May 06 2008

Sorrento and Positano: Touristy and Lovin’ It

Published by at 6:28 am under Italy,Sorrento

We used Sorrento as a base for our day trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as Positano on the Amalfi coast. We got to come back to the wonderfully friendly town of Sorrento each night. Yes, it’s touristy, and I *loved* it. One night we ate dinner a fuori (outside) and a musical trio consisting of an accordian, a guitar and an upright bass played the hit parade of Italian and Italian-American songs (they even threw in “When the Saints Go Marching In” for some reason). It was cheesy and fantastic.

I have done some research for the trip online, and there’s a traveller’s message board I have used for tips, accomodation reviews, etc. One person posted a negative comment about staying in Sorrento as a base for Pompeii and Herculaneum, because they were “disgusted” by the toursty kitch of Sorrento. They said that they would never recommend staying there if you were “well educated and sophisticated” (the implication was that the person who posted this was both of these things). He or she just sounded like a snob to me who didn’t know how to embrace the atmosphere and have a good time. I delighted in the fact that this “well educated and sophisticated” person had a grammatical error in his or her post. 😉

On Wednesday, we took the public SITA bus from Sorrento to Positano on a twisty, turny, “white knuckle” ride along the cliffs of the Amalfi coast. Positano was a beautiful town in a beautiful setting. We spent a lazy day walking around town, sitting in cafes, enjoying snacks, coffee, wine and lunch by the beach. And we might have eaten gelato twice, but who’s counting?

Here are some great pictures Dave took of Positano:

Positano1

– Meredith

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