Friday October 21st
Antonino was a very pleasant host, and he prepared a nice breakfast for us. We arrived a little late the night before, so we didn’t get to chat much, and this morning we had to leave fairly early to get to the trains station and then catch the boat for Capri. All in all we didn’t get to know him as well as some of our other hosts, but I can only guess that he is equally nice, and you will enjoy your stay just as much.
Today was a sad day for The Vespa Diaries. We parted company with our camera man Garrett. We want to thank him for his hard work up to this point and for his dedication to the project. And we wish him a safe trip back to California.
From the station we dropped by Sorrento Lingue, the very language school where I learned my Italian. It’s also where you can go to learn yours, and if you are interested in learning Italian and exploring this area, a great way to do that is with The Sorrento Connection www.TheSorrentoConnection.com It was nice to catch up with some of my old teachers and the owner of the school. They are great people and they made learning a language as enjoyable as possible.
The school is just down from the port where you catch the ferry for Capri. The price has gone up since the last time I was here, ouch. The ferry takes about 20 minutes, and you arrive in an area that is there solely to get the tourist dollar. But if you take the funicolare up to the next level you can quickly leave that behind. Up here you’ll find every designer label store you could think of. One time I saw P. Diddy and his entourage carrying all of his bags, and there are pictures all over the place of various stars that have visited Capri. From here you can take a walk/hike that could take a couple of hours, it affords great views of the faraglioni, the natural arch, and the back side of the island. If you aren’t up for that you can take a bus up to Anacapri, and then take the 12 minute chair lift up to the highest point on the island. The views from here are as good as they get, and the ride is interesting as you look down at your feet suspended over houses, vineyards, and some of the strange creations the citizens have made for your enjoyment.
One of the more famous attractions of Capri is the Blue Grotto. It really is quite spectacular, but let me give you this warning... The fee that you pay from the port only gets you a ride to the grotto. From there you have to board another boat which will row you up to the floating cash register, where you will pay the entrance fee to the grotto. Beyond that though, the person who rows you in and out will expect a tip, and if it isn’t as big as he’d like, he won’t let you out of the boat. So be sure to bring plenty of money, preferably smaller denominations.
You could spend a weekend, a day, or an afternoon on Capri depending on how much you wanted to do and see. We chose an afternoon, as we still had to get back to Sorrento and catch the train to Pompeii. Just about everyone has heard of Pompeii, but if you’ve never seen it you don’t realize how big it is. If you went down every single street you could certainly be here all day. You can rent a headset that tells you about the different things you are seeing. But take turns listening and explaining, because the guys voice is so monotone that you won’t want to listen to it the whole time.
I don’t want to mention specific things to see, because I think you should wander around. But I will let you know that in the back right corner there are more of the “bodies” that I don’t think most people get to see.
Down the road a little closer to Naples is Ercolano or Herculaneum. This was the seaside resort town where Pompeii’s rich had their vacation home. It suffered the same fate as Pompeii, but was uncovered in a way as to leave a littel more interior definition. Ercolano is much smaller, and generally overlooked. But a combined ticket for the 2 saves you money, and you can easily see them both in the same day. Having combined Pompeii with Capri we couldn’t see both today, so we’ll save it for tomorrow.
Sorrento is an absolutely perfect headquarters from which to visit all of the attractions in the area. And the public transport is easy and cheap, which is why we parked the Vespa in Sorrento and took the train to Pompeii. The train literally drops you off on the doorstep of the archeological park. So we hopped the train back to Sorrento and made our way to tonight’s agriturismo. When we arrived we were greeted by a guy that I had played in a basketball tournament with 3 years ago. I had no idea that this was his father’s agriturismo, it really is a small world. Of course Sorrento is a fairly small place, so that helps.
The agriturismo Antico Casale www.ilcasaleantico.com sits just below the castle in Piano di Sorrento, and was in fact the house of the prince’s servants originally. It took the Persico family 3 years to restore it to it’s current condition. I hope they are happy with it, because I would say it was well worth every day of work they put into it. From the outside it’s an absolutely beautiful house, the typical southern Italian yellow, with gray quoins. Inside terra cotta tiles are everywhere, the stairs leading to each of the 4 levels are visually pleasant, and the hallways feel very quaint. The rooms are spacious, the beds soft, and the bathroom is one of the coolest we’ve had. It had a long skinny corridor linking the shower with the sink and toilet, which was the first time we’ve seen such a thing. We had our own balcony, but the terrace on the roof is where there views were best. You look up and see the castle, turn around and you can see over all of Sorrento, Piano di Sorrento, Meta di Sorrento, and Sant’Agnello, and out across the water. It is located about as close to the start of the Amalfi Coast as any lodging in Sorrento could be, so it is convenient if you are exploring this area with your own car or Vespa.