Viva Italia – Day 5 Continued – Sorrento

January 17, 2012 sunshineandholly

10/25/2011

Y’all…Sorrento is probably one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been! The view from our hotel room is breathtaking. Getting to the hotel, however, was a little difficult. The local train that I was worried about really wasn’t that big of a deal. Pretty similar to Marta. However, it was PACKED. We were barely able to get our bag onto the train and had to stand for most of the trip. It was a long ride – over an hour. Josh and I weren’t able to stand together either, which made it a little scary.

This one older man got my attention, pointed at his eyes, and then at me – telling me to watch my purse for pick pockets. There was also a woman, well – girl really, on the train begging while holding a baby. Josh told me that he read that pick-pockets in Italy will carry around a baby doll and pretend it’s real. Then, they’ll pretend to trip and throw the doll at you and pick your pocket or steal your purse while you’re freaking out about them dropping the baby. But this was a real baby. And the girl didn’t drop him or throw him. Thank goodness!

When we arrived in Sorrento, we had no idea where our hotel was or how far it was from the metro stop. Luckily, there was an info desk. I went up to it and did my usual, “English?” to see if the girl working there spoke English. Turns out she’s from Florida! I asked her how far the hotel was – it was far. BUT – there was a shuttle and it was arriving in 10 minutes. How perfect! Josh and I have this international traveling thing DOWN!

We got to the hotel (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hotel and views!!) checked in, took some pics and then took the shuttle back to town to get some lunch. We had a hard time finding a place that was serving food (since it was like, 3pm by this time) but we found a little mom-and-pop place and had some awesome pizza!

Hotel in Sorrento – not really much to look at…but the door behind the curtains – that led to a balcony with the most amazing views ever!!

The floor in the hotel room.

The bathroom…with the bidet!

The VIEW!! And thanks again to my boss at work for letting us borrow the company camera for Italy so we could get these awesome pics!

The hotel

Olive tree at the hotel.

A sign in the elevator. We decided it said you couldn’t wear pants in the restaurant. Lol!

After lunch, we strolled around Sorrento. Right in the middle of the city, in an area that wasn’t touristy at all, we saw these two murals and a sign that said “Free Entry” in English. We couldn’t figure out what it was, but we decided to venture in. It was a lemon grove!! Right in the middle of the city!! It was soooo pretty and so quiet.

We walked around for a while, hand in hand, just taking in the sights and enjoying the smell of the lemons. We were the only people there – it was very romantic. At the end of the grove was a little stand with a woman selling limoncello made from the lemons from that grove. We got to try a sample – mmmmmmmmm!! And of course we bought a couple of bottles! The grove was such an awesome unplanned surprise. One of my fav memories from our trip.

After walking around for a while, we caught the shuttle back up to the hotel and took a much needed nap. When we woke up, we didn’t feel like taking the shuttle again, so we decided to eat dinner at the hotel…bad idea. It was the worst meal yet. It was 25 euros per person too. Our 1st course was pasta – which was pretty good. Then Josh had seafood (fish with too many bones) and I had lamb – which was SO tough and overcooked. And they only gave me a butter knife to eat it with! So that was disappointing…