This morning we ACTUALLY slept in. It was a rare, refreshing occurrence. In bed at 9, wake up at 8. 11 whole hours. What a luxury.
We had one of our first no-rush breakfasts at the hotels buffet, and crammed food in our pockets for lunch. The workers didn't notice. We then walked back down to the beach, shopping and sightseeing along the way. After eating our stolen lunch on a bench at the beach, we headed back to our hotel to retrieve out bags. But you see, our hotel is about halfway up the town. So I decided to count the steps this time, because I'm having a hard time portraying how vertical this town truly is.
523 steps.
Oh yeah, and that's considered the shortcut.
It's also only halfway up the town. Once we had retrieved our bags, we had to walk the rest of the way up, but this time along the main road because we couldn't carry our rolley bags up stairs. The main road, where cars like to play the game of 'how close can we drive to the tourist without actually hitting them'. But our bus was coming soon, so we got our wheels on (not the way you do, Clayton) and hustled the rest of the way up the hill, luggage in tow. With me as the pace-setter, we made it with time to spare. When the bus came though, we had an interesting experience. We loaded our luggage into the belly of the bus and went to the door to get on. And the bus driver starts driving away. With our luggage. We ran after the bus, banging on the sides. The driver stopped the bus, and told us something in rapid Italian, probably along the lines of 'calm down!'. We got on, but I still have no clue what that was about.
Sorrento is another town on the amalfi coast and hour away from positano, but it isn't quite as picturesque as positano. But we weren't really going for scenic, we were using sorrento as a base to travel to Capri and Pompeii tomorrow and the next day.
Sorrento does have it's charm though, and I have at admit that it really grew on me. It feels like a really safe, livable city. It also has incredible sandwiches. Will get back to that.
Sorrento is another coastal town, and it is much more convenient as it has a railway that connects to Pompeii and Naples and it has ferries that connect to Capri and Naples again. The town itself is built on a cliff-top, and the cliffs plunge straight down into the ocean. There is a giant rift in the middle of the city, like a ravine, with sheer cliffs on each side. Steps wind down the rift for access to the port, where we will go tomorrow for the ferry to Capri.
After leaving our bags at our hotel, we decided to check out the port and then see the main square. The main square led to a shopping street, which we thoroughly enjoyed. There were many food stores, and i just wanted to buy the whole thing out. Samantha, let's just say we are eating Italian when you come to visit.
We tried some traditional limonchello, and we met the happiest shopkeeper ever. I have to say he's the coolest guy, and we bought 2 glasses off of him just because we liked him. Then we went on a search for the best Italian sandwich. But we just couldn't find a place that sold good looking sandwiches. We managed to find a place though with sandwiches that were stuffed with chicken and French fries. Yum?
So we went back to the man we now called Happy Guy. Happy Guy told us about a mini mart with the best mozzarella in town, and how the lady will make sandwiches if you ask her. We took Happy Guy's word for it, and found the little shop that had meats, cheeses, and bread. I gotta describe this sandwich, just because it was so fantastic. A huge fresh crusty bun. Thinly sliced fresh ham. Aubergine and artichokes, seasoned and soaked in olive oil. Then the crowning glory: a hunk a fresh mozzarella. All for just 3.50 euro each.
My little food rant aside, tomorrow we are headed off to the beautiful island of Capri. Can't wait!