Friday, June 8, 2012

We had no big plans for the day so we slept in a bit. We needed to get our train tickets for Sunday’s trip to Rome, but that was about all we needed to do. We were both looking forward to a day off.

The shuttle drop off is in front of Cuomo’s Lucky Store, which has been in business since 1856. We decided to go in for a look around. Based on its name, we were not expecting to see very high-end (and pricey) ceramics, wood work, jewellery and many other Italian products. Goes to show you that you should never judge a shop by its name!

We hadn’t seen much in Sorrento that had appealed to us so today we got off the main drag and found the beach. There were a lot of people swimming, and the water was very clean. If we were beach people we might have been tempted to make the long walk down to the shore.

We had seen in one of the guide books about a lemon grove in the heart of the city so we were off next to find it. It was just what you would expect to see – rows and rows of lemon and orange trees growing. We enjoyed a taste of the limoncello (totally organic) before heading off to the train station for one of the sets of tickets we needed.

From the train station we headed off to the travel agency to pick up the second set of tickets we needed. When we go there at about 1:30 they were closed for the afternoon siesta until 4:30. That gave us time for a leisurely lunch and more wandering. We eventually ended up at The Foreigner’s Club – a very posh looking place. It had a free view of the water though so we stopped for a bit and enjoyed the view.

There was still time for one more stop before heading back to the travel agent. Pat had found a reference to a set of steps that dated back to 500 BC. They were deep down in a gorge and covered with a lot of moss, but still quite visible.

Once we had our train tickets we headed back to Cuomo’s, found a bench in the shade and watched the traffic. The shuttles from many different hotels leave and arrive from here, as well as a few tour buses. It is a busy corner with a lot of traffic that includes vehicles of all sorts, scooters, bicycles, and motorbikes. It would be nice to understand Italian just to understand what the drivers are shouting to each other!

We have dinner reservations down the road from the hotel, but for now we are enjoying the view from our balcony.

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