Clapp Radical Sabbatical

When touring Italy few people decide to spend any or many nights in Naples, in fact we found several tour blogs that said Naples wasn’t for the ‘faint of heart traveler’ yet we chose to spend 6 nights in Naples. In addition to having the best pizza, gelato, and limoncello; as well as some very interesting history, it is also incredibly easy to travel to Sorrento, Capri, or Positano from Naples and Naples is MUCH cheaper! In fact, Naples is so much cheaper that we were able to spring for a night in Sorrento. So on our 3^rd day in Naples we got up and literally walked across the street to the ferry station and hopped on a ferry to Sorrento with our backpacks packed for a night (we kept the Airbnb in Naples). The view of Sorrento as our ferry pulled in was enough to make the trip worthwhile.

At sea level there are some restaurants, the ferry port and lots of docks with sunbathers and swimming entrances. Not knowing there was a lift up the high cliffs to the main city of Sorrento we made the trek up (at least we got a workout right?) and made it to our hotel, which for the price was an amazing find! We even had a little ocean view and the restaurant attached was pretty delicious. After lunch we walked around Sorrento and found some great views looking down on the ocean.

We also went into the courtyard were they were setting up for a wedding and found an interesting little photography exhibit that had a tree swing looking out over the water.

When we were walking out of the photography exhibit I was literally accosted by an old Italian man who I think was lonely and wanted to show us the music box museum he was responsible for. Many of the boxes surrounding the Swiss made machines were actually made by the old man himself and others were 100 – 200 years old but all of them sounded amazing. We spent too much time in both exhibits because by the time we were ready to leave, the wedding they were setting up for early was in mid vow and we would have to walk right next to the bride and groom to exit! So we waited quietly hidden in the stairwell listening to the wedding that was in both English and Italian until it was appropriate to make an exit.

That evening Andrew had made a reservation for us for dinner and thankfully he did because we got a table that was right on the cliff with an amazing ocean view for the sunset!

The food was good but the view was amazing and definitely the highlight of the Amalfi coast trip. Afterwards we walked off the massive tiramisu gelato dessert and ran across the main square and several different marble Samurai men that are a part of an art installation in Sorrento.

The next day we decided to take the ferry over to Positano, which is even more picturesque than Sorrento! Unfortunately all we had time for was lunch and some great photos before taking the bus back to Sorrento to grab our bags and catch the ferry back to Naples again. I hear the bus we took was really scary due to the cliff switchbacks but thankfully I fell asleep so it was a pleasant journey back!

Once back in Naples we freshened up and then headed back out to catch the train out to Pozzuoli, a kind of suburb or outer neighborhood of Naples, to meet up with Cruz and Massimo for dinner. We had a bunch of amazing ‘street food’ pieces for appetizers and then pizza – I couldn’t finish mine but it was delicious and I finished it the next night. It was also awesome to see both of them especially since we may not meet up with anyone we know again for the next month and a half! Thanks for dinner guys!

The next day we did a day trip to Capri. I had been before but wasn’t able to get into the Blue Grotto so that was the first thing we headed for. Drew was feeling a little seasick so rather than rent a scooter which was our original plan we opted for the public bus which was really cheap and very easy to figure out. However it was slightly scary – I’m not sure how two fit side by side on the windy cliff roads up to Ana Capri! But we made it and stood inline to catch our row boat into the grotto.

If I was amazed by how the skipper got our boat into the caves in Portugal astounded would have to be the word for getting our small boat into the Blue Grotto! The opening is incredibly tiny but once inside the light reflects off the water making it an amazing blue. Going to the grotto first was definitely the right call because they closed it before we made our way up to the bus stop.

Once back at Ana Capri we had a nice lunch and then took the chair lift up to the top. Although we got some good pictures on the way up by the time we arrived we were completely surrounded by clouds, which was actually kind of cool.

This was my second time to Capri and last time I took the lift up and hiked down but this time we did took the chair lift back down and trust me down is MUCH more frightening than up! We did decided to hike down the stairs from Ana Capri to the main port and I say hike because it was over 1,000 stairs! Drew got some great photos of the port though and we both got some exercise. It was a great day trip but we were happy to be heading back to Naples to rest before our next adventure!