The remarkable Sorrento peninsula lies about 1 hour south of Naples, Italy and can be reached by regional train. The ride was in a bumpy, circa 1975, highly graffitied, train. We passed the stop for the infamous Pompeii on the way (yes, that Pompeii:) After 36 stops, our Sorrento digs were about a ten minute walk from the end of the train line, and right in the center of town. Lovely spot with an amazing breakfast every morning. We checked out Sorrento that day, which is a major tourist destination, but we were lucky, as most of the crowds were gone by mid-November. But the sky was still blue, even if the temperatures were a bit cool. The town was in the midst of preparation for the Christmas season, which apparently is a big deal for them. If you are ever interested you can Google "Sorrento Christmas" and check out the pictures.

Day two found us up and out to see my bucket list item.... Pompeii! We actually hit two towns devastated by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD; Herculaneum and Pompeii. As Herculaneum was a farther stop on the train, we went there first... which almost ended up being a bad idea. Herculaneum is much smaller than Pompeii, and while fascinating, Pompeii is the star of the show. By the time we got to Herculaneum, and did a tour, and returned to Pompeii by train, it was 3pm, and the 44 hectare site closes at 5:00. And it's a huge archaelogical site. We quickly ate a piece of Neapolitan pizza (super delicious), and hired a tour guide, Francesco. We were enraptured as Francesco shared the story of everyday Roman life, as well as that fateful day in history. As the evening turned chilly, we raced across a fair amount of ground, but, sadly, we could not see it all. But we saw a lot, and it was awesome:)

The very next day a driver, Paolo, met us at the hotel for a day trip to the Amalfi Coast. Paolo was a lovely young man, fluent in English and very proud of the region he hails from. As he should be. Stunning views met us at every turn. The towns of Positano and Amalfi were charming, and the drive beautiful. According to Paolo, we were lucky again as the sky was blue. (Apparently, November has very unpredictable weather). The highlights were some amazing viewpoints along the road where we stopped for photos. The Cathedral of St. Andrew in Amalfi is one of the most beautiful facade's we've seen in all of Europe. (see photo) Amalfi has an interesting history which includes a tsunami in the 14th Century that wiped away half of the old city. We only had about 45 minutes to explore so we plan to return to Amalfi in the near future. The coast is very difficult to access, no trains and no buses. Most people travel by boat or car. Apparently, it's one of the hottest destinations for Americans to visit in all of Italy. Paolo returned us to Sorrento safely and we spent our final night at a friendly and delectable local restaurant before preparing to meet Nickie (Steve's mom) in Rome on Wednesday.

Our take: One can easily be entertained in the Campagna region for 10 days. Our 3 days was action packed and provided a great foundation for exploring more of the area.... next time.