In and around Sorrento, Italy.

March 2018.

I'm sitting on my window seat in the flight to Naples and looking out to the clouds reflecting the white light of the sun! Going to Italy, this time, to the south coast of the country – along the much talked about Amalfi coast. Looking forward to this trip a lot...live every day like the best day of life!

My friend is sitting beside me with his face buried in his jumper. He is a bit scared of flying. I find that quite cute to be honest ^_^

Bonjourno!

Well the plan was to do a live blog of this trip. But it didn’t really pan out, reasons being either too busy, too engrossed or too annoyed. So here I’m now back in my flat in Burgess Hill and about to pen down the Roman Italian experience.

The first thing that comes to my mind about this trip is the amount of travel we did. Going from one place to the other involved long bus and train journeys every day. Some of these journeys were interesting – the long drive along the Amalfi coast was breathtakingly beautiful but then some of these journeys were equally annoying – the one hour train journey from Herculaneum to Sorrento in the cold and wet was simply horrible. But not all of it was inside the bus and trains. There were mountains and valleys and the sea and ports and bays and towns, both modern and ancient.

• Naples 

We stayed in Sorrento which is kind of equidistant from all the places we wanted to go to. About 1-1.5 hours in train from Sorrento to the west is the city of Naples. 

Naples has been an important city in the Roman history and is also said to be the first Italian city to have protested against the Germans during WWII. But today, the city looks a bit rundown. We walked around the main plazas and cathedrals and strolled by the sea side looking at the castles – Castle Nuovo and Castle Ovo. The walk along the sea felt quite refreshing but the center of the city was a little disappointing with its litter on road, etc. 

We took the metro line 2 and got to the Archaeological museum. But by then, it was drizzling, we were wet, impatient and unimpressed. Though I must mention, I had an almond-Nutella ice cream on the way to the museum and it was awesome! If there is one Italian thing that has never failed to impress me is their ice cream. Yumm. However the rain was bad and we decided we had enough for the day. We got back to Sorrento and went into the local supermarket for some local food shopping. Self-made Veggie Tuna pasta with local ingredients on menu for dinner that night.

• Sorrento 

We stayed in Sorrento which is a coastal town on the southwest coast of Italy, on the Bay of Naples. The town is very touristy and even though this was an off-season, there were loads of cars and people around. The day we arrived, we walked around the town for couple of hours in the afternoon. Our Airbnb was very central, we walked down the cobble street to the bay, looking out to the sea and the Vesuvius on the far side of Naples, then climbed up the stairs by the street and got to the many narrow lanes of the market area of the old city where they sold various local themed products ranging from clothes, gifts, showpieces, ceramic arts, food, drinks, etc.

• Bay of Ieranto 

The airbnb in which we stayed had a sunroof window and the first thing I realized is a bit of sunshine peeking through it in the morning. Yayhoo. We checked the BBC Weather forecast and the app shows sunny in the morning and then little showers from the afternoon. We jolt up from the bed, stuff our backpack with some fruits, croissants and water and jump on to the bus to Nerano.

Nerano is a remote village in the hills along the coast and from this village starts a pretty mountain trail down into a valley to the Bay of Ieranto and up the rocks to a fort, commonly known as the walk to Bay of Ieranto . It was a very pretty walk. The sunshine, the blue sea, the yellow and violet flowers, the green spotted lizards, the yellow butterfly, the olives and orange trees cultivated on the terraces of the mountain slopes, the unkempt green around us - it was all very worthy. We had a relaxing snack on the cliff edge, got amazed by the hard work on the terrace cultivation there, did a little moaning that It's too cold to swim in the bay which I did intend to do (I had got all my swimwear with me for this), looked in the distance to spot some islands on the sea and finally, reached the top of the old fort. We were pottering around the fort and suddenly heard the clouds rumble. The horizon was grey and we could sense the rain approaching towards us. Instead of idling around in the beach which we might have done otherwise, we then started hiking back.

We completed the trail and waited in the village of Nerano for the bus back to Sorrento. It was a 45minutes bus ride but to make it worse, there was no bus until 1.5hours. Oh and did I mention? It had started raining heavily by then. We took shelter in front of a closed cafe, optimistically believing that the cafe owner would be back any minute and make us some hot coffee. But sigh, no luck there! Finally the bus arrived and we came back to Sorrento in the afternoon.

Though the cold rain wasn't really pleasing, the sunny morning hike to the Bay was beautiful and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Umm...may be a little swim in the bay?  Maybe.

• Spiaggia Beach

It was one fine evening before the sunset, we set off on our foot to go to the Bagni della Regina Giovanna i.e the bath of Queen Joan. It is a small bay and apparently very pretty with its coastal plants and warm water inside the cove. Its said that the queen would come here to bathe with her lovers. We couldn’t trace the path to it and instead got down to a bay of Spiaggia or as we called it the Sphagetti Bay. It was a deserted little beach with a doubtful pathway leading to it . We came across a very old lift that had a drop of about 40-50ft maybe which got us to the Bay. We stayed there for a bit and then hurried back as the whole area was just a little bit odd even though adventurous.

• Mount Vesuvius

Just before you reach Naples on the very popular Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento, lies the iconic Mount Vesuvius and one of the Roman towns – Herculaneum that was destroyed by the volcanic pyroclastic flow in 79 AD. 

We woke up really early that morning and left for the Vesuvius expedition. Vesuvius has always intrigued me as it is regarded as the most dangerous volcano of today and also because of the destruction it brought down to the Roman cities around it. To get to Vesuvius, you have to take the Circumvesuviana train to Ercolano and then it’s a 30mins bus journey to 1050m up the Vesuvius. From this level, you have to hike around 200m to the top near the crater and then walk back. It was a cloudy day that turned out to be quite dramatic in a way. We started our hike on a steep path of red and black gravels and tiny rocks, our eager eyes always searching for any evidence of volcanic rocks or molds. The atmosphere started getting colder and denser with the fog thickening around us. When we reached the crater, we could smell the sulphur but the thick grey fog had completely blocked the view. It was a tad disappointing as we really wanted to look down the crater but at the same time, it was very atmospheric. Felt some tiny drops of rain and we decided not to hang around for any longer. As we were about to climb down, the fog thinned a bit opening up the view of the crater just enough for us to look at the white sulphur fumes from the depth of it. Ah…At least a little something to help our foggy disappointment. The fun bit was when the snow fluffs started pouring down on us as we reached the base. And within an hour or so, from being clear sky to cloudy to foggy to snow, torrential rain started. We just got lucky to have done the hike before the rain and a little unlucky that the Sun didn’t show up. We waited at the base for-what-felt-like-ages in the freezing cold rain for our bus to go back to the station. The scene that moment was a vivid example of mismanagement and it was quite surprising to be honest. I'm sure I have seen such chaos in few places in India but wasn’t quite expecting the same from a popular tourist spot in a popular European city.

My jacket which I had thought to be rain-proof was not really a rainproof jacket. I was shivering in the cold and was soaking wet, I clutched to my friend and could just burst into anger or tears any moment. We got in a cafe which very creatively named itself 'Herculaneum Cafe' just beside the gate to Herculaneum and got ourselves a hot chocolate. The guy who served us was very nice, he put the heater on for me and also gave us a free cake with our drinks.

• Herculaneum

After the coffee stop, we got inside the ancient roman town of Herculaneum. By this time, the rain had  subsided even though it was still pouring down in its own rhythm. Herculaneum was amazing. It is one of those few ancient cities that have been excavated and can be seen in its original form or at least what could be preserved of it. The grandeur and planning of the ancient Romans are overwhelming. If you are interested, then you must watch the BBC documentaries on Herculaneum which I really liked a lot. 

• The rest day

The following day as a rest day. After getting drenched continuously in Herculaneum and literally shivering for about 3-4 hours, the warmth of the bed was tempting. And of course the fact that it was raining heavily decided it for us. We stayed in, made ourselves eggs and toast and cereals, fed ourselves crisps and wine, snoozed now and then and spent the whole day in bed watching documentaries on Herculaneum and Pompeii. To think of it, it was actually a good day. 

• Pompeii

Pompeii was another Roman town that got wiped away by the volcanic pyroclastic flows of 79AD.

Pompeii is a 30mins train journey from Sorrento. Ideally. But when the Italians deicde to go on a railway strike without notice, it takes 1.5hours in the Curreri bus to get to Pompeii. It wasn’t an ideal start to the day. My friend's grumpy face could say it all. But this was the first day of our trip when it didn't rain at all. It was partly cloudy, quite cold but no rain. Phew! 

We strolled around the various cobbled streets in this ancient town. We saw excavated remains of the Roman temples, residential houses, bakery, pubs, food & beverage shop (I found this very interesting. Every food & beverage shop had a L-shaped table structure in the front with big holes lined on them. The holes are there for them to keep their pots (called dolia) warm with a burning fire inside the holes. Also, on the sides of the shop, there are shelves to keep the beverages). Their cobbled streets were also equally interesting, with the bridges to cross across the footpaths and the water points at the corner of each block, it was amazing that an ancient city was so well planned while we today at this 21st century fail to properly plan a city in so many ways. The house that attracted the most of the tourists was the whorehouse. It has stone beds and separate rooms with lots of erotic pictures. Not to forget the grand Roman forum and the vegetable and fish markets along it. Some of the houses were two storied, with center courtyards, a living room, a room to receive guests, center gardens, bathing room, dining room and so on. You can just make out the mosaics on the floor from the restoration work done by the archaeologists and the thick plasters on the wall speak of different periods in time, a bit like the the annual growth rings on a tree trunk. You can just imagine how beautiful this Roman city would have looked with all its white and black mosaic floors, colorful frescoes on the walls, neatly planned streets and well thought out amenities for people with the view of the legendary Vesuvius in the background and the beautiful Bay of Naples.

• Amalfi

Finally on the 7th day of the trip, the sun is bright in the sky and we automatically feel energized to the core. We set off on a 2 hours bus journey from Sorrento to Amalfi along the coastal road. It is a beautiful scenic way, the blue sea and the mountains draw amazing coastlines with its neat twists and turns. I will just let the pictures speak for itself.

After we arrived at Amalfi, we took another bus straight away to go to the town called Pontone. It is again a remote hilly village and our hike starts from here. This trail is called Vallone delle ferriere. We followed the mule path and the arches as described in the positano.co site and followed the path into the valley. Soon, the trail became interesting with its orange and lemon vineyards, multiple waterfalls, streams of water, rocky climbs, Roman aqueducts, old abandoned foundries, water reserve, and fern trees as old as ice age surviving in what they refer to as a microclimate. It was an easy hike but full of greenness and the music of the waterfalls could be heard all along from different sides in different styles.

At the end of the trail, we walked down to the Amalfi town which is famous for making papers. There is a paper museum in the town which we had thought of visiting after our coffee and a big nice omelette (I still prefer the French cheese omelette the most though!) . I checked a few shops in the market place for the handmade papers which adorn the shelves in different colours and styles to attract tourists. A big cathedral stood at the side of the square, it had a very unique and odd design. We wanted to take the ferry back to Sorrento from Amalfi but apparently the ferry service was not available until summer. So instead, we took the bus back along the same scenic route again, drawing an end to our first full sunny day.

• Positano

The 8^th day of our trip was luckily the best sunniest day till then. And this was the day we had reserved for my so-awaited hike on the Path of Gods. Yes, that’s what it is called in English. The Italian name for this trail is – Sentiero degli Dei.

We started early that morning, around 8:30am and drove along the Amalfi coastal road to get to a small hilly town up in the mountains called Bomerano. From Bomerano, the hike trail begins and it ends in the town called Positano. This path is absolutely amazing. It opens up a panorama of breathtaking views and keeps you engaged with its tricky ups and downs, interesting landscapes, pretty yellow flowers, abandoned broken house in midst of nowhere, tiny herd of goats and their bell rings, a sudden waterfall and the view of the islands like Capri in the distance. The blue and green sea and the clear sky made it just perfect. It does an absolute justice to the name of the footpath. 

At the end of the trail, you have to climb down 1500 hilly steps to get to the town of Positano. The actual hiking path was quite easy to be honest but running down these steps was a killer. At one point, our legs were shaking so bad from the shock of it and my calf muscles still remember it after 3 days of the hike now. Exciting as it was, once down the steps, we swore not to climb any more steps that day only to discover that the whole of the town is full of stairs.

Positano is a very pretty cliff-side village. It is called a vertical town because of the way it hangs from the mountain slope and you will have to take the steps to walk around in the town. It makes it way down to the pebbly beach where you can go for a swim, relax, take a boat cruise around the nearby coves or just sit on the rock edge and eat oranges like we did. It has narrow streets lined up with cafes and boutiques. We spent some time on the beach after the long walks and then returned back to our Airbnb in the evening.

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It was the last evening of our long trip. I still wanted to go to Capri Island which has been in my list for a long time now. And I still wanted to go see the Catacombs in Naples and swim in the bay water of Sorrento. But time is limited for us and weather betrayed us for couple of days. So, yeah! Though I’m glad we could do most of it as planned. For our last night dinner in Sorrento, we wanted something really special. After a lot of debate and discussion, we walked into a restaurant. We sat down with great expectation. We had ordered prawns and calzone and salads but unfortunately none of this tasted any good. It was hilarious when the next day after flying back to Burgess Hill, we went to an Indian restaurant and satisfied our craving for sumptuous spicy food. Food as a whole in this region failed to impress us. We tried pizza, pasta, sea food, fresh fish, salads but none of this was up to the mark. But I must acknowledge, when it comes to wine, ice creams and 'Sfogateila Napoletana Ricia', no one can beat them. Just to stress on the last one, Ricia or Ricata is like a puff pastry stuffed with a cinnamony ricotta cheese filling. It is the best. This was one thing which I had every time I laid my eyes on them. After a last bite of ice cream and Ricata the last day, we flew from Naples and back home.

With its varied weather, places of very different interests and scenery, warm friendly people and an interesting culinary experience, the south coastal trip of Italy was a treasure. I may have to go back again for visiting the Capri island and its blue green grotto. Till then, need some rest now..Ciao!