The Bay of Naples

We thought the view from Naples was beautiful, but Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast have far surpassed anything we'd seen so far.

We arrived in Sorrento two nights ago, and explored the town a bit while looking for a place to eat. Sadly, since it's a beach town, it's overpopulated with English-speaking tourists (not to say that doesn't include us, which it does, but it's a little frustrating to speak in Italian and be answered in English every single time.) Nevertheless, it's beautiful, and we've been eating very well. Just to summarize the food:

• Linguine al frutte di mare (seafood)...amazing. The tomatoes were so fresh and seasoned the whole dish
• Risotto al frutte di mare...same amazingness, this time with rice!
• Linguine al pesto...pesto unlike I've ever had it before. It actually wasn't green, more of a tan color. That may sound a bit unappetizing but trust me, it was incredible.
• Baba al Rhum...a rum-soaked pastry native to the region
• Buffalo Mozzerella, also native to the region
• Pistaccio Gelato, and Lemon and Strawberry Sorbet...enough said.

Those are just some of the food highlights that have impressed us so far. Yesterday we saw Pompeii in the morning, which was fascinating of course, but too hot to stay for very long. We were lucky and had a bit of a breeze and some cloud coverage, but after a few hours we were burnt out and ready to leave. The remains of people frozen in motion, and the Roman houses with colorful frescoes still on the walls were my favorite parts.

This morning we took a bus to Positano, a city on the Amalfi Coast. Imagine a classic winding road hugging the side of a huge cliff with the water stretching out below. We saw the water almost the whole way there, and then Positano came into view, with little colored houses and hotels piled right onto the side of the cliff. Caitlin told me that Positano is the city that the main character in Under the Tuscan Sun (which I haven't seen in years) goes to visit when she goes to southern Italy to visit her Italian boyfriend. It was certainly very picturesque. Swimming in the bay while looking up at the coast, and the cliffs, and all the beautiful pastel buildings with little balconies, is not something I'll soon forget! The water was warm and clear. On the way back, we took a ferry, and passed the island of Capri, and got a view of the coast which we didn't get to see on the way there. It was the perfect late-afternoon lighting and we took way too many pictures. Once I'm in Bologna I should be able to share some of those pictures here.

P.S. If you'd like to get an email notification when I post a new blog entry, let me know, because there's a setting where I can enter peoples' email addresses and you'll get an instant notice. Of course, I assume this would mostly be family members, since I know my friends have enough going on already, but if you'd like me to put in your email address, just let me know.