Southern Italy? Before This....Only In My Dreams!

As so many know from my previous writings, living in Ghana has its distinct and unique challenges, especially for a couple who have never lived overseas, much less in a third-world country. Conversely, the compensation package Dave received includes things that assist us in dealing with those daily trials. The positively BEST piece of the package are the R&Rs. Since moving to Ghana we have visited:

Buckingham Palace in London

The Blarney Stone in Ireland

 

Spiders in the Puerto Rico Rain Forest

The Seychelle Islands where we
learned to scuba dive
 

The rim of the Ngorongoro Crater
in Tanzania

Zanzibar at sunset

Cape of Good Hope in
Cape Town, South Africa

 

Four Caribbean islands on a cruise

And Lake Tahoe with family.

 Now for the latest….Italy!


Each one of the trips have been unique in their own way and I loved every one of them. But, if I had to rank them and pick one place I could return, Italy would be at the very top.

On October 8^th, Dave and I boarded KLM for a red eye flight that would take us to Amsterdam and then on to Naples, Italy. The trip started out in typical Ghanaian fashion…..late. Our 10:50 p.m. flight was delayed until after midnight, missing our connecting flight in Amsterdam to Milan. In the end, our route was changed having us fly through Rome to Naples where we were picked up by a driver who took us to our final destination in Sorrento. The KLM flight was so much nicer than the Delta flight we take regularly between Accra and New York City. I laughed at Dave’s comparison, when he called the Delta airplane the “flying trotro.”

For me, sitting in the Rome airport was surreal. I just looked at Dave and said, “We are in Italy!”

Sorrento is a smaller town located in the southern part of Italy and sits on the Bay of Naples. The view was like looking at a postcard. It was stunning! The cliffs rise from the bay, and many of the buildings are constructed into the seawalls.

Our driver was telling us that the food in Sorrento tastes different than in other parts of Italy due to the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. Evidently, the volcanic ash and lava affect the water and makes everything touched by the water, tomatoes in particular, taste different. I would agree that everything in Sorrento had a more tomatoey taste than the dishes we ate as we travelled north to Rome and Florence.

We stayed at the Hotel Mediterraneo, a very comfortable place right on the bay. After having dinner in the rooftop restaurant we headed to bed as we were exhausted from our red eye flight.

The next day we had no set plans, and took off for a walk to the city center of Sorrento at which time we decided to head to the Amalfi Coast.

 

While waiting for the public transportation bus to arrive, we visited with a young couple from the Indiana and Michigan. She was a nurse and he was taking a semester off of his graduate studies in Health Information at the University of Michigan. They were travelling around Europe for a month, which to me was a very long time, but what made it even worse (in my mind) is that they simply went from place to place without a room reservation. Every day they checked out wherever they were and landed in what I presume was the cheapest accommodations. One night they spent on a train, and the young woman described it as a bit terrifying; even witnessing the robbery of luggage in the compartment next to them. Another evening they slept on the couch of some people they met while out and about. I hope their mothers don’t know what they’re doing!

We quickly lost sight of them as we crammed onto the bus bound for the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento is located on the western side of a peninsula. The Amalfi Coast stretches along the southern part of the peninsula, and I’ve been told it’s one of the most beautiful in the world. I would agree, to some extent. Trust me, it was so beautiful, but it was different than the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland which I would have to rank slightly above the Amalfi coastline. Primarily because the Cliffs are so pristine and untouched by humans, and the Amalfi coast is inhabited by people and businesses.

 

After visiting the Amalfi Church, one of many churches we would see in the next 10 days, we decided to try our first gelato.

Ironically, we probably ate as many gelato’s as we saw churches, but I rate this first scoop as the absolute best. My dad, who would probably eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if it was in any way considered healthy, told me, “There is no bad ice cream.” I agree, and yet I told him that gelato far exceeds any ice cream I’ve ever had. I wish I could have packed it up and brought a quart of it home for him to taste.

Our day had started late as we had slept in, so we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Amalfi, and decided to head back to Sorrento. While we waited for the next bus, we walked down the pier,

and overlooked the beach. While the coastline is awesome, this particular beach left a lot to be desired. It was essentially a gravel pit. (Check out those buildings literally built into the side of the cliff!)

We got a kick out of this couple who were making out “on the gravel.” I couldn’t resist taking their picture.

Did I forget to mention that we had taken public transportation from Sorrento to Amalfi? I thought the bus was packed on the way to the coast, but trying to get back was an adventure in and of itself! The act of just figuring out which of the many busses lined up would take us back was frustrating as the bus drivers were rude and unhelpful. We must have seen 4-5 busses pull out with people just packed into them. Finally we loaded up, but not before we saw two men almost get into a fist fight over seats!

By the time we got back to the main bus terminal in Sorrento it was raining, but luckily we timed our arrival perfectly so we were able to catch a ride on the hotel shuttle.

After a shower in the smallest shower ever - seriously, look at me in this shower; I’m 5’4” and somewhat petite. Dave wouldn’t let me take a picture of him in the shower - we headed off to dinner.

There was a good storm brewing with thunder and lightning, and by the time we left the hotel, it was raining. We grabbed an umbrella and walked across the street to a cozy, little restaurant. There were only about four or five tables inside, but they did have a covered porch out back, which overlooked the bay (not that we could see anything because it was pitch black outside with the storm). However, we wanted to enjoy the fresh air and the storm so we asked if we could sit out there, and joined two other couples in enjoying the storm.

We visited, ate some bread, drank some wine, and were appreciating the delicious gnocchi and rigatoni, when Dave noticed that the water on the porch was inching towards us. Later we would describe it as a mini (very mini) tsunami! As the water creeped towards us, we picked up our wine, plates, and silverware, and made for the restaurant. The other two couples quickly followed us, as we explained why were moving inside. Dave looked out the front of the restaurant and pointed out the water coming down the 12’ wide walkway in buckets. At the top of the street we could see water spewing out of the drain like a fountain. We sat down and continued eating - I’m telling you, it was yummy!  In under a minute, I noticed that the water was entering the restaurant….from BOTH sides! We had to put our feet up on chairs to keep them dry. We continued eating!

Several of the restaurant workers were on their cell phones. Since they were speaking in Italian I couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying, but in general I think it was something like, “HELP!” Next, the employees went to each of the doors, pulled up a 3’ metal gate, and then pulled down what appeared to be garage doors. We were trapped inside. The water continued to flow into the restaurant, in spite of the gate and doors. Dave looked at me and said, “It smells like sewer water. We need to go.” I agreed, but where was I going to go? He stood up, walked on his tippy toes towards the man standing at the cash register and said, “We’d like to leave.” The man looked at him like, “Are you CRAZY?” He informed Dave that we couldn’t leave until the rain subsided as they couldn’t open the doors. So, still on his tip toes, Dave walked back to our table, sat down, and began eating again. What are you gonna do?

Not more than ten minutes later, the rain stopped, the doors were opened, and help was on site. Three men, presumably the owners, came into the restaurant and they, along with the employees, began pushing the water out of the restaurant. This was obviously not their first rodeo. We were told that this happens each time it rains torrentially, which it had on this particular evening.

I laughed so much that night, especially every time I thought back to Dave telling the guy we wanted to leave!

The next day we woke to an overcast and rainy morning. After checking the weather report, we had some breakfast and then decided to just relax in our room until the wet weather passed. As I looked out over the bay that morning, I noticed two cruise ships that were moored just off of where we were located, and knew that the town of Sorrento would be bursting with tourists.

Later that day we wandered the streets of Sorrento, enjoying the gorgeous views. We briefly stopped in a Limoncello factory. Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur produced primarily in the Sorrento area. I had never even heard of Limoncello until Dave and I visited Ghana on our look-see, at which time we were served the liqueur after dinner at Michaelangelos.  It’s everywhere in Sorrento, as are the lemon trees.

Sorrento was bustling with all of the activity from the cruisers, but we managed to stroll our way through the otherwise quiet town. Before we left our hotel, I picked out a few places on the map I thought we might want to visit, one of which was an inlaid wood factory that our driver from the airport had mentioned. Walking away from the lively center of town, we found ourselves walking up this set up stairs to what appeared….really nowhere. And yet, we were at the Notturno Inlaid Wood Factory. Unless you were looking for it, you would walk right past.

I had no idea what inlaid wood was prior to our visit to the factory, but I came to appreciate its unique beauty immediately. Inlaid wood basically includes decorative and contrasting materials within a piece. I fell in love with the beautiful and enormous dining room tables. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, and even if we could, I’m not sure it could be appreciated without actually seeing. The biggest table was over €20,000 (that’s 20,000 euros or more than $35,000 USD)!

We settled on a nice, small, but still lovely piece - a jewelry box that plays a nice Italian melody.

Very often during the evenings after work, Dave surfs the net. One night he found a link on USA Today to some of the most magnificent pictures of nature that we’ve ever seen. As I was scrolling through them….dreaming of our next adventure….I came upon a familiar one!

As we were making our way back to the city center after making our purchase at the inlaid wood factory, I glanced over the side of the street and noticed this unique, and obviously, long-abandoned building. It was so fascinating and evidence of the power of nature.

We wandered back over to the coast, as the view was spectacular no matter where we went. We came upon a couple of weddings; the first in a very old church right on the coastline. Based on their accents, it was an Australian wedding. The second was just getting set up as we made our way through the church. I’ll bet Sorrento is a destination wedding!

The streets throughout Sorrento are narrow, which is why there are so many motorcycles and Smart Cars!

 

We wrapped up our stay in Sorrento by watching a picturesque sunset.

Next stop, Pompeii.