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SORRENTO Sunday, 15 May. The morning was cool and windy, but we had breakfast in the garden at 8:45. (There was no indoor breakfast room.) Marianne, a young American student employed by Ciro, dropped in to prepare it. It was a continental breakfast, but with cake and a sweet croissant instead of the plain panini (bread rolls) we would have preferred. There were also packaged toast, juice, and our choice of coffees. (We took caffe latte.) The garden was very pretty, with many plants and citrus trees.
We went out about 10:00 and headed for Piazza Tasso to take the trenino. On the way, we walked through Piazza San't Antonino and noticed that there was a 10:00 Mass at the Basilica of Sant'Antonino (11th century). It was already10:15, but we went in and found that the priest was still giving the homily, so we weren't too late. After Mass we continued up to Piazza Tasso and bought our tickets for the trenino. There was nearly an hour's wait so we went exploring in a new direction. We found that the deep ravine on which the road to Marina Piccola was built extends inland under the Piazza and for another block. At that point it turns west at a right angle. At that corner of the bottom of the ravine stands the ruin of an old watermill (1866), abandoned more than a century ago. From the other side of the ravine we could see remains of the city walls built by the Greeks. A hotel had been built on top of them. (The Romans built their city on top of the older Greek one.) We returned to Piazza Tasso in time to board the 11:45 trenino for a 30 minute ride.
The route the train initially took seemed to be the same one the taxi had used to get to our B&B the previous day and, sure enough, we went right by where we'd been dropped of at the end of Via Giuliani. A block further on, the train turned around in Piazza Vittoria (another park overlooking the Bay), went back through Piazza San't Antonino, and took the road down to Marina Piccola. That was our first time down there since 1962, and it was very interesting. Then the train drove back up and dropped us in Piazza Tasso..
We
walked back to Piazza Sant'Antonino where we browsed through a couple of
ceramics shops. Then we walked a short way down the Marina Piccola road to
a lookout we'd seen from the train. This was Piazza Santa Maria d'Italia
(a name almost larger than the tiny piazza). It had a view similar to that
from the Villa Comunale. We relaxed on a bench there for half an hour.
Then we walked back to the commercial area and had the "beer and
sandwich special"' on the roof top patio of a tiny eatery
On the way back, we struck up a conversation with Monica (Magic Moments & More), a friendly American travel agent near our B&B. I asked her about a boat cruise for which I'd picked up a brochure the evening before. The boat left from Marina Piccola, sailed completely around the Isle of Capri, stopped at Positano and Amalfi, stopped at Positano again, then returned to Sorrento. We would have a couple hours ashore in Amalfi. We booked and paid for the cruise for the next day (Monday). We'd be picked up at 9:15. The da Gigino restaurant was right around the corner, so we stopped there to arrange for an earlier breakfast at our B&B.
Jane had her usual gelato as we walked back
to our room at 3:30. We rested for an hour, then walked a block to explore
Piazza Vittoria before heading into the shopping area. Jane was in a
buying mood and picked up a hat and a few scarves. I bought myself a cap
for the sun. At 6:45 we were passing the Taverna dell' 800 and decided to try
it for dinner. It was a very modern tourist restaurant that claimed
(falsely) to be like an 1800s tavern. The service was fast and friendly.
When we tasted our food, we were surprised at how delicious it was. We
left the Taverna at 8:00 and walked around the shopping area for another
half hour before heading for our room.
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