Day 14

Buongiorno,

More traveling today.

Over a simple but delicious breakfast on the terrace, we searched for somewhere to stay in Sorrento for a couple of nights.

Before we left New Zealand, Abigail, Charlotte, Grandma and Koro spent an evening watching The Block. Someone, can’t remember who, made the observation that the annoying Trivago lady seems to

be in every single ad break, sometimes twice during an ad break.

Well, we have to say the Trivago lady came though with an absolute bargain for us this time.

It was another hot day. We had a long distance to travel, a bit over three hours. We took the Autostrada, which is far quicker than local roads, so we passed close to Rome, then Naples. Naples seemed to be very big and spread out (about a million people, so about one third of the population of Rome).

Sorrento is a popular place to visit and the roads are narrow, so the last thirty kilometers took about an hour.

The views as we arrived were pretty stunning.

Then we arrived at our hotel, Villa Oriana Relais. Access is via another narrow and steep little road. There was a gate we had to be buzzed through, and a welcome we did not expect.

Three lovely young ladies welcomed us, took our bags, then took us through to the terrace where we were offered home-made lemon cake and lemonade. We had the usual forms to fill in, which we did over our refreshments.

When we were shown to our suite, our bags were already there. It is a huge room, with a huge bathroom and lots of lights so Koro can see. All for about the same price as a basic four star room double room in Auckland. That Trivago Lady has done well for us this time.

Buzzy Bee is very happy, and we are going to have trouble getting him to leave.

We had a bit of a rest, then went for a walk to find some dinner. The hotel had recommended a seafood restaurant called Vela Bianca.

Walking there was an experience, as the main road in Sorrento is very narrow, doesn’t really have a footpath, and is very busy.

Pedestrian crossings in Italy are nothing like New Zealand. You pretty much have to step out onto the road to get the traffic to stop. Even then, you are not always guaranteed the first driver will stop. Usually the first driver can’t stop, because the car behind him is aggressively tail gating, so if the first car did stop the second car would run into him.

Scooters? Scooters do not stop for people on pedestrian crossings, they just ride around you. Scooters make their on rules.

It was dark by the time we arrived in the town centre, and we had to walk down a flight of stairs. Dark stairs. So dark, we couldn’t see the bottom. Koro looked across, and saw a huge sheer wall with a narrow stair case running down it. There were people walking up the stairs, and Koro thought “who would be dumb enough to walk up those stairs?”. We turned a corner, and suddenly it was us who were about to be dumb enough to walk down those stairs! It was then that Koro realised that we were half way down a massive wall, so big we couldn’t see the bottom, and dark.

Koro does not like heights, and was very scared. He used the light on his phone to help him see, hugged the wall, and very slowly creeped down. All the while thinking “surely there’s another way down!”

We reached the restaurant and had a less than average meal for a greater than average price. It was rubbish. Not a single customer in the restaurant spoke Italian, all spoke English, usually with an American accent. Grandma and Koro were probably the youngest customers (not a word, thank you Miss Abigail, Koro is not that old).

The food was terrible, the prices outrageous, the experience poor. An absolute tourist trap, probably flicking a few Euros back to the lovely ladies at our hotel for pointing another pair of suckers towards their door.

However, they did have a shuttle service to take us back to our hotel, which was needed, because we were both very tired. Grandma is also fighting the beginnings of a cold.

Back to our flash room for a big sleep.

Love from Grandma and Koro and Buzzy Bee.