus, but the rain stopped, a rainbow appeared and a marathon distracted us. We got to Capri without a map and found the park minutes before it closed. The sun poked through just enough to give us good pictures. We were never drenched in a downpour. I still marvel at how the day unfolded. It was a moment of pure joy and wonder at the workings of the world.
ferry to Capri
Isle of Capri
town of Capri
perspective
coast of Capri
my Capri pin-up image
proof we were there
Capri at dusk
Back in Sorrento, we had dinner at a restaurant right next to the pier. Our waiter was by far the most friendly and entertaining. He brought us a free crispy pizza crust with olive oil and rosemary as a snack. The food was delicious. We couldn’t have asked for anything more. With a long hike back up the steps, our night was complete.
restaurant next to the sea
