Sorrento Or Bust!

Relaxing in Sorrento!

4-19-10

What a weekend I have had! A group of us (I think 11?) decided to go to Sorrento and get in some quality beach time. To get there at a decent hour we got up EARLY on Friday morning around 4 AM (of course Paris and I were up till Midnight packing…) to catch the 5AM train. The train took us to Chuisi, where we switched trains to go to Rome, where we switched trains to go to Napoli, where we switched trains to go to Sorrento! The journey took us 9 hours and boy were we ready for some R & R. Sorrento is a quaint beach town on the south coast of Italy, and it is famous for its lemons (Lemon Gelato, Lemon cello, lemon everything…). It was absolutely beautiful and definitely worth the nine hour adventure to get there. Our hostel we were staying at was a bus ride from the main city of Sorrento in a quiet town called Marina del Cantone. Our hostel was perfect, several bungalows just steps from the beach. The group checked in and headed into town to grab some grub. We found an ocean front restaurant, sat down and enjoyed the sunset, Mediterranean breeze and ocean. The night was young and needless to say we were all tired and crashed early that evening.

The next day I woke up early, got a cappuccino from the restaurant at the hostel and read looking out onto the ocean as the sun began to rise. It was quiet and I was the first one up, so I had a Chelsea Handler session – which are best uninterrupted anyway. Around 10 we all made our way to the beach where I parked it on a lounge chair with my books and magazines and didn’t move (literally – except to turn over) for the next eight hours. One couldn’t have asked for a better day, not a cloud in the sky, eighty degrees, a cool breeze, locals and kids playing about in the ocean – it was amazing. Sorrento was climbing my favorite places list fast!

Night rolled around and the group decided to save money, just grab some wine and chill on the porch of our bungalows. We had a great evening talking and laughing and reminiscing on how the hell we got here and how lucky we were.

On Sunday morning we started the trip back to Siena – knowing we had a long day ahead of us. We caught the bus to Sorrento, the train from Sorrento to Napoli where we ran into a bit of unexpected trouble. Napoli is where we learned of the grounding of all planes in Europe (thanks to that damn Volcano) so the train station was flooded with people wall to wall trying to get on trains to get home. Of course we had to wait in line for about two hours only to find out the our train doesn’t leave for another three hours. Good lord, three more hours in Napoli Termini… for those of you who don’t know, Napoli is quite notorious for having TONS of pick pocket-ers – in fact there is a lady on the loudspeaker who messages “Beware of pickpocket” every five minutes. No Joke. Needless to say I was death gripping all my possessions to make sure I would not be a victim. An hour later, a couple tourists were attacked by some locals only a few yards from us. PLEASE GET ME OUT OF NAPOLI! Our train was late, and there was standing room only, so we stood from Napoli to Rome (a three hour trip). In Rome we waited in line to get tickets to Siena (if it is possible the Rome Train station was MORE crowded then Napoli with people whose flights were canceled). We finally reached the front of the line only to learn that we had missed the last train to Siena that evening fifteen minutes ago, because of the ridiculous lines. We were going to spend the night in the Roma Termini. Yes, that is correct – the girl who doesn’t camp, and hates roughing it was about to sleep with countless other strangers on the concrete in the Roma Termini. Luckily I had my friends, so we bundled together to keep warm – only having our beach wear, Rome is quite a bit cooler!) While a few of the others slept for a couple hours, I was far too nervous to close my eyes, not to mention, uncomfortable. So I read and people watched from 9 PM to 6 30 AM when the first train left to go home. It was the definition of miserable.

At the end of the day, Sorrento was absolutely breathtaking and I enjoyed every minute of it. Some people say it is all about the journey of getting to where you are going, in this case I would beg to differ.