Friday, June 16, 2017

Sorrento, Italy - Come back we did

The Gulf of Naples, on the west coast of Italy, is a large bay about 10 miles across, with Naples at the north end and Sorrento at the south. In between is much interesting stuff like the semi-active volcano, Vesuvius, and the excavated remains of the city of Pompeii, buried under 40 feet of lava during the last major outburst in 79 CE. For us, the 1902 pop song "Come Back to Sorrento" was appropriate since our previous visit there, many years ago, had been less than stellar.
The town is perched securely atop a sheer 170 foot cliff partitioned in places by equally steep sided gorges that extend inland. Landing on what scant beaches there are, leaves a would be invader at a severe disadvantage. Fortunately, the natives are somewhat friendlier nowadays and a shuttle bus took us up a hair-pinned road cut into one of the gorge faces and deposited us right in the center of downtown. Following a pleasant plod around the old town, we caught the bus back to the tender dock and thence splashed back to the mother-ship for lunch...

More snaps here.

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