But first thing first, Naples is famous for its best taste pizzas in Italy. And one of my favorite bombshell actress from my teen age, Sophia Loren were born here. We located the famous Di Matteo pizzeria in the historic district of Naples, where the picture of Bill Clinton wolfing down a large slice of pizza hung on the wall. To our dismay, the pizzas here weren't as good as we expected, too little sauce and too little meat, but the bread was great.
Lucky for us, we had enough time to get to our hotel before night fall. To our surprise, the 4 star hotel I booked blindly online is so beautiful with the best views in the world for a very good price, 135 US dollars a night breakfast included.
Our room even has a balcony facing the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a breath-taking view of the coastal town and the quiet sea. There is even a small choice of Vespas for rent at our hotel. This hotel is a mere 3 miles to the town center. It was late so we accepted the courtesy drive to the town from our hotel driver at no cost. WOW, what a nice gesture!
Sorrento is livelier at night to our excitement even though we were really tired. We got to the busy town square without much money in our pockets. Like many large countries in Europe, Italian accepts Euro. Even though Sorrento is a small town with a population of less than 20 thousand souls, it's a famous vacation destination in Italy so they have everything there. There are quite many money exchange kiosks with aggressive rates.
Restaurants and shops were fully alive at sunset. The whole area is about a tad bigger than a square mile. There were artists performing at all corners, from music instrument players to singers. The most common type of artists we found here were the living statues. Every now and then we heard a scream from a startled tourist by their sudden moves. Otherwise, it's all smooth with light music.
Via Cesareo is the main shopping street in Sorrento. The best place to start a walk down the street is where it intersects with the Plaza Tasso. The street narrows to a group of small shops and stalls selling many different type of products. Lemon products, walnuts, olive oil and a wide selection of candies are just a few items offered. There are also some local crafts available such as embroidery and wooden intarsias. These were the most dominant items that sold here. A few jewelry shops were popped up here and there to mix in with clothing stores that offer the latest trend.
There is a small food court right in the middle of all the shops with many outdoor seating restaurants. Most of them are Italian food, from sea food to pizza and pasta to handmade ice-creams. All were beautifully decorated. All had tables set up with candle lights and fresh flowers. Surprisingly, their prices weren't too expensive for a tourist town.
As always, my wife had her no-nonsense, foul-proof ham and pineapple pizza. She didn't expect much and in return, no disappointment.
Here, I tried the famous Italian Seafood Risotto. What a disappointment!
To our Asian rice eaters, the European don't know how to cook their rice. They are always under-cooked to our liking. The same happened here. This dish was filled with seafood like squids, crabs, shrimps, clamps, and fish, but the rice was half cooked, almost like uncooked rice so it was too bad for my taste. I ended up order something else to fill my hunger.
This church was in a dire need for a major repair. I didn't have a chance to catch its name. It's quite very small to compare with others in the area, and not much to show for.
We caught this spectacular view in the early morning with fog surrounding the island on a dead calm sea. It was so quiet and peaceful.
From our balcony toward the sea and Capri Island in the back ground.
On our left was the coastal town of Sorrento.
A little bit later, the sun came up and burned all the fog.
These small veapas (scooters) were for rent by the same hotel we stayed in Sorrento.
Our hotel viewed from below ... we were on our way to Almafi Coast.
To me, Sorrento is one of the best small towns in Western Europe. It's quite a distance from Rome to the southern end of Italy. From here one can reach to Pompei and/or Almafi Coast within an hour driving distance.
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