Sorrento, Italy - Day 1

Monday, March 18, 2024

This morning, we said good-bye to the island of Capri, Italy.

Andi made the kids leftovers for breakfast while I packed up our bags in preparation for travel. During the busier high-season (April - November), ferries regularly connect the island of Capri to Naples, Sorrento, Positano, and other cities along the Almafi Coast. Options are much more limited during the wintertime. We came to the island of Capri by ferry from Naples, and today we planned to take the ferry from Capri to Sorrento.

The ferry to Sorrento departed at 11:00am, but we got down to the marina at 10:30am. Andi and I weren’t sure how long it’d take us to get a taxi from the main piazza to the marina, or how long the line would be to board the ferry. As it turned out, there was hardly anyone leaving the island so we had about 20 minutes of extra time to wait.

Andi wanted a coffee, so we decided to get one at a cafe in the marina instead of waiting 20 minutes on a port bench. We ordered two americanos and a bottle of water — €18! The island of Capri is beautiful, but it is not a cheap place to travel.

There weren’t many people on the ferry to Sorrento, so we had our pick of seats. We learned from our last experience to sit inside the ferry to stay out of the wind. Our ride today was 20 minutes long. Traveling on the ferry system is such a simple process; no different than taking a bus, but in this case commuting by water.

In no time, the ferry docked in Sorrento and we unloaded from the boat. Andi read that it’s possible to walk to the main centre of Sorrento from the port, but given that it’s an uphill walk from the marina and we had all of our bags in tow, we thought it was easier to take a €15 taxi. Our taxi driver was very friendly, and gave us a two-minute explanation about the city sites as we passed them by to our rented apartment.

Andi and I decided to stay in Sorrento’s city centre so we’d be walking distance to the historic old town, as well as shops and restaurants. We rented a two-bedroom, two-bathroom city apartment for the next three nights. Originally, we thought we’d only be able to drop our bags off at the apartment because we arrived before the 3:00pm check-in time, but the apartment was ready for us when we arrived at Noon, and the property manager allowed us to check in early.

Life in Europe is full of stairs! We haven’t seen many places with elevators, so we were surprised to find one in this apartment building. Good thing, too, because our apartment this week is on the 4th floor. We all piled into what just might be the world’s smallest elevator. It was a tight squeeze to fit inside with our bags included, but we made it!

Our rented apartment in Sorrento was very well furnished, and had a nice view of the Gulf of Naples. Across the street, there’s also a greenhouse growing lemon trees.

Minutes after we arrived, it was time to set off and explore the town. Andi booked us a Sorrento city walking tour which started at 2:00pm. The kids grumbled big-time about leaving as soon as we reached our apartment, especially Aden who is coming down with another cold. Nevertheless, we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before meeting our tour guide.

There were several restaurants to choose from for lunch within walking distance of our apartment. Without a lot of time to consider our options, Andi and I picked a place at random that looked suitable. The restaurant was called Mari, and had an outdoor covered patio. When Andi asked how he was doing today, our waiter responded that he was “tired, and ready for his shift to be over.” In our short time here, I’ve noticed that Italians definitely tell it like it is! They are a friendly group of people, but direct in communication.

Andi and Tory each ordered pasta dishes for lunch, and Aden ordered a chicken cutlet and fries. I chose a proscuitto pizza for my meal. Surprisingly, our food came to our table quickly, and it was really good! It’s easy to feed kids in Italy because there’s always pasta, and the homemade tomato sauces are out-of-this-world delicious. Tory loves gnocchi, so she’s happy to see it on the menu at many places here.

After lunch, we walked a few blocks from the restaurant to the spot we arranged to meet our city tour guide. While we waited, Tory borrowed a few Euro coins to Andi so he could buy an espresso. We joke that she has a “Mary Poppins purse” because she carries around so many different things inside her bag — a glasses cleaner, coins, toothpicks, her earbuds, iPhone, candy, and even a wooden toy someone gave her in Morocco. “How did this thing make it this far into trip?!” Andi razzed her.

At 2:00pm, our tour guide named Mario met us on the street. The first place he led us to was the confluence of three rivers that cut through the town from the mountains to the sea. He pointed out the city’s first mill, parts of the original building still visible today. This valley gorge marks the edge of the “old town,” and today the newer part of the city is built on the other side connected by a bridge.

Near this area, Mario also told us about the stones and bricks used in construction of the city. Black, gray, and yellow tuff stones were used to build roads and buildings, much of the material coming from Mount Vesuvius (the volcano that swallowed the ancient city of Pompeii in ash and debris).

Sorrento was originally founded by the Greeks, evident by its large rectangular-shaped stones. Later, it was controlled by the Romans who built their city on top of the existing Greek civilization. Having a tour guide walk us through the city is so interesting, because we see pieces of history that we’d have otherwise walked by without ever noticing or understanding their significance. Another such example is the Roman column still existing on one corner of Corso Italia, the main street of Sorrento’s Old Town connecting to the central square.

Today, Corso Italia is lined with tourists shops displaying everything-lemon and limoncello, as well as many bars and restaurants.

The fortified walls surrounding the city of Sorrento had several arched entrances. The oldest being the entrance closest to the port. There are two marinas in Sorrento — Marina Piccola, where we arrived on the ferry this morning, and Marina San Franceso port to the east. The latter is the original port of the city, and where fishermen sell their fresh catch today.

In this area, the old Roman docks are still visible underneath the water today. Wow!

Mario took us inside the Chiesa di Sant’Anna, also known as the Church of Sant’Anna. Sant’Anna is known as the mother of the Virgin Mary, and thought to protect women in childbirth, as well as the fishermen. This is fitting, given that this church is located in Marina Grande and overlooks the fishermen in the Bay of Naples. This small-sized Catholic church hosts a celebration every July celebrating Sant’Anna with a procession through the streets and fireworks. What I loved most about this church were the metals displayed on the walls, memorializing prayers granded/miracles of the parishioners. Mario said some of the metals are old, but some are also from today’s time frame — physical markers of God at work in our lives!

We briefly toured the Basilica di Sant'Antonino in Sorrento, the oldest church of the city. It was beautiful inside and included an intricate nativity scene at the entrance which depicts the typical life of a Sicilian village.

There was beauty around every corner in Sorrento’s Old Town. We loved having the streets all to ourselves without many people at all out wandering around. Mario told us that in the peak tourist season, there are 20 tourists to every one local person in Sorrento. He talked a lot about the city being too overpriced for local residents, and how most of the apartments in the city centre are now rentals for tourists.

During our walking tour, Mario led us into an old church where there was an inlaid wood shop. This style of artwork is popular in Sorrento, taking five months for each piece to be crafted. The artist begins by drawing a pencil sketch, and then hand-cutting thin strips of wood to fit together on the drawing like a puzzle. The level of precision was incredible to see.

One of our final stops on the tour was to Nina & Friends, a shop offering tastings of limoncello, olive oil, and other treats. We were able to try limoncello as well as other products, but everything was thrown at us so quickly and felt salesy that we didn’t buy anything. I saw lots of tourists walking around with Nina & Friends bags, so this must be the place to go to souvenirs.

Our walking tour concluded at the Piazza Tasso. We thanked Mario for his time and information, and he left us with one last recommendation for gelato. Tory and Aden earned it after a full day of travel and a walking tour learning about the history of Sorrento. Mario recommended we go to Cremeria Valestra for gelato because it was much cheaper outside of the main tourist area, he said. Conveniently, the gelateria was located across the street from our apartment so that worked out perfectly.

Afterwards, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up something to make for dinner. None of us felt like going out to eat tonight after a full day of exploring the city. At the grocery store, we purchased fresh pasta noodles, chicken, pesto sauce, artichoke hearts, focaccia, and green beans as well as some yogurt, crackers, and bottle of limoncello. Our airbnb gifted us a bottle of Prosecco so Andi thought he’d make us our own lemon spritzes tonight.

Aden was definitely coming down with another cold, so Andi and Tory went to the pharmacy to get him some medicine while I cleaned up dinner. Traveling in the Northern Hemisphere has been a different experience for us because it’s still cold season here in Europe. We’ve encountered many more people who are sick. Our family has had more colds in the past two months than we have in a long time! The colder the temps, the more germs and sickness floating around, I guess. It’s been a different experience than our usual travels in warmer climates during the wintertime.

Tory’s realized that if she goes with Andi on a nighttime walk or grocery run, she can almost always convince him to buy her a treat. When she returned, she whispered to me that Dad bought her a bubble tea drink while they were out, but not to tell Aden.

Back at our airbnb apartment, Andi dosed Aden with some cold meds. We all turned in for the night shortly thereafter. Today was a busy day, and tomorrow our adventure in Sorrento continues.