Italy - Sorrento (May 2014)

Then we'll take a lovely trip to Italy and the lemon coast.

We stay in a five star hotel, outside Sorrento high up, and it is overlooking the sea and there is a small harbor deep in the valley. A winding road between houses, aisles and many stairs, these we will use at least once a day during the trip. The hotel was nice with a nice courtyard, but I do not know what makes the hotel more worth as five star than those who have three or four we have stayed at? The girl at the reception was very nice, but there is a man there too who says a lot of strange things that make her have to try to protect and talk away his mistakes and strange claims so that it will not get too wrong. Guess he's related to the owner or something.
However, they were not stingy with prosciutton, but seem to be very proud of it so you could take as much as you wanted for breakfast.

It is my first trip to Italy, and I am fascinated by the fact that most of the restaurants are called Pizzeria, pasteria and gelateria.
A Pizzeria can be as much an exclusive restaurant as a simpler little snag.

There are lemon trees everywhere, so the name lemon coast is in its full right.

Cool winding roads and long slopes up and down. I am thrilled that the bus drivers are able to turn around on these narrow and winding roads with oncoming traffic. My fitness became much better day by day after going up and down these steps and small slopes several times, every day.

Good chili oil, mozzarella, parma, prosciutto, ravioli, pasta, arugula, sun-warmed tomatoes... it can’t be better.. :) Pasta al dente was not quite as I thought before the trip, and have been taught something new.

On a sunny fantastic day, we took the boat over to Capri.
The weather was a bit varied, but nice enough for us to enjoy and wander around. Here we clearly felt what a difference there is in the mentality towards our little trip to Barcelona. Everyone is happy and nothing is a problem. The Latin translation Pro = before, blem = solution makes sense. And it turned out a little extra when we came to a Pizzeria / restaurant that was full of people, and we glanced if we could find a free space outdoors. We quickly realized that it didn't, but at the same time one of the waiters came and asked if we wanted to eat, and we said we could wait and come back when there was room outside. He was happy, took his hands up in the air and " wait, no problem!" and disappeared into the restaurant. A few seconds later he comes out with a table and canvas and everything that was needed and set up for us. I felt like Lady &  the Tramp from Walt Disney :) Great day, I want to come again.

One day we rented a vespa and set out on the surrounding roads to Positano, strange and cool that you can build a city in this way in a mountain gorge. I think I would feel a bit exposed to live like that for a long time, but amazingly beautiful when the sun is on. It felt very idyllic, and we stayed there for a while and walked around and ate some food while we were looking at the amazing view… Very beautiful!

What we noticed was that during holidays such as Sundays almost everything is closed and there was not to much to see more than the view and we are a bit restless  and  took the train into Sorrento. There it was more up and running and we discovered when dusk came how everything was lightning up and shops and restaurants in the narrow alleys blossomed fully. It was cozy, and we found a small, nice restaurant in an alley that we returned to other evenings that had absolutely amazing Ravioli. We brought in several small plates of mozzarella, arugula, tomato, parma and had to raviolin... Buonissimo!!!

We took a day trip to Pompeii. It's a bit exciting when you've seen pictures and read about it so many times. A little mixed feelings... fantastic architecture, heavy energy and an enchantment of what nature can do once it decides, then we are very small.
Nice day and I'm glad I've seen the place...
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An incredibly nice trip, nice people, good food and great experiences.
Here I want to go again and next time I want to live inside Sorrento, so you can walk to everything.