Sorrento (Italy Post #6)

A short post! Carson and I only spent a day in Sorrento, a beautiful little holiday spot.

Sorrento is about an hour train ride south of Naples. We traveled there on October 15th after we hiked up Mt. Vesuvius in the morning, arriving at about 2 pm. Our AirBnB was a 5 minute walk from the train station and was only a single room, similar to a hostel, but with our own balcony and washroom. The building address was also the same as the restaurant beside it somehow, making for a bit of a confusing check-in for us.

The main reason we booked a stay in Sorrento was because of Bagni Regina Giovanna (The Baths of Queen Giovanna), an ancient Roman villa with a bathhouse build on top of the limestone rocks cliffs of the Gulf of Naples, at the tip or the Sorrentine penisula. Carson had tried to find a public beach along the coastline and came across this beautiful spot.

Essentially, it has been used as a villa for a long, long time. Romans first built a villa and baths there in the 1st century AD, and in the 1500's, Queen Giovanna also spent a lot of summers here as the sovereign of Naples (hence the name). It's a small cluster of limestone cliffs and rock outcroppings that the Romans built upon. The Roman style walls and bridges still hold their shape, right down to the water's edge in some places.

Walking there was a task. We followed a skinny, winding highway that hugs the cliffs to the west of Sorrento until we reached a path that lead down to the beginning of the cliffs. The cliffs are quite high surrounding Sorrento, so the whole path is on a downward slope. We met many labored people on our way down, knowing we'd look the same on our return.

A grove of olive trees greeted us before the path turned to the left and then opened up at the top of the cliffs. As we continued to walk, our path ended at the top of Regina Giovanna, looking down at the crystal clear waters. On our right, a pool could be seen surrounded by tall cliffs with a small channel on the far side connecting it to the rest of the sea. Trees and greenery grew around the edges and the late sun still shined on the far side. It looked like paradise.

To our left, a larger, sunnier cove offered another swim area surrounded by larger rocks and islands. A few people milled about, sunning themselves on the cliffs or swimming in the coves.

Carson and I made our way around to investigate an old Roman wall on the far side of the small pool. It connected a section of the two cliffs bordering the small pool and was now used as a walk way. Somehow, still intact.

As we were standing there looking over the edge, a young man called from the water, "Jump in!" And that's exactly what we did.

After stashing our stuff, we returned to the cliffs edge and looked around for a good sot. It was a taller jump than the one we did in Ortigia, but just as fun. The water was quite deep, thankfully, and the perfect temperature. We swam around for a while before making our way through the arch way and towards the edge of the small pool, where the walkway lead back up to the entrance.

The whole place was gorgeous and had been used for hundreds of years as a holiday villa. Due to its beauty, it had also turned into an attraction for tourists. Reviews on Google mention how no one from Sorrento or Naples even enjoy it anymore due to how busy it gets during the day. I'm still glad we went, but I also noticed only English speakers around.

The whole town of Sorrento was esentially a "holiday" destination. It had a lot more high-end shopping stores and restaurants than any of the other cities we had been in. All the buildings were clean and tidy, with a lack of small grocery stores and schools. Every building also seemed to be a hotel.

We enjoyed the short stay we had, but the overwhelming crowds of tourists were again, not a highlight for us. Even at dinner, the streets were full of taxis and the hundreds of people walking around, some with shopping bags on their shoulders and others with drinks in their hands.

The next day, we took our time packing to leave, basically being shooed out by the maids at checkout. We strolled around and then relaxed at a coffee bar at the edge of a park for some time before going back to the train station. Rome, here we come!

Thanks again to anyone who reads my blog. Hopefully I will be able to write about Roma soon, a city with sooo much to see and absorb. Ciao for now!