AMALFI COAST
Day 10
Circumseuvia Train
Sovanna on the steps leading down to the Sorrento Pier
Sokmoua on the main street in downtown Sorrento
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Leaving Roma
We happened to be catching the same train from Roma's Termini Station to Napoli as Roger and Yuki! So Patricia arranged for a shared taxi to help us haul our luggage from our Roma hotel to the train station (this was extremely helpful). After a quick train ride to Napoli, we all decided to catch the Circumseuvia train, which is the local train that goes between Napoli and Sorrento. This turned out to be quite the adventure for us since we didn't realize we were on the wrong train route 😑
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We needed to all be on the Blue line, but we were riding the Green line. None of us realized this until it was too late. Roger and Yuki got off at the wrong Pompeii stop and had to take a taxi to correct entrance to Pompeii to meet their tour guide. And the three of us ended up having to wait what felt like an eternity for a train to come in the opposite direction so that we could go back to a couple of stops where we could catch the next Blue line train. Once we finally got to the right stop, we were stuck waiting there for a while for the correct train to arrive.
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After our little detour, we finally arrived in Sorrento and made our way on foot from the train station to our Airbnb. After finally being able to ditch our bags, we freshened up and headed out to explore the quaint little town of Sorrento and find some much needed food.
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Exploring Sorrento
Sorrento is a small town, but with some very large hills as we discovered while wondering the city. We made our way down to the pier and then had to climb all of the steps back up to town. Since we were here in November, the town was definitely quieter than it would have been in the summer months, which to me was perfect. I felt like we got to experience the town more like the locals do than as tourists.
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That evening instead of going out to dinner, we went the grocery store across the street from our Airbnb. Sokmoua and Sovanna purchased some local ingredients and made a delicious soup for us to enjoy on our balcony.
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Day 11
On the way to Capri
taken on the ride back to Sorrento
Tour of Capri
Sorrento from the boat on the way back from Capri
Visiting Capri
We got incredibly lucky! Months before our trip started, we knew we wanted to visit the island of Capri. So I found a tour group in the Rick Steves Italy Guidebook and reserved our spots on a boat tour to Capri via Mondo Guide. With the weather being as bad as it was when we were in Roma, I was worried the tour would get cancelled. But the gods decided to smile down on us, and we got to take the first boat ride to Capri that our captains, Andrea and Agostino, had done in almost a month because until this day the water had been too rough.
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The tour included transportation to/from your hotel to the pier, boat ride to/from Sorrento to Capri, and time on Capri to explore the island. On the boat ride to Capri, our captains pointed out various ancient ruins to us that you could see along the coastline of Sorrento. We also got to see a waterfall that used to be part of a Roman villa.
Before dropping us off on Capri for a few hours to explore, they also took us around the island. We got to see the vibrant blue water up close and also got to go through the opening in the Faraglioni Rocks.
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After getting dropped off on the island, we took the funicular up from the pier to the town to find somewhere to eat the sandwiches provided to us by Mondo Guide. Then we just started to wander through the streets, hopping into various shops for some souvenir shopping.
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We also made our way up to the Gardens of Augustus. From the Gardens, you had a panoramic view of the island of Capri. This gave us the opportunity to see the island at a different vantage point just shortly after our boat ride around the island. We also walked to the "elephant" rock formation located on the island.
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After we were done exploring, it was time to head back down to meet up with our boat tour group to head back to Sorrento. We of course had to grab some gelato before leaving the island.
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Dinner
We decided to go to a restaurant that our guide Patricia had recommended, Il Leone Rosso. To our surprise, Roger and Yuki had decided to eat here as well and showed up at the same time as we did! So we got a table for all five of us, and sent a text to Patricia to let her know we had all found our way to each other and her favorite restaurant. Little did we know that she actually knows the owner! We all ordered too much food to share and then the restaurant brought out desserts for us that Patricia had arranged for us without us knowing.
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I think this was a brilliant way to spend our final night in Sorrento.
Day 12
Positano
Amalfi Town
from the balcony of a restaurant
Ravello
Exploring the Amalfi Coast
For our final day before our flight home, I decided to splurge a little and hire a driver to take us on a tour of the Amalfi Coast. I found the car service through the Rick Steves Italy Guidebook as well. Our driver picked us up in the morning at 8am, and our first stop was Positano. Since we were here pretty early in the day, some of the shops were not opened yet. BUT it also gave us chance to walk through the town on less crowded streets. We made our way to the beach to soak in the morning sunlight before heading back into town for some espresso and to meet back up with our driver to head to Amalfi Town.
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Amalfi town was more awake when we arrived than Positano was. While we were in Amalfi Town, we did some more souvenir shopping and wandered through the streets. We also grabbed a quick bite to eat a local pizzeria. We didn't linger too long in this town before packing up and heading to Ravello.
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Our last stop for the day was the hill town of Ravello. We had a little extra time to explore here as the town is the largest of the three we visited today. With multiple gardens to visit and various alleyways to get lost in, we had a fun time just walking the streets to see how the people of Ravello lived.
We ate some more gelato (duh) and took in the sights and smells of Ravello before meeting up one last time with our driver for the ride to the Napoli train station to catch our train back to Roma. We were staying at a hotel next to the airport sot that it would be easier to catch our morning flight the next day.
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We also had a fun time rearranging all of our clothing and purchases. Remember that winery we visited where I bought three bottles of wine and a bottle of olive oil? Somehow I managed to pack that in my mom's and my suitcase. AND all four bottles survived the flight back to the USA.
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Closing thoughts on Italia...
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After spending another two weeks in this country, I only love it that much more. I'm already counting down the days until I can come back to keep exploring this beautiful country. It is so rich with history, and I learned something new every day I was there.
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I hope you enjoyed this scrapbook and I hope that if you haven't been to Italy yet, you do so in the near future, because everyone deserves to have wine, pasta, and gelato in their lives. Ciao!
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