Sorrento, Italy was a milestone in our home free adventure. Making it to Sorrento means we made it through Italian customs (there wasn’t any), negotiated our way from the Port of Civitavecchia to Sorrento using two bus lines, three trains, and successfully meeting our landlord on the other end. Had it not been for our years of experience riding the subways of Chicago, we never would have made it on the Circumvesuviana train car in Naples. Running past many train cars which appeared to be 110% full, we managed to push and shove our way onto the last car with our two large suitcases, two back packs and two carry-ons. It may sound like we over packed, but I brought along 30 pounds of camera gear and a large tripod which required a large suit case. Also, I packed rain gear for Ireland and Scotland. Generally, the rule is to not pack more for a 6 month trip than for a several week trip. However when packing for hot and cold weather as well as strenuous hiking trips, the volume expands.
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Category Archives: Italy
Isle of Capri and ‘The Blue Grotto’
Island of Capri
As a side note, big ships and cruises are a bit of a sterile way to see the world. This is not meant to be derogatory, just one does not have to make decisions or confront the many travel issues one is required to do when traveling on your own. While cruising one travels in a controlled environment and if they wish can elect to go on a ship-organized shore excursion, again in a controlled environment of an air conditioned bus, a fluent guide and prearranged sites of interest.
For our cruise stop in Naples, Italy we chose to go on our own to the Blue Grotto on the Island of Capri. The ship did not offer this as a shore excursion. This is not a difficult adventure, but one must catch three boats and get back to the ship on time. We are certainly not great world travelers at this point and all of this is still a challenge, dealing with language barriers and getting back to a ship which announces it will leave without us…. So we booked a hydrofoil boat to the town of Capri on the Island of Capri from the Naples harbor. Unknowingly, we left ourselves just minutes to catch-all the connections. So here is how the adventure unfolded… Do not expect any big issues or surprises, as all went very well. First you see the Island of Capri with steep cliffs, blue waters and brightly colored houses. The piles of luggage on the boat indicate that many people stay on the Island, so Capri is their home for the next several days.
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Graffiti in Cagliari, Sardinia Italy
Slide Show of Seven Photos
Visits to many of these port towns in Italy remind us that ‘graffiti’ is an Italian word. It seems that every spot, every corner is tagged with spray paint. There also is not much evidence that anybody is trying to stop it, no places sprayed over with tan or gray paint to hide the artwork. An investment in a spray paint producing company seems like a good idea. However, I wish to stress that Cagliari was a very pleasant, attractive town to explore on our own, no ship excursion. Preparing for the next phase of our European adventure, I bought our Italian phone here and a SIM card. The theory is that this will be cheaper than using our existing phones and paying Verizon for the additional usage abroad. So we got a new phone and new phone number and we should be ready to call our future landlords in Europe to arrange meeting places.