Sorrento Shopping and Capri

Given the long day we had on Wednesday, Thursday started by sleeping in! We went and ate our free continental breakfast, and finally ventured out in the late morning. Even though this is a rather small town, there are a ton of alleys off the main streets, which makes for lots of areas to explore, and lots of shopping to do! We started out by walking up near the train station to a supermarket, which contains not only food and toiletries, but also toys and clothes. Carmello (our driver from Wednesday) told us prices were cheaper here, so if they had something we wanted, this was the place to buy it. For now, we just looked, and continued on down the street. Because we got a late start, we ended up not having much time to shop before the stores started closing for the afternoon siesta. Most stores are closed from about 1pm until about 3:30pm, then open again until 8 or so. The things to buy here in Sorrento are anything lemon, and boxes and decorations that are made of inlaid wood. We had a great find in a little store in one of the alleys where the gentleman and his father make their own wood products. The store was tiny, as half of it was taken with the equipment to do the work. We found a beautiful wall hanging that we loved, so it should be on it's way to America right now.

By then, most of the stores had closed, so we stopped for lunch, and enjoyed a siesta with the rest of the town. I swear you can't get bad food over here. But, I'm ruined. Their pizza is so good, I can't imagine eating America's version of pizza for a long time. Once the stores opened again, we continued shopping as we headed back in the direction of the hotel. Erik has been fighting a chest cold since the beginning of our trip, but is getting worse not better, so we had the hotel call in a doctor. She said he doesn't have bronchitis yet, but is headed in that direction. So, he is now on antibiotics, which will hopefully help, as both of us are tired of him not feeling well and his hacking cough! We tried a place for dinner that was recommended both by the Rick Steves book and by Carmello - a pizza joint up near the train station. Their pizza was really good, and the atmosphere was casual. We stopped next door for some gelato afterwards, but much to my dismay, their version of pistachio here (which is a darker green than what we had in Rome) was not so good. Thankfully the other flavors seem to measure up. Not sure what's different about pistachio here versus in Rome, but I will stick to other flavors while I'm here.

Friday we had planned to spend the day in Capri, weather permitting. The weather was gorgeous, but Erik was still not feeling well, so we got a late start to the day. We didn't leave enough time to catch the 11:45 boat, so ate lunch at the dock and took the 1:30 boat. As soon as we arrived in Capri, we inquired about boats to the famous Blue Grotto, but they were not running because of the weather. Not sure what weather they were referring to - it was gorgeous - sunny with less wind than any other day we've been here. We were offered the option of hiring a boat for $100 to take us, but we didn't want to see it that bad. So, we took the funicular up to

the town center to look around. Although the books warned about the commercialism, I think Erik and I were still quite surprised. There wasn't much to the town other than fancy hotels and shops. They even have their own version of Rodeo Drive with a street of stores such as Gucchi, Versache, Louis Vitton, Dolce & Gabana, etc. Basically, it seems like Capri is where the rich go to vacation. Not many historical things to see, but of course still beautiful views. To try and get a different view of the city, Erik wanted to walk back to the marina. It started by us having to walk on an already narrow roadway and try not to get hit by the buses, cars, and scooters that were navigating the twists and turns. But, thankfully, not too far down the road there was a pedestrian walkway that wasn't well marked, but Erik assured me would take us to the marina. Of course, he was right, though we really weren't sure until we had walked for a bit and realized we were indeed headed towards the marina. It was a nice change of pace as we walked on the paved path between houses while winding our way down the mountain. But, it was well over a 30 minute walk, versus a 5 minute ride on the funicular. We walked quickly at the end and were able to catch the very crowded 4:25 boat back to Sorrento. There was only one more boat after that, so I can only imagine how crowded that would have been. Thirty minutes later, we're at the dock in Sorrento again, and debating whether to walk the huge set of stairs to get back up to our hotel, or take the bus. In the end, we walked. Now we're about to head out to dinner, and if the internet is working, get on Web cam with Dominic, who we miss a ton.

Tomorrow Carmello will drive us to Positano, Ravello and Amalfi for a full day tour. Hopefully the driving will keep him distracted enough that he won't talk non stop like he did before, but I imagine we'll know more than we had ever wanted to about the area by the end of the day.