Amalfi Coastin'

The beautiful and rugged Amalfi coast. This picture was taken above my adopted home town - POSITANO. (Yes, I did ask if people from there were called positanogists!)

With a few days off for the Easter Holiday (A very big deal here in Catholic Italy), Christie and I decided to head north to explore one of Italy's most beautiful and famous stretches of coastline, the Amalfi Coast.

After a spirited practice on Saturday afternoon, we began our adventure by taking the overnight train from Catania to Naples, departing at 10:05pm. We had heard many bad things about the timeliness of trains in Southern Italy, but were pleasantly surprised when we pulled out of the station at 10:04 and 55 seconds. We quickly found our overnight sleeping cabin, which consisted of four very narrow "couchettes" in a single cabin that we ended up sharing with two older women, and before long I was waking up at our final destination.

A word about train travel in Europe to all my North American travelers, especially to those who think that 'Eurorail pass' is a now a pop culture buzzword: 1) Yes, trains in Europe are EXPONENTIALLY better than in the US, however... 2) They are still fairly expensive, 3) For anything over 7 or 8 hours, flights are probably cheaper and much more practical, 4) To get the best value, use them only in 4 circumstances: for jumping from city to city within a country, to cover a vast distance overnight and thus save a night paying for a hotel, to get around any big city (the metro system), and lastly, if you are going to be traveling for an extended period of time across the country. OK, I feel better now and hopefully have given at least 2.5 of you some useful information.

After our easy train ride, we arrived at the Naples Central Train station at 6:15am to a huge surprise: THUNDERSTORM. Lighting was cracking above the train, and rain was pouring down. This was not in our plans... and we quickly grabbed our bags and huddled for safety in the station. Luckily, the rain did let up -- however the rest of the day was only about 55 degrees and only had a few sunbreaks. Undeterred, we caught the 8:15 connection to the city of Sorrento and an hour later were in what would turn out to be our favorite city we have visited on our travels so far. (Catania is excluded from that comment because we live there!)

The cliffside view where I enjoyed my morning Cappuccino. The view was stunning (and that cliffside house is available for purchase for anyone interested.) For the record, anytime you order a Cappuccino from a coffee house located on "via cappuccini" it is going to be great.

The town of Sorrento, perched high above the sea.

The town of Sorrento is absolutely beautiful - groves of Orange and Lemon trees fill the valley between large villas, luxury hotels, and restaurants. Tree lined streets lead to the cliffs overlooking the sea, and towering green mountains form a stunning backdrop behind the town. According to Rick Steves, our trusty travel guide, "The population of Sorrento is 20,000 and every town member is an unofficial member of the chamber of commerce while speaking great English." He could not have been more right - everyone we talked to was friendly and helpful.

We checked into our hotel and spent the morning exploring the town center and its quaint shopping streets. If Sorrento is famous for one thing, it would be Lemons... and the subsequent "Limoncello" liquer. I think the whole town has a lemon 'zest' to it, with a Limoncello shop located about every 7 feet in the shopping district, and everyone seems eager to pass out a free sample (or so I've heard...)

The Lemons of Sorrento... as famous as the Salmon of Capistrano.

A very 'typical' Limoncello store.

After getting our fill of Lemons and Sorrento, and with the town closing down for Siesta from 1 until 3, we jumped on a bus and headed to the Amalfi coast and a town built for me: Positano.

J. Twice