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The Trip to Sorrento

Friday, April 28 , 2006
This is the story of my trip with Karen back to her roots in Italy.  My twin sister, Jody, asked me to write this, so this is for you, Jody.

We went by Lighthouse Airlines.  We flew to Charlotte and then to Munich, Germany.  From Munich we go to Naples and take a taxi to Sorrento, Italy, on the Amalfi Coast in SW Italy.  

We did, as we are supposed to, get to the airport early for a 3PM departure.  We arrived at 12:30PM.  I think we had to wait a couple hours to get started because we were there so early.

I am writing this at 8PM on Friday and we are out over the Atlantic.  We went from Charlotte back to NY before we headed east.

The only excitement I missed, but I can report it second hand.  Karen went into the restroom at Charlotte and  the automatic flush hit her on the butt, so she had a thrill even before she got out of the U.S.

This plane is full of Germans, but we are getting an English version of most everything so we can keep up.  Wine seems to be a big thing on this flight, and I think it is free.  We are passing it up because we have a long night ahead of us.  We hit Munich about 8AM and then take off for Naples about 9:30AM.

Saturday, April 29
At midnight the sun came up, because we had gained 6 hours during the night.  So, we had a ham and cheese breakfast and it was 6AM.  The seating was cramped.  We had a couple movies during the night, Walk the Line (Johnny Cash).

We had some luck at the Munich Airport.  All went smoothly but no NYT or WSJ.  The trip to Naples on a smaller plane was fine and at Naples there were no customs or other bureaucratic baloney.  Baggage worked fine and we were disgorged to the public pronto.  An Italian character, Giovanni, held a sign:

                                                   MRS. KAREN LAKE

                                                       SORRENTO

Karen was thrilled with Giovanni and the sign, so she kept the sign and we were off by car to Sorrento in a slight drizzle.  The hotel was one we stayed in five years ago, so it looked familiar.  It was high on the hill overlooking a gorgeous but heavily populated bay below a rocky cliff.

I changed from street shoes to slippers and passed out on my narrow bed.  Karen did so a half hour later.  When I woke up I was disoriented.  As I sneaked to the bathroom in the dark, Karen's radio alarm went off.  She turned over in the narrow bed in a lurch and fell flat on the floor.  She is providing my entertainment for the trip.

We had lunch overlooking the sea.  We settled for salads as it was in the afternoon.  The hotel does not seem at all crowded, and we were the only ones at lunch when we were done.

On the way to the hotel we picked up our rental car, a stick shift Fiat.  They didn't ask for my international driver's license, and there was no talk about insurance, how to drive, where to drive, etc.  It was a Hertz office.  One of the guys was eating a sandwich and couldn't be bothered. He was right out of the show  "Sopranos."

Before dark we set out for downtown in the Fiat to try out the restaurant Tasso's recommended by our airport driver, Giovanni.  We ended up parking on the sea at the Capri ferry boat dock, which was about 150' below the restaurant.  The question : How to get up to the town square where the restaurant was in Karen's heels.  We took a bus at one euro (126 cents) each.

The food was great and not too expensive, $45 plus tip.  Now it is time for shopping before dark and before the rain.  The narrow passages were loaded with tourist shops.  We ended up with an umbrella for the rain, a few maps, and some scarves.  How to get back to the parking lot?  We waited on the bus, but gave up after a while and took the taxi.  The guy said our road was closed to the hotel at 7:30PM, so how to get back?

Well, we decided to follow the taxi to the hotel and pay him for the trouble.  He left once he got us on the right road.  Karen paid him but left the package and umbrella.  So she called him in the evening and he brought us the umbrella and packages, free of extra charge.

Sunday, April 30
We took advantage of the free buffet breakfast at the hotel which was super, and then we got on the 9:30 hotel bus to the downtown.  Downtown is down the hill about five miles, but as the crow drops, it is about 500' down the cliff, but everything else is at the bottom.  Maybe next time we will stay at the bottom.

The shopping was good for Karen.  In one shoe shop I was able to take a nice morning nap to revive my initiative. Note from Karen: Jim was hanging half off the chair sound asleep in the middle of the shop. The sales clerk was amazed he could sleep that way. We had some ice cream followed by a pizza in the sun in an open restaurant with a four piece band, including an accordion.  

We are having a tendency to get lost in a town too small to get lost in.  The alleys are busy with shops, as are the streets, so every block is the same.  There are tee shirts, scarves, etc.  The shops are open in the summer season and closed in the winter.  The shopkeepers work seven days a week maybe 12 hours a day in season, and then most of them take the winter off, as I understand it.  The margins here on the tee shirts are much higher than on our lots, obviously.

This town, Sorrento, is really too crowded already for autos, and you have to know where you are going or you are likely to end up in a circle.  They have buses, trains, horses, and taxis to get around town.  Scooters are very popular.  Note from Karen: When driving, we were lost most of the time in Sorrento. I can't belieive we are not still there going in circles.

We visited one small fine hotel on the cliff overlooking the ocean today.  The rates in season were $300 per night, and it appeared there were a lot of Americans there.  At our hotel, which is nice but remote, this time of year is mostly German in customers. In the summer it is British, and Germans in the fall. On Sunday night we ate at the hotel and had a decent meal, but Karen didn't like the fish.

The big topic of discussion is the Tuesday trip to Rome.  We have to go downtown by taxi, then to Naples by a local train before we get a luxury train from Naples  to Rome.  It is likely there will be a hitch in the trip?  Then in the evening we will retrace our steps. If this all works out it will be a miracle.

The newspapers and TV are not big on American stuff here, and my cell phone is not in use, so I am tuned out on Countrytyme and the U.S.,  but I am writing this and an occasional note.

Sorrento is known for its inlaid furniture skills dating to 1825.  A Sorrentine cabinet maker, Antonio Denne, was summoned by the King of Naples to assist with furniture renovation in the Royal Palace of Bonbon King Travesco I.  When Antonio Denne returned to Sorrento, he started a new industry.

This story is for the developers, who have to develop more political skills.  In 1902 Sorrento needed a post office.  The Prime Minister Gueseppi Zavadelli visited Sorrento and said no to the mayor William Tremantano, the owner of The Tremantano Hotel. But while the Prime Minister was on vacation here, the mayor engaged the family tutor and his brother to arrange a new song in honor of the visit of the Prime Minister.  The great song, "Come Back to Sorrento" was used to serenade the Prime Minister on his last evening of the hotel. This great honor and the charm of the special new song enchanted the Prime Minister, and the mayor had his new post office.

I made a friend today.  His name is Massimo.  Massimo is a dog that came up to me while I was sitting on the main square in Sorrento Sunday afternoon.  He followed us for a while, but then he had to make a side trip into an open air restaurant to check out the scraps situation.

Monday, May 1
Our hotel is on a steep hill overlooking the town, Bay of Naples, the Isle of Capri and Mt. Vesuvius.  The lobby and desk is on top, on the first floor.  We were on the third floor, two floors down.  This topsy-turvy situation was tough to get used to.  We were always going down to leave our room when we needed to go up.

The noticeable crops around here are olives, oranges, lemons and grapes.  Lemons must do very well here, as they are all over the place.  They even make wine out of the lemons, which I wouldn't want to even taste, let alone drink.

We are on the Bay of Naples, on the Mediterranean Sea.  The weather here seems to be about 70+ degrees right now.  The season seems to start about now, and today, May 1, is the big national holiday.

The small towns in this area are on the edge of the ocean, in cracks of the rocks, etc.  I think that the towns went to all the trouble to build here because of the water, mainly.  The towns going back 2-3,000 years have been seafaring towns, which probably means fishing and seagoing trading vessels.  Amalfi, a town on the other side of the hills, was a center of power in the area for hundreds of years because of its sea warfare skills as well as trading profits.

It takes a couple days to realize this is no place to drive, and it is ideal for scooters, but Karen doesn't want to scoot, so we are on shank horses (foot).  Today we made the first trip down the mountain on foot.

Tuesday, May 2
Tuesday was crazy.  We got up at 4 a.m. and took a cab to the train station. We caught a small local train (graffiti inside and out) from Sorrento to Naples before transferring to a luxury train from Naples to Rome.  This is a long trip, and the transfer is scary.  Naples is known for pickpockets and fraudulent schemes committed upon tourists.  We had a bad experience on a previous trip and were a little edgy on the local train and in the Naples station. I was prepared to kick and fight and so was Karen, but we got to Rome okay.

We operated on foot to see the Vatican, the Forum, the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  I won't go on about these historical tourist spots, but luckily they were not too far apart.  We ended up in a taxi once or twice, as Karen had blisters.  She wasn't used to tennis shoes.

We got back on the train to Rome okay and the problem came on the transfer at Naples.  We took the wrong train out of Naples at 6:45. We thought we were on the train to Sorrento. These guys looked like Al Capone to Karen and I so we suspected treachery afoot.  Note from Karen:  It was close to 11:00 p.m. and I was one of very few women on the train, in fact, the only woman in our car. We could see one other woman in the car ahead of us. The passengers were mostly laboring men going home to the small towns from work. There were two young men, possibly in their 20's, going from seat to seat talking to people. We thought they might be trying to borrow money .

We were a little nervous due to our previous Naples experience. I said to Jim, "I can't wait until we get to Sorrento".  The guy seated behind me heard me and immediately tapped me hard on the shoulder.  He kept saying something that sounded like "go borro". We had no clue what he was saying, but he kept on talking. Before long, he engaged several other of the men who were all saying the same thing. Before we knew it, all the men in the car  descended upon us being very insistent and getting disgusted with us.  One of the guys left the others and went to another car. He came back with a young girl. This girl could speak English. She said, "You go Sorrento?"  We shook our heads yes. She said, "This train no go Sorrento. You must get off  at next station and go back to  Barra  to get the last train to Sorrento".  This incident all happened in a matter of minutes. We had to make a quick decision. We decided to listen to the girl. We got off at the next station.  When we got off the train and were descending the metal stair from the platform, there were 2 guys walking toward us. One of them pointed his finger directly at us and said, "You go Sorrento?".  We were amazed. How did he know?  That young girl had used her cell phone to call ahead to the trainmaster and inform him that two ugly Americans were lost and could he please help them.   

The were sooooo nice to us. We felt pretty bad as we had been thinking we were going to sustain some sort of misfortune. All those lovely Italians were just trying to help us and we couldn't even thank them. There was another gentleman waiting for our same train. He was what they call a "financial policeman".  He rode the train with us and when we got to the Barra station, our door opened and there was another train waiting with it's door open. The financial policeman said "that one" and we immediately ran out and got on the other train. It was the last train to Sorrento.  If all these people had not helped us, we would have ended up at the end of the line somewhere in a town with no taxis, buses, etc.  Between Naples and Sorrento, there are very small towns with high crime.  It could have been very frightening and stressful.

Wednesday, May 3
Wednesday was our trip to the Amalfi Coast which is across the peninsula from Sorrento.  We drove there in our Fiat.  This area is all rocks coming down to the sea with just a few places suitable for buildings and a few small beaches.  Some of these towns have been there for over 1,000 years, or even more.  Many of them have been destroyed/burned several times by the enemy, whoever that may have been.

These towns are very beautiful, and they have attracted both hotels, guests and shops from all over the world.  Our first stop was Positano, a hot spot for shopping but a lot of walking downhill and then back uphill.  We parked on the hill at three euros per hour ($4).

We had lunch at a small restaurant that was not yet open.  Karen told the waiter she had come a long way to eat there, so they opened up just for us.  It turned out that the chef and the family that worked there were having their own lunch which we interrupted.  Karen had recommendations for the restaurant from Joe W's mother-in-law and also from Karen's friend, Margaret.  The food was pretty good and the price wasn't too bad.  I had linguini with mussels and other pieces of seafood and maybe even some chicken.

There were a lot of Mercedes cars parading up and down the hills but it was better suited to donkeys.
We did head out finally, but on the way out we ran into the hotel where Alicia P. (daughter) went on her honeymoon. It was a multi story hotel, maybe 5 stars, with an elevator going from the road to the beach.  We were going to have a drink, but it didn't seem like there was a good spot for a drink.  The man on the top of the hotel was charming though, and appreciated my tip of one euro for directions and information.  Euros seem to have a universal appeal, but actually the folks here are friendly and helpful.

The next stop was Amalfi, then Ravello and Atrani.  These towns are picturesque but almost inaccessible.  A boat would be the ideal way to visit without a lot of hassle.  The driving is a matter of playing dodgems with buses and motor scooters.  Sometimes two buses get stuck on a curve and somebody has to back up.

Actually, though, we had more trouble back in downown Sorrento finding our way back to our hotel, where we had roast lamb.  We were celebrating something at the gala but we didn't know what.  We were so worn out from fighting the traffic that we didn't care what the celebration was.

The Amalfi Coast trip was a winner, and this was our second trip to Positano.  It would be a great cruise deal stop for a future Countrytyme cruise?

Money.  The dollar is slipping now against the euro.  I think the rate is $1.26 to buy a euro, while 6 years ago when we were here it was only about 83 cents to buy a euro.  Yet Europe is not doing so great in unemployment and job growth, way behind the U.S.  If we could get our fiscal act together it would be back to 83 cents again.  The immigration problem here is tough also.  Their big problem is that wages here include so many benefits that European labor/manufacturing costs are not competitive. There is a worldwide change in labor costs forced by Asia. It is tough for Europeans as well as the U.S. to face up to the problem.  It looks as if each family has to pay their own way on health and retirement?

Thursday, May 4
Thursday was the Isle of Capri.  We visited there before, but only to go into the Blue Grotto by boat, where the sunshine plays tricks on the cave area of a mountain that is filled with seawater.

This time we took a jet boat to Capri in the morning and came back in the afternoon for $48.  The return trip was overcrowded, and I was thinking we might upset and be upside down like in the Andrea Doria.

Capri is another hot spot for the affluent crowd.  Probably it is more expensive and less creative than Positano.  We lucked out with a great 3-4 hour taxi ride for $100 euros to deliver us around the island along with a running commentary about points of interest and history.  The taxi driver was a handsome 29 year old looking for a girlfriend to marry.  His brother is getting married, so his mother is somehow splitting the house in two.  Our man was worried whether he could still have his band come over in the evening and play his drums in the basement.

Capri is beautiful but over developed with the Armani / Gucci crowd.  A Coca Lite (as they call it), one calorie, costs $3.50, and that is just too damned much.  However, the pizza was not too expensive ($5.70).

Food.  To start with I liked the pasta and seafood, but now I am sick of it all, including the pizza.  I am ready for a steak fajita.  There does not seem to be much variety to the food here.

Breakfast is pretty good, though, with everything but a decent piece of bacon.

The sausage pizza I had tonight in Sorrento had about 1 ounce of sausage on it.  They seemed to use the meat for flavor rather than to fill you up.

View.  I mentioned view once before but I mention it again.  The economy of all the towns we visited except Rome is based on view.  I think Countrytyme has not appreciated the value of view or lack of it, in the past.
Our view here from our hotel is stupendo. There is a ship in the bay that seems to be a private yacht of some character who is shuttling back and forth to Sorrento.  Maybe his girlfriend is shopping?

Shops.  Karen bought a shirt in Positano.  It was expensive, but one shirt won't hurt?    The colors in Positano were stupendo and I am a sucker for color.  Note from Karen: The expensive shirt I bought was for Jim.

Friday, May 5
Friday was pool day, but it turned cloudy about 11 a.m., so we decided to go for a ride in the country.  We drove and we drove but we never did get in the country, though we saw a lot of olives, lemons, and grapes.  The main things we saw were turns as we wound up and down the mountains attempting to get away from the sea.  We never did get away from the sea, and we stopped for lunch at a remote restaurant, "Don Pedros" with a view of the sea. Don Pedros was closed and would not open for 2 hours, but the daughter came out of the kitchen and said they would feed us, but we were the only ones there.  The daughter was the hostess and the father, Don, was the waiter.  What a family! As the meal went on, the bill went up and more and more of the family showed up for work.  The wine flowed, and the food finally disappeared. Karen ordered more food than she usually gets at dinner, but it was delicious.  I splurged on a sea bass, which was great. The mother was the chef, and we ended up in the kitchen with a big group photo of about 8 members of the Pedro family and myself.  By the time we left, the wine and the fellowship made us feel that we were also members of the family.  Karen even tried to fix the daughter up with the Capri taxi driver we met Thursday. This was the experience we enjoyed the most, as we got to know a family.  Karen said it reminded her of her Italian neighborhood of her childhood.  The food and music were great.


Friday evening.  The hotel had a three piece band playing various tunes including some U.S. stuff.  We lasted through one margarita.


Saturday, May 6
Saturday was sun day for Karen.  She soaked up rays until 2 p.m.  For me it was exercise day.  I walked to the beach and back, and that is a long way down and an even longer way back  uphill.  I planned to do some shopping, but didn't. In the afternoon, we set out in our Fiat for Tarini, a little town up in the hills with a long walk to the point of Italy on the south.  This turned into a tough long walk, and Karen's shoes didn't hold up, but I made it to the end and back.  It was a tough climb back. We ran into some athletic couples enjoying the walk.  We tried to drive about half way.  When I went to turn around coming back, we had a close shave with going over the cliff.  We had better check my insurance again?  This would take care of our cash balances, Judy D.?

Then Saturday evening I delivered the Fiat to the Hertz agency.  The guy claimed the tank wasn't full, and I just filled it up across the street.  I walked back up to the hotel, making this day probably the most distance on foot for 20 years or so.

The weather keeps getting better and better, but not too hot yet, maybe 75-80 degrees.

Italians.  We have enjoyed the folks here. Friday was the first day we ran into a surly store operator. Most folks are friendly, happy and full of fun.  They appreciate a joke and they like us to try a few Italian words, which we enjoy doing.  Their favorite words seem to be "No Problem" which they use quite often.

The laws and rules here are few and far between.  I have a feeling there are fewer lawyers and lawsuits here because of the lack of justice.

Motor Scooters.  The sensible way to travel around here is by motor scooter, but no doubt the winter scootering requires masks and goggles. It gets cold here, but not much snow. It is rainy in the winter, according to a cab driver.

There are a lot of skinny streets, maybe 12' wide with buildings instead of berm, so skinny cars and trucks fit best. It would seem that people would run over each other much more than they do.  Karen noticed, though, that many cars have side scratches and dents. Our driver said that the sideview mirrors are kept well stocked as due to the narrow streets, they are always getting knocked off. Many cars have them folded as flat as possible against the cars.

Gas here is not too high compared to other European countries, but we haven't yet figured out what a liter of gas is in gallons. I think gas is around $2.00 per liter.

Weather.  The weather here is mild, maybe like Atlanta or Charlotte?  Today there was swimming in the pool, so maybe it is more moderate this time of year, more like Columbus?

We have lucked out on the weather, as every day has been beautiful, even if sometimes partially cloudy.

Sunday, May 7
We had a driver pick us up at the hotel and took us to the Naples Airport by car. This eliminated a lot of hassle. Our trip was to Milan and then Newark, NJ.  I am still missing my suitcase, but everything else turned out okay on the trip back.

I have some suggestions for such a trip, but our luck with weather, excursions, hotel, etc. was great.

Note from Karen:  The driving in and around Sorrento and also along the cliffs of the Amalfi coast was very hazardous. There were many places where the curves were so sharp that you would have to stop and back up to let another car or bus get through before you could advance.  Everyone drives very fast and careless.  They have large round mirrors on each curve so you can see another vehicle coming around the turn.  We are all sometimes guilty of criticizing Jim's driving as his main focus is always on business. He drove like a pro negotiating each one of the hazardous turns with ease. I was amazed. You should have seen him.