Our last afternoon in Sorrento, we wound down from the whirlwind tour of the Amalfi Coast by strolling through Hotel Antiche Mura's gardens and lounging on the patio, where we had lunch with several of our fellow travelers.
Later
that evening, we enjoyed our final dinner with the whole group of
Smithsonian Journeyers at the Ristorante Enrico Caruso, which seems
also a shrine to the great Neapolitan tenor, with whom Sorrento has "a
special relationship." Apparently, the last picture taken of him
before he died was in Sorrento. Gaetano liked to point out that
"Neapolitans are singers, Pugliese are dancers, and Sicilians are
story-tellers." That was certainly true of him--he was a great
story-teller; I wish I had recorded all of his monologues!
That's Deirdra dining in front of the singing guitarist, and
Gaetano displaying the apron one of the group gifted him. (Il Calcio means soccer, by the way)
The
next morning we parted ways with the group, who were getting up at an
ungodly hour to fly away. We'd enjoyed their company, their
conversation, their diverse interests. Gail hit it off especially well
with Deirdre and Kathy, but we got along splendidly with almost
everyone (okay, there was one major exception). We enjoyed and learned as much from Janet's informal conversations as from her archeological
lectures. And we will always remember Gaetano for his wit, humor (often
literally becoming stand-up comedy as we rode on the bus), and vast
knowledge of Italian history and culture.
Gail and I spent one last morning in
Sorrento, then hired a car to drive us to Naples. There's our first view of Vesuvius . . .
We
spent a lovely Saturday afternoon and evening on the Bay of Naples,
staying at the Grand Hotel Santa Lucia (below), before flying
home the next morning. Gail somehow had anticipated that we would need a night to ourselves, and she chose the perfect spot!
We wished we had time to explore the nearby ancient castle--the magnificent Castel dell'Ovo (the "castle of the egg"--see the link for why it's called that). . .
What a beautiful Saturday afternoon! No wonder the passeggiare--the walkway known asthe Lungomare di Napoli--was crowded, mostly with native Napolitani. Our hotel can just be made out below, the second from the end. The balcony gave us an inviting view of the bay and thecastle--and a partial view of Vesuvius.
In
front of the fancier hotel next to ours, a crowd was gathering around a
bus, which was waiting for the Italian football (soccer) team to
emerge.
There's Gail on the balcony. Sunset came all too quickly, signaling that the end of our Italian journey was near. A journey that started near Mt. Etna, and ended near Vesuvius, seen below serene in the mist at sunset.
After our last dinner in Italy, al fresco at one of those restaurants along the Lungomare, we took some final pictures of Naples at night.