Our Italian Holiday – Sorrento

Ever since I saw the video “Pink Floyd – Live at Pompeii” it has been a dream of mine to go and visit this ancient city and to see all of the ruins and history that exists there. It turns out that my wife had always had a fascination for this place so we decided that we would arrange this years holiday around a visit to Pompeii. We decided that our main base would be Sorrento but ended up staying in Massa Lubrense which is about 4 kilometres outside of Sorrento but has some amazing views up and down the coast as well as over to the island of Capri. To get into Sorrento

itself we had to use the hotels shuttle bus that took us along the steep winding roads down into the town. Even though it is only 4km we would not have considered walking after going in the shuttle as the roads are not designed for pedestrians and there were too many scooters whizzing around for us to feel confident of reaching our destination intact. As you go down the hill into Sorrento there are more amazing views down into the harbour and the town itself and you really get to realise how mountainous the area is when you see the little towns or villages that have populated the hillsides when it starts to get darker and they start turning on the lights. Walking down the main road of Sorrento in either direction you get the imposing views of the mountains and you would be forgiven for assuming that you are at sea level but a quick walk down the winding cobbled streets to the very end helps you realise that you have a further 130 steps down

before you actually get close to being in any danger of dipping your feet in the water. It only really took a day or two in Sorrento to completely fall in love with the place, the streets are lined with shops or stalls selling many different items from Lemoncello to Jewellery, you can find it all here and there is no shortage of bars or restaurants. Unlike many of the tourist resorts you do not feel annoyed or pressured by any of the people trying to get you into their bar. As far as eating and drinking goes, there is no difficulty in finding somewhere to go whatever the budget. Our first night found us in a small taverna, La Taverna dell 800 and it turns out that we had stumbled upon the oldest tavern in Sorrento and had our first taste of Pasta for this trip but for a special meal we chose Refood after it had been highly recommended. We could tell this was going to be an experience when we went in and were given a complimentary glass of Prosecco. After looking at the menu I wondered if I would be able to order a beer to accompany my meal without looking like a typical brit abroad but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a fine selection of beers and I opted for one brewed in Sorrento itself and I was given the full treatment. As it was a classy beer, the beer needed to be treated as such and was accompanied by its own ice bucket, glass and tasting session before I was left to sit and enjoy the experience. The food was incredible but I have to say that there was just too much, the starters looked like a main course when they arrived and they certainly didn’t scrimp on the portions of the main courses themselves.

After our trip to Capri I made the mistake of ordering a “Large” beer in one of the bars and

was faced with a litre of lager when my drink arrived. Luckily I had worked up a bit of a thirst that day so I was equal to the challenge but having this before eating wasn’t ideal as I only have vague recollections of the rest of this particular evening. Sorrento was the perfect base for us and as well as enjoying the town itself we found that the surrounding areas are well worth exploring. We did manage to have a couple of days around the pool but this was mainly for recharging the batteries after our days out. Even this was a unique experience as it was a salt water pool and there was no need to tread water in the deep end as you could just lie on your back and float. If you want to read more about our trips then just click on the links below.

Pompeii & Vesuvius
Herculaneum
The island of Capri