Sasha was adamant she wanted to do Cinque Terre. Perfectly fine, but I wanted to do Amalfi Coast as well - I had no idea which one would be "better" because it seemed hard to find anyone who had been to both. So why not do both? Well, we could but our time for Italy was a bit finite - it all had to be balanced out against everything else, as our original sketch was over-budget on time by 5 days. Amalfi was one area where it got trimmed down in order to make it work, and it probably trimmed Pompeii down a bit more than we originally thought too. Staying in Positano was out, because it was exceedingly expensive. As was virtually everywhere else on the Amalfi Coast. The one place we did find that was vaguely in the ballpark was a camping ground in Sorrento, which although part of the Amalfi region kinda isn't on the Amalfi Coast itself. However, Sorrento was a major transport hub for the Amalfi Coast and would allow us to do Amalfi in the time that we had available, and fairly simply. So Sorrento it would be!
While in London, Sasha had won tickets to see Tina Arena in concert and she performed one of her most famous songs, "Sorrento Moon (I remember)" - a real "Hastings Days" song as Jeremy would put it. In the lead-up to going to Sorrento, this song kept playing over and over in my head and didn't leave while we were there also. Suffice to say, it got a bit annoying.
We were coming from Pompeii, so getting to Sorrento was going to be as simple as hopping on the Circumvesuviana Railway line at Pompeii Porta Marina as that was on the Sorrento line, and ride it to the end. We needed to get to Sorrento in time to make use of a free shuttle to the campground if we so wished to do that, otherwise we could catch a public bus. Either way, we figured it would be easy enough and the train shouldn't be so full as most people will be getting off at Pompeii to look at the ruins, not hopping on there.
We walked from our accommodation to the station a different way, which was supposed to be easier. But instead we encountered clogged footpaths with Chinese tourists who piled off tour buses 3 blocks from the station (no idea why they did that there and not at the bus park near the station and ruins), so we had to negotiate our way through (even though they were going the same way). We got to the station, got our tickets, went to the platform which was virtually empty and 5 minutes later notice a large Chinese Tour Group assembling on the platform. And then another. And then Another. I am almost certain that these 4 groups were the same ones who had been on the footpaths - and it seemed pretty clear that they were going to catch the train to Sorrento too. But why? Why ride a bus to Pompeii, and then get on a train to Sorrento rather than the bus take them all the way from Sorrento? And why this particular station out of all stations? It made no sense to me. What it meant though was a crowded train and a fight for space, and we had our large bags with us.
So the train trip wasn't that pleasant because of the crowds, but we got there. So now, to get to the accommodation - we had two options, catch the public bus or catch the campground shuttle. The bus left from by the train station, somewhere - but we weren't sure exactly where, nor which bus we would need. The shuttle embarkation point was easier to find on a map, but required a bit of a hike through some of Sorrento's main streets. We decided to go for the shuttle, but had a bit of trouble negotiating our way to the point where the shuttle bus would pick us up from. Sasha was a bit anxious about the shuttle - how do we tell which one it would be? would it actually show up? Slightly after the appointed time it did, we were its only passengers and it drove us straight to the camp ground. We were there!
So we were staying at a Campground, because that was the only thing affordable for us in the Amalfi area. We had booked ourselves a Chalet cabin to ourselves, and spent a bit extra to have one with a shower and toilet built into it - it would be a bit nicer than dealing with ablution blocks, it meant we at least had a sink with running water in our Chalet too which would be handy and it also came with a fridge. It also came with air conditioning, which was only partially successful and we found it much more practical to open the windows. The cabin was stifling when we arrived, and needed a definite airing but it had its own little deck with seating.
The whole campground was rather large, and it was all located on the side of a hill. The bottom of the hill was a rocky ocean bay, which was the private "beach" of the campground. We made use of the beach - it was flat-slab rocks at the bottom of the cliff, which then dropped into the sea. The beach had a great view of Mt Vesuvius as we splashed around in the water, though the occasional wake from passing boats did try to push us into the rocks. At the top of the hill was the campground office, entrance, and the main shop and restaurant. Our Chalet was halfway in between, meaning if we wanted a swim, we had a bit of exercise getting back from the beach; and if we wanted to leave or use the shop or restaurant, we had a bit of exercise getting there. On the whole though, it did the job!
One thing we discovered when we checked into the campground is they offered two tours - one along the Amalfi Coast by boat from Sorrento, and one to the nearby Island of Capri. Capri was billed as a nice beach relaxation kind of trip, and the Amalfi trip was an explore of the towns of Amalfi and Positano - something right up our alley. Internet reception at the campground wasn't great, even on their Wifi but we figured out enough that it would only be marginally cheaper to try and visit these towns without a tour and difficult to do both by ferry or public transport. So we went to sign up for the Amalfi tour for the next day, only to be told by the guy behind the counter it wouldn't be running tomorrow - only the day after, but we could do Capri the next day. We pointed out the brochure the girl behind the counter had given us said it was daily as of the previous week, and that why would she have told us about it knowing how long we were staying if we weren't going to be able to do it. About then the girl came back, the guy talked to her and found out that it was indeed running. We'd get picked up from outside the office at 8am, and be taken to the tour boat.
We arrived at the entrance at 10 to 8, and just happened to read the big advertising sign outside the office for our trip. At the end of it - "make sure you bring your swimwear!". We hadn't - we didn't think it would be that kind of trip. Sasha turns around to me and says "Can you go get our bathers?". I leap down the hill, skipping steps and running at a reasonable pace as I know time is my enemy but that I also need to run back uphill. I grabbed our togs, put them in the bag and then raced back up the hill as fast as I could manage. 8 minute round trip - but I'd done it, the van wasn't there just yet but I'd gone and aggravated my asthma for the first time in ages. Breathing was uncomfortable for me for quite some time after - I don't own an inhaler anymore, and haven't done for ages so usually just get through it by taking deep breaths until it goes. The van didn't take us to the main port in Sorrento, but a little marina further away from the city. Small boats for Capri were boarding passengers, and then our small boat. It was about the size of the Lyttelton Ferry or the Days Bay Ferry, which was better than the Capri boats which looked a lot like private pleasure boats but would not have held more than about 50 all up. Before we'd boarded the ferry I had to go sit away from everyone including Sasha for a while to try and get my breathing under control, but by the time we were boarding the boat it was largely fine. Sasha and I made sure we sat nearish the back, on the side that would face the coast (by deduction) and near the end of the side cover but not beyond it so we would still be able to take photos, but be protected by it - the day was blowy and grey, it threatened to rain and would probably be a bit choppy out there.
I have to say, the smallness and tinpotness of the boat kind of dampened my enthusiasm for the tour - for some reason I thought the boat might be a bit bigger and more decent. Probably not helped by my mood following the asthma, and the fact it was a grey day meaning we probably wouldn't see the Amalfi towns from the water in he best light. We passed Capri, then went around some islands out from the shore, and then later, we passed what I deduced was Positano - there was no commentary on board. We did then start hugging the coast, and nosed into a little cliff hole where a stone bridge crossed high above us. By the time we were approaching Amalfi itself, the weather was on the improve and the perched houses and vineyards above the sheer cliffs were starting to look quite something.
Having done most of the town, we ended up at the wharf and then on the shingle beach for a sit-down with some ice creams. The weather was changing while we were in Amalfi - it had been a bit breezy and cloudy when we arrived, the breeze had now gone and it was getting hot, and the sun was making a concerted effort to break through the clouds. If ever there was a time for a swim on this day, it was now - getting changed into bathers and then out of them again would be slightly difficult but not impossible, but Sasha wasn't keen and I didn't much feel like going in the water by myself (since I can't see well without my glasses) so those bathers that I ran to collect and aggravated my athsma for went unused.
The closer we got back to Sorrento, the greyer and colder it became to the point where Sasha started getting goosebumps so I gave her my jacket. At the end, we were deposited back at the small marina, and then shuttled back to the campground, arriving about 5.30pm. I'm totally glad we got to do it and see the coast, and that we did get to see it in some sunshine if briefly.
Because the campground was in what counts for "suburban" Sorrento, we only visited the city in transit between the campground and the train station. However we'd given ourselves a later train connection onwards to Rome which meant we had time to kill in Sorrento. This was spent walking around and exploring the town and the ferry port area, all of which was nice enough but nothing overly wowing. There were lots of shops selling Limoncello, interestingly for much more than we'd bought it for in Amalfi; lots of clothing stores, restaurants, and also in the streets lots of beggars. Beggars aren't unusual in our travels - we used to see a bunch of them in Berlin even. But these were your gypsy-kind of beggars, the ones where ladies sit on the footpath with a little child in their arm, looking to relieve you of coins with sympathy. Other methods to elicit sympathy are usually showing off deformations of some kind. One of these ladies, with young child under her arm had her nose deformed - as in, the lower half was missing. I only got a glimpse, but it was clear enough to me that this deformation wasn't congenital, but given her profession was either self-inflicted or had been inflicted upon her by her husband or other members of her group to further try and elicit sympathy. These women are never acting alone in isolation, their begging highly organised and coordinated - in fact all the gypsy beggars we saw, while looking isolated and alone were part of the same group. Sorrento is clearly set up for tourists, as the gateway to the Amalfi Coast and as nice as it is in its own way, we kind of ran out of things to do once we'd done our wanderings. In fact a good slice of our time in Sorrento was spent sitting in a park area, where we ended up watching a bunch of pigeons go through their courting rituals - which basically involve the males running around after the females, and the females running away. Of particular note was two brown pigeons in among the grey ones, and the male brown pigeon was chasing after the brown female one and showing no interest in any of the grey females. Another group of pigeons merged with the first group, including another brown male and another brown female. What was interesting was the first brown male continued his pursuit, except was now targeting the other brown female - and vice versa!
Breakfast was from supplies, but for a few meals we used the onsite restaurant at the campsite. Here we ended up both times ordering two pizzas which we shared between us, one was always a Margherita pizza (because they taste amazing in Italy and are also cheap), and another depending on what we felt like. The first time, we got one that had corn, sausage and french fries on it! We also utilised the campsite shop to buy ourselves some cheese and items to go with some crackers we already had, for one of our wine and cheese picnic meals which we had on the balcony of our little cabin. Despite the shop and restaurant having a captive market, the prices were actually not bad and as it transpires far cheaper than if we'd gone into Sorrento town and tried to get anything. Lunch on our trip to Amalfi & Positano consisted of some snacks that we'd taken along, a slice of Margherita and an Arancini ball each from a small streetside cafe in Amalfi, followed by ice cream.
For our last meal in the area, we were in Sorrento town and Sasha had done her research so we went and found the burger place she'd looked up, only to find contrary to all advice online that it didn't open until 5pm. We roamed a bit more trying to look for a likely place, and then I was charged with choosing a venue. I chose one that seemed to have special deals, but upon reading the menu they were not deals - just a clever advertising gimmick where the "combo" was the same price as if you bought the items separately and the drink was a rather skimpy amount, not the size depicted on the advertising. Not finding much to our liking in our price range, we got up and left and ended up at a Gelateria. This might seem odd, but they served pasta and pizza as well and we had an excellent meal here, as we watched group after group after group of TUI (Thompson Unlimited Travel, in the UK often just known as Thompson - a package holiday seller) holidayers get taken in by their guide, get their ice creams, and then wander down the road. There must have been at least 8 groups, of about 20 apiece - all of the holidayers British, and their guides also British. Each guide had a different object to hold up in front of their group so they can be identified - one a large flower, one a pool noodle, another an actual umbrella. We elected to get dessert here as well - their ice cream was quite tasty!
As for drink, well lets start with beer. At the campground, the restaurant and store sold a fairly standard variety of beer, but they had Peroni and they had it in 660ml bottles - the size of two standard NZ/AU drinks. I knew of Peroni from having it in the UK, but when the bottle came out at the restaurant it had a different label on it, and the beer inside was different - not as grassy, and actually nicer. Later in the shop I saw these big bottles of Peroni next to other big bottles of something called Nastro Azzurro - but the Nastro bottles had the UK Peroni label design, just a different name. We bought one of each, and a taste test later revealed the Nastro tasted just like the beer I'd had called Peroni in the UK. They must rebrand it when exporting it! Wine - wine was cheap from the restaurant, Sasha had some reds in a carafe but I stuck to the beer mostly. We did purchase a bottle of unlabelled local white wine from the shop for our wine and cheese picnic, which turned out to be a fizzy white and probably came from the same source as the red we had in Pompeii the few nights before. It was very nice and at 2.50, a bargain - we'd only bought it because it was the only bottle in our price range that didn't have a cork (it had a plastic stopper). We don't carry a corkscrew, so all wine is usually limited to screwcap or pop-top. It hadn't been a problem until Italy, and continued to be so throughout the country - but we were determined to get away without buying a corkscrew, especially as they cost a bit at all the places we saw them. We also kept the plastic stopper from this bottle, as it was quite reuseable and would be useful in our arsenal of stuff.
Last but not least, the liqueurs. Limoncello comes from Amalfi, and as previously mentioned we'd bought a 1L bottle. What is apparently another liqueur that only comes from the Amalfi region was a walnut-based liqueur called Nocino, that Sasha had read about. Our last night at the campground, we spied a bottle of Nocino in a display cabinet with desserts and Limoncello - when we asked for two shots of it, the waitress wasn't sure what we were asking for but eventually understood. It seems that bottle was the only bottle they had, because she later had to come back and get it out of the cabinet; and the gentleman who shortly after served us the Nocino was not impressed with our choice and made it quite known, suggesting we would have been better off trying the Licorice liqueur they had. Nocino was a bit of an acquired taste, but not overly unpleasant and Sasha and I have definitely had far far worse. Unicum in Hungary comes to mind. However I can see why Nocino isn't as popular as Limoncello, but at least we tried it!
Summing Up
Perhaps also we were tired? a bit jaded now too? probably so. We were a bit too tight for time to properly relax there, but I don't know if such a thing is even possible there. But we got there, we experienced it, saw all of what we (or I, since I was the one pushing Amalfi in the beginning) wanted to see. Strangely it seemed more over-touristed than Venice - I felt more relaxed in Venice than I did in Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast. It also provided an instructive basis for which to judge Cinque Terre against. This was the southern-most we'd get to in Italy this trip, from now onwards it was a march northwards and westwards. On the whole - glad I got to go, but I've done it now and don't see much reason or need to go back either, unless the method of visiting the place was rather different. If you had your own boat that you could sleep on, and slowly made your way along the coast visiting the various towns and places along the way, I think that would be a great way to do it. But not something achievable short of gaining (and then spending) a fortune!
Lastly - that damn Tina Arena song "Sorrento Moon (I remember)" which got stuck in my head. The day we left Sorrento I decided to google the song and find out about it - turns out its not even about Sorrento, Italy but a little fishing/holiday town called Sorrento about an hour's drive out of Melbourne, Australia where as a kid Tina went on holiday with her family. This whole time I had that damn song in my head and it wasn't even about the place I was visiting! So annoying.