Travis and Alazda's European Adventure: 05/29/13

Our final stop in Italy was the small city of Sorrento. We boarded the train to Naples where we switched to a local train to get to Sorrento. Lets just say the local train we boarded was one of those clutch everything valuable that you have and pray for the best type of trip. Luckily, the hour long trip from Naples to Sorrento was well worth it. We were in awe of this small resort community on the coast line of the Mediterranean.

After checking in to our hotel, we walked down the street to watch the sunset. We ended up finding a nice terrace with tables and a bar to enjoy some local wine while we took in the beautiful views. We were able to see nearby towns and Mount Vesuvius in the horizon. Once the sun set, we grabbed a bite to eat at a downtown restaurant. We ended the meal with a customary after dinner drink of Lemoncello, a speciality drink created with the locally grown lemons.

The next morning we slept in (finally, some relaxation)! The hotel served breakfast on the roof complete with amazing coastal views while we sipped our coffee. After breakfast we went shopping and explored this delightful town on foot. Sorrento is well known for its lemon gardens which we were able to explore and buy some Lemoncello to bring back home with us. After a bit more souviner shopping, we boarded our train to take us back to Naples.

Along the way, we planned a few hours in the nearby archeological site of Pompei. Pompei is the ancient city which was devastated by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD. The city was covered by volcanic ash locking the city and it's citizens in a time capsule to this day. We were able to use our trusty audio guide, Rick Steves, to discover this historic city and gain an understanding of how advanced this ancient culture was. Some of the sights included bath houses, a town forum, ancient fast food style resturants as well as plaster molds of Pompeians that were entombed under volcanic debris. Pompei also is home to some stray dogs, we happened to have a nice four legged friend follow us for nearly half of our time touring this ancient city.

We were a bit shocked to hear Mount Vesuvius is still an active volcano to this day, with the last activity occuring in 1944. No worries though, we made it out ok!

Around dusk we arrived at the train station in Naples to board our first night train of the trip as we head north towards Nice, France.

- Travis and Alazda