May 3: Sant’Agata to Sorrento

Another unremarkable breakfast at Le Torre, though the coffee was even stronger than the day before; Shoshanna referred to it as “battery acid”, and though bitterly tasty, it was so strong we had to cut it with about 50% steamed milk. Even then, it let you know who was boss.

For the last day of our walking tour, we chose the shorter of the two routes, mostly downhill, that would take us to Sorrento, our final port of call before Firenze. (We’d already walked the first hour or so the previous day, and didn’t feel like repeating it.) Nominally a 3- to 3.5-hour walk, it took us closer to 4 hours, in large part because many of the descents were cobbled or concrete slopes covered in moss, algae, vegetation, or an unpleasant combination of all three. That made the footing quite tricky, so we took our time rather than falling repeatedly on our fundaments. It also cannot be denied that after a week of climbing and then descending seemingly every height of land on the Amalfi coast, our old leg muscles are beginning to show the strain. It will be nice to wear normal shoes tomorrow and walk mostly on flat ground.

The aforementioned whingeing notwithstanding, it was a generally pleasant walk, without too much sun and with a cooling breeze for those times when we were exerting ourselves most. No particular challenges, except for an unexpected locked gate at the end of one road that should have been open to let us through. Fortunately, it was easy enough to clamber up into the lemon orchard beside the gate, then clamber down again by grabbing the top of the gate and using its main horizontal bar as a ladder.

As before, lots of walking in the back alleys and trails behind houses in places you’d probably never see in a conventional tour, where you tend to keep to the main streets. The advantage is that you see a side of Italy you’d never otherise see, including occasional unique views of the terrain. Here are a couple typical examples of backroads:

There are lots of dogs that are mostly happy to see you, and come running up to the fence barking and wagging. No strays that we noticed, which is nice. Fewer cars, mostly because we were mostly in the shade and Italian cats prefer basking in the sun. Some, but not all, of the trails have trail markers embedded in the road surface to reassure you that you’re on the right course:
Trail marker embedded in the road

As we were heading away from the western tip of the Amalfi peninsula and turning back west towards Sorrento, Vesuvius came into view on the far side of Naples Bay. Fun though it would be to see an eruption, it wouldn’t be so nice for the locals, so we’re not really sorry nothing much is going on in the mountain. As you can see from the flat clouds above the peak, there doesn’t seem to be much heat or light being generated:
Vesuvius across Naples Bay

Sorrento eventually came into view from above, and -- not that this is particularly surprising given our experience thus far -- it’s got some serious cliffs:
Sorrento cliffs and harbors

We arrived at the Hotel Astoria with no problems, other than having to thread our way through the tourists crowding Via Fuoro and Via San Cesario. Looks like it would be lots of fun window shopping on these streets, and we may do that tomorrow at the end of the day, but right now, we just wanted to get to our hotel, embrace horizontality for a bit, and then go off and do some overdue laundry to ensure we’d have enough clean clothing for the rest of the trip. I sweat like an overhydrated plowhorse, and go through clothing at a ferocious rate, but even Shoshanna (who merely “glistens” in a ladylike manner) went through most of her clothing. Exertion’r’us!

The Hotel Astoria is hidden away on a back street that runs parallel to the main shopping drag, which is nice and quiet: no traffic noise, and not many tourists wandering by. They had delicious, crisp apples at the front desk, so we nabbed a few for a midafternoon snack. We’ll probably grab more on our way out to dinner. Our room at is tiny but lovely: blue bedsheets and tiles, white walls, and warm yellow frameworks and cupboards. It’s only about 3 to 4 feet wider than the bed on all sides, and the bathroom (which stretches the length of the room) ia about a quarter that size. Here’s a quick look:
Hotel Astoria room

We both had a very pleasant hot shower, and then went in search of a laundromat. The one that Shoshanna had found about 5 minutes from our hotel was closed, with no sign of when or if the owner planned to return, but I managed to get instructions to another one from a merchant next door, and he was quite pleased I understood him. We got there just before the rush (three people arrived shortly after we’d started the washers running, and another arrived as we were transferring stuff to the dryer). Took about an hour to get two large loads done, and we hoovered down a tuna panini from the convenience store next door while we waited. Interestingly, all the washers are cleaned (by law) with “iensan” (a hybird of “hygiene” and “sanitatary”?) between loads.

Dinner was at Via Fuoro, a pleasant restaurant on the main shopping drag. I had a delicious sicilian tomato/eggplant pasta (straglieteli), Shoshanna had a pasta with anchovies, and we shared tuna with lemon/pistachio sauce. Dessert (dolci) was an excellent tiramisu and a really good but tiny-even-for-espresso esspresso. I think it's the best meal I've had so far, and could easily go back again for dinner tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s plan is to take the train up to Erculaneo Scavi (the Herculaneum excavation) and spend the day being glad we’re not witnessing a volcanic eruption, even from across Naples Bay.

May 4: Sorrento and Herculaneum