Last Travel Tuesday, I shared our trip to Salzburg Austria. Today is a peek into the second leg of that trip: Sorrento, Italy. We tacked this fun part of the trip on to the “business” part (Salzburg) because, really, how often are we going to get to Europe. It took us the first 35 years of our life to get there the first time!
We had considered Ireland instead (since that is where Mr. O’s family tree’s roots are), but we both thought the Mediterranean sure sounded nice, and since a good portion of my family roots are Italian, it was a double bonus.
We scoured a map of Italy, concentrating on the western coast. Rome was busier than we wanted. Naples was a little rougher that we thought we should tackle on our first trip. The Amalfi Coast is beautiful, but waaaaaay too expensive. But nestled just north of the Amalfi Coast, high on a cliff, is the little town of Sorrento. It seemed to be a nice balance of native Italy and tourist friendly (i.e. the hotel’s website was translatable into English). And it couldn’t have been more perfect.
We flew into Rome, and rented a car to drive down the coast. I know you are probably thinking we were nuts, but Mr. O really wanted to drive in Italy. Since the car we rented was a stick shift, I would not be doing any driving unless there was some sort of apocalyptic, zombies-coming-to-kill-us event or a cataclysmic medical emergency. So we hopped in our Fiat (that barely fit us and our luggage), and headed south, following the friendly electronic voice of our navigational system.
I do need to give a shout out to Italian drivers. They are incredibly courteous. Believe it or not, not all Italians drive Ferrari’s (I know! Who knew?!). Most local folks were driving tiny cars with tiny engines, or scooters with even tinier engines. So when we were cruising down the freeway, occasionally we would come up behind someone going as fast as they could, and yet they were not even close to approaching the speed limit. So, you know what they do when that happens? They move over to let the faster car pass! What?
Anyway, the trip took us about 3-4 hours, plus a couple challenges with the navigational system (um, if we turn left like she is telling us to, we will be going up a staircase), and a friendly local to point us in the right direction, and we were at our hotel.
This beautiful cliff-side hotel is the Parco dei Principi. From our room (top floor, right corner) we could see the Isle of Capri…
Talk about surreal.
We spent the days walking around town, shopping, and eating.
I love that where ever you look, there is something to see. This fresco and frame (and many more like them) we on the walls of random streets and alleys throughout town…
And the coastal views were incredible…
One night at dinner, we saw across the way what we came to call our $10 million fixer-upper. What we could do with unlimited means and Italian citizenship…
At the end of our trip, we made a little diversion on our way back to Rome. A little off the beaten path is the town where my great-grandfather was born and raised until he emigrated to the United States in his 20′s. The town is Vallecorsa (or Valle Corsa by the Sea, as we always knew it to be). It was truly an incredible experience to be where that side of my family began…
The perfect ending to an unbelievable trip!
Where would you jet off to if given the chance?