Sorrento & the Amalfi Coast
We took the train from Florence to Naples, where we met a driver who took us to Sorrento. There we stayed in an apartment at the Palazzo Starace which was just off the main walking street.
Sorrento is a small, attractive city with a very upbeat vibe. While there are lots of streets, the area we were in was predominantly walking (and climbing). There were the usual volumes of tourists, but it was nothing like Florence.
This first set of pictures are just some "around Sorrento" shots.
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We found our way down to the water, using the lift of course, and took the hydrofoil to the town of Amalfi. Originally we booked the full trip that included a stop in Positano, but after 3 hours in Amalfi, we'd had it so we came back to Sorrento. These pictures don't do the trip much justice. If the day had been a bit clearer and I had a drone, they would have been much more impressive because this is a very pretty area.
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Our last day trip in this area was to Pompei by the express train. We took a chance on a Viator tour, and it was inexpensive and worked out pretty well. This history of this area is quite interesting. Hard to imagine that Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and buried all of the area that we saw. They say there is still a lot of new excavation going on all the time, and that excavated rooms and facilities are being discovered regularly.
We had planned to stay with the tour guide and learn as we walked, but before we knew it, he was way ahead and we would have had to move fast to carch up. So we decided to stroll on our own and just follow the map. Of course that meant reading the signs to learn about the things we were seeing.
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