Sorrento Hills and Markets

Sunday 21 August 2005. We elected this morning to have a day in Sorrento itself.

We had so enjoyed the boat trip to Capri that we thought we'd book another to Positano, a small town on the Amalfi Coast round the other side of the peninsula to Sorrento.

So we headed once more for the horrendous hill to the harbour and set off gamely walking down.

This was the boat that had taken us to Capri the day before.

The ferry to Naples across the bay sets out whilst we are down there, looking to book tickets for tomorrow.

We caught a bus back up after booking a ferry for tomorrow. Booking a ferry rather than an excursion made it a much cheaper option even though we would have to make do without a courier spouting boring facts at us. Sorry couriers, but you really do sometimes bore the pants off people!

Because Sorrento is built on the cliff tops and the cliffs drop straight into the sea, this is what they call their beaches. Wooden piers where you can rent a sun lounger. Apart from going into a cafe or bar and buying a drink there's almost a total lack of seating apart from these sun loungers, so sitting and watching the world go by is not an option unless you do it with a drink in front of you. Which means you are amongst all the smokers. This was one aspect of Sorrento we found put us off quite a bit!

This cafe was just on the cliff edge near the harbour and was one of our favourite stopping off points for both a drink and a sit down. There is not a lot of public seating in Sorrento by way of benches and to rest your feet you need to visit a cafe.

However there's a marvellous little area criss-crossed by narrow streets which makes up the market and it just heaves and bustles with life, colour, entire families (Mum, Dad, two kids and the family dog) draped over a precarious motor scooter and souvenirs. If you like people watching (and we all do don't we?) then this is one of the must-see places on the planet.

We wandered up and down for a bit and Mum went into a shop to buy some new Scholl sandals and we had lunch in one of the many pizzerias along the streets before heading back to the hotel to spend the afternoon by the pool, reading and relaxing.

Lime tree in the hotel garden by the pool bar. After our evening meal we stayed at the hotel drinking and went to bed fairly early that night. The hotel next door had an entertainer on who we could hear quite clearly through our open window. It was a bloke with an acoustic guitar singing hits from the 60s to the 80s. His YMCA was hilarious, as he couldn't quite decide how fast or slow he was going to sing the chorus... But also he missed off the last word or syllable of every line of every song!!! "And now, the end is ...
It's time to ...
The final cur...
My friends, I'll make it... "

We were killing ourselves laughing until finally he gave a big finish...

I did it my ..."
"WAY!!!!" I bellowed at the top of my voice! Fran immediately howled laughing and then when we had quietened we heard uncontrolled gusts of laughter from the hotel next door and the sheepish voice of the entertainer saying "Ah... yes-a... ha ha... very good-a!"

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