| Finding
our way around Sorrento |
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Sorrento
is a beautiful city. It is larger than I realized, but is perfectly situated
to explore the region. Getting from Sorrento to downtown Naples or to
Pompeii was very easy, via either the Circumvesuviana
train (which ran about every 20 minutes) or ferry
(which was a lot of fun). |
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The heart
of Sorrento is Piazza Tasso (named of course after the great epic poet
Torquato Tasso, who was born in Sorrento). While we were there, Sorrento
sponsored almost nightly concerts in the big, temporary concert shell
you see above. |
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The main
road through Sorrento is Corso d'Italia. In the view at left you will
see our most frequent destination, Standa, a supermarket that carried
everything from t-shirts (good for lost luggage) to fresh mozzarella.
Ask me someday
about the E30 bottle of wine.... |
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| The
downtown area was separated by a deep ravine, with hundreds of steps leading
down to the two marinas, grande and piccola. |
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Sorrento seemed
to me to be very much an evening-oriented city. At night, the piazza was
lit up and bars and restaurants were everywhere you looked. Every night,
the streets would be thronged by the traditional Italian "passageiata."
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| One
of my favorite events of the whole trip occurred on New Years' Eve. We had
just taken the ferry back from Naples and were walking up from the marina,
when we stumbled upon a colorful parade of musicians and dancers, winding
their way through the historical district, and pulling a pretend horse (or
donkey?). I don't know the significance of it, but I assume it had to do
with leading out the old year. |