Off day. Exploring Meta.

Meta di Sorrento is the next town over as you head towards Naples. It’s even less touristy than Piano with steeper streets as it sits closer to the  mountains that separate the metro area from the peninsula.

We were pleasantly surprised to find find that the street next to us was blocked off for market day though the market was more about clothes than produce. Didn’t really matter as we were looking for a cheese factory that our host Candida had recommended as the best Mozarella in Piano.

As with all directions we found the area but not the store. Mary asked a gentleman and he pointed us down a ramp to the entrance.

The lady behind the counter was very nice and patient when trying to describe in her limited English the different cheeses that they sold. Mary bought a half of a kilo which might be too much as we’re planning dinner in Sorrento one of the next two nights. We won’t throw it out.

From there were took a meandering walk looking for the entrance to a peninsula that had a camping area that thought we could see from our balcony. Turns out we found it but it wasn’t the view we thought it was but nice regardless.

Glamping european style.

From there we continued on to Meta di Sorrento to explore some more.

After walking along the main road and practically dodging cars and trucks, Mary led us off in another direction on a narrow street.

We circled around town through some back streets and narrow alleys and arrived at a staircase that led down to sea level.

The waves were 6 or 8 feet and crashing against the breakwater.

We had a great lunch at Giosue a Mare.

I’d tell you all about it but I’m so frustrated at using this website on my IPad that I’ve decided to quit for this trip. I won’t make the mistake of taking an IPad on vacation ever again.

Sorry. Will update you via email when I feel like it.

Ciao for now.

Windy Punta. You have a friend in Termini. Pizza with French Fries (Could have been a instant heartattack).

Today we caught a bus in Sorrento bound for Termini. It’s that last village on the peninsula and the start of the Punta Campanella walk. The cape, which is a marine sanctuary and National Park is supposedly the place where Ulysses and his crew crossed paths with the Sirens.

It was a fun ride but I was glad I wasn’t driving. Narrow roads combined with tight turns and Italian drivers could spell disaster but our driver only had to back up once and then only to let another bus make a tight turn.

In the research of the hike that I had done it said that we would see signs pointing the way to the trail. I use the word trail very loosely here. I didn’t see anything but asked a gentleman on a motor cycle the direction and he pointed me towards the start.

Actually the trail was a road that ran southeast out of town towards the ocean. After 3/4 of a mile or so it became a road of paving stones. It wasn’t till the last 1/2 mile or so that it turned into a real trail.

This road was supposedly built by the Greeks  and then Romans dating back to the early 600’s AD.
It’s been improved several times, once by the Saracens in the 1300’s and again as the lighthouse was built. At the end of the hike is a ‘temple” built by Ulysses to honor the goddess Minerva.

According to legend, every Feb 14th you can here a bell ring from the bottom of the ocean. Hence, Punta Campanella, Bell Point.

Nice downhill walk. Long uphill walk back.

As we started down a gentleman approached us and struck up a conversation with Mary (I ignored him). Come after your walk. I have Limoncello, beer, wine. I live with my Mama and wife. We cook.

So after our walk we decided to have a beer since we had some time to kill before our bus back.

First mistake.

The beer hit the spot. We asked for caprese for one, got two. Didn’t send it back. Then I made the mistake of asking about a cab since it had started raining and we didn’t want to hang out for another hour and a half waiting for the bus.

They were happy to oblige, for a price of course, to take us to Sorrento. Needless to say it was a bit more expensive, but the weather didn’t look like it was going to get better anytime soon.

Our cab and driver.

Nice enough kid who drove us. All part of the experience as Mary says.

Back in Sorrento before we caught the train back to Piano,  we visited the site of a old mill at the bottom of a ravine in the middle of town.

We then rested our tired dogs and planned on getting pizza from Braccio di Ferro for dinner. I really wanted the French fries topping, but settled for fresh mushrooms, bacon and cheese. Mary opted for Eggplant, Tomato and Sausage. Not many leftovers,

Not much of a sunset so nothing to show.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow.

Ciao for now.

Rainy day turns great. An unexpected bonus walk. Sunset over Ischia.

Today started gray and foggy with heavy rain. We really didn’t feel like dealing with the crowds in Naples or on the train so we decided to try and find a Mozarella maker that our host Candida recommended to us.

By the time we got up and going the weather actually improved with just a periodic light rain. We headed towards the center of town with what we thought was a pretty good idea of our destination. Turning down the street that I thought was the right one turned out to be the wrong one. We stopped in a coffee shop and asked about “Mozarella”. One gentleman, apologized for his English, which he spoke very well and tried to tell us that he thought any factory would be closed at that time. He recommended that we try the Conad story for good fresh Mozarella. Don’t buy in the plastic bag. Not good.

We headed up in the direction he told us and found the Conad was a great store. Much better than the  Il Supermercato that we’d been shopping at. It had a deli, fresh bread and way better looking produce.

We decided we come back by on the way to our apartment and Mary said she wanted to roam a bit. Down a couple narrow streets we eventually got to a nice 4 lane section of road that I recognized from Google maps when I was trying to see if we could walk between Piano and Sorrento. We could and we did,

As we walked we found a little public park that overlooked a ravine with and awesome building perched right on the edge. It turned out to be a religious retreat of some sort.

Further on and now in the town of Sant Angelo, we came upon a bunch of 4 and 5 star luxury hotels that were also on the cliffs above the sea.

We thought about having some lunch as neither of us had had breakfast but the one we decided on, even though a sign outside saying one of the restaurants had pizza, a lady that Mary asked about it said that they didn’t have pizza. Maybe I was underwhelming in my attire.

We continued on to Sorrento, the whole walk was around 4.5 miles round trip and eventually decided not to eat with the masses in town but to try another place that we’d walked by on the way. It only served sandwiches so we tried another. Kitchen closed for an hour and a half. Okay, strike three and we’re heading back to Piano

Once we arrived, we went to the grocery that we’d found and picked up some fresh mozzarella, olives, focaccia, salad and cream for Mary’s morning coffee.

Had lunch/dinner on our patio and watched the local police stop people for license violation. Between it and the weekend traffic we were entertained.

After dinner we walked over to the park across the street to watch a gorgeous sunset and explore the gardens.

Rainy day turned into a great day with an unexpected but fun walk over to Sorrento.

Tomorrow we’re gonna try to hike to the Siren’s Castle that Ulysses built to honor Minerva for saving him from their songs.

Ciao for now.

A day in our lives in Sorrento. Three floors up, one face plant short. Dancing in the moonlight.

First of all I want you to know that Mary is a very, very bad influence on my blogging ability. She’s a go, go, go girl. No time for sitting around and writing. I’m doing this very early in the morning.

With that out of the way, but not withstanding the problems that I’m having with this website ( I had problems posting in France as well), I’ll keep trying to git er done or switch to emails with occasional pictures rather than this format

After a good nights jet lag sleep, we headed out to Sorrento for a day of sightseeing. I’m amazed at how many tourists there are here considering it’s just the start of the season. Trains are always full and the streets are packed.

The weather was mostly cloudy but the temp was in the upper 60’s so it was very pleasant. We walked down from the train station to Piazzo Laura in search of some views of the harbor. Just of the main Piazzo (Tasso), there is a great view of the twisting Via Marina Piccola. We took pics there and continued working our way down, first thru some side streets then eventually taking the stairs rather than walking along the road. Since it’s so narrow, you always have a close encounter with the buses and cars that are whipping up and down.

This port, compared to ours at Piano di Sorrento, is really hopping. It’s the main access for most of the tourists to Capri or taking the ferry to Naples. It also has a couple restaurants and a very small beach which wasn’t being used as the weather isn’t yet ready for the hordes that will eventually flock here in the summer months.

On the way down we spotted a restaurant, aptly named the “Foreigners Club” and doubled back to have a bite of lunch since we hadn’t eaten anything all morning.

Mary and I decided to share a couple dishes, along with a glass of wine each, instead of ordering big plates. We had grilled Calamari, fried Pumpkin blossoms with ricotta and ham and a nice citrus risotto. Combined with the outstanding view of the Gulf of Naples, it was pretty close to perfect.

While I took care of the bill and went to the men’s room, Mary heard one of the waiters singing “Rock n Roll, Rock n Roll” and found that he liked rock n roll and in fact this restaurant had live music every night from 7 to 11. We’ll check it out later we decided.

After the walk back up the hill we stopped in the Church di San Francesco and the adjoining cloister where a photo exhibit of Sophia Loren was being staged. The photographer had some terrific large format landscapes as well. Oh and one very naughty picture of two Italian guys pushing a woman’s car. (Hopefully I’ll be able to attach a shot of it if Mary captured it. For some reason our tech connections are working as well as they should. Don’t know why but I lost a couple pics and this blog  is still acting up.)

Mary and St. Francis of Assisi

We wandered the streets for a while mixing with the tourists on the Via San Cesareo and Corso Italia. Stopped in the Sorrento Cathedral, which I had visited last time I was here, to see all the wonderful wood inlay doors and pictures of the Stations of the Cross. It’s really beautiful.

I picked up a bottle of Limoncello and a Chianti for dinner. Mary found a nice “grocery tote” with a map of Italy and most of the places we’re going to visit. Very strong, the lady said. Hold 44 lbs. We’ll see.

One of the shopping areas of Sorrento:

By this time it was running around 4 PM and Mary wanted to visit the “BEST” mozzarella shop in Piano so we took the train back to Piano and tried to find the place. We didn’t, but we did get a short walking tour of “downtown” and saw an interesting deli that was closed of course.

Hit the grocery store for some cream for Mary and some crackers and cheese and asparagus for dinner.

Well I got this far, but the blog issues continue so I’ll end it here with just a short version of the face plant story. We were heading up the three flights of stairs when I caught the front toe of my sandals on the lip of a step. Made sure I didn’t drop the bottle of wine I was carrying and did a “graceful” spill on the steps.

“Good thing no one saw that” I said. Yeah Mary pointed out. “Except for that guy”.

On the upper landing of the next floor a gentleman was waiting for the elevator and had a very concerned look on his face. Should have done a gymnast “Tada” but didn’t think that quickly.

Ciao for now.

Another Long Day An Even Longer, as in Really Really Long, Train Ride. The Beautiful View

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we’ve arrived safely in Piano Di Sorrento.

After a long flight, most of you have experienced it, we arrived in Piano at around 2:45 PM local time (7:45 Westcliffe time). No real issues travel wise. Planes on time, Trains until Naples on time. But the local Circumvestuvio was a zoo. But first, the view from the apartment.

That’s the harbor of Piano nearly right below us and Mount Vesuvius just over the mountains to the right of the frame.

When we arrived at the airport, customs was nonexistent and passport control went very quickly. Bags arrived and we purchased our tickets into Roma Termini. I don’t think that either of us really slept on the plane but we both felt rejuvenated once we got out and walked in the train station.

We went to buy a SIM card for our phone at the TIM store (it’s Italy’s national company). I must have been walking dreaming because after all the research on SIM’s, I for some reason ended up with a Data Only card that didn’t have any calling minutes. Fat lot of good that did us.

Anyway, I contacted our host Candida via mail that we had arrived and would be on the 11:23 train to Naples. It was slightly delayed but of course we didn’t know that. Walked over to a park with luggage and Mary checked out the plants and trees and the architecture.

Back to the station, the train finally came and we pretty much had the first class car to ourselves. Sitting brought back the fatigue but only an hour to our destination went quickly.

Managed to find our way to the local train platform again with a little “which platform” anxiety, and loaded up on a very full train to Piano.

School must get out at around 1PM as at nearly every third or fourth stop crowds of teenagers would board.  At Pompeii, a ton of tourist got on as well. Very full, stand up only, packed like sardines.

“Oh, don’t worry Mary, this train will be nearly empty by the time we get there”. NOT! Part of the experience Mary said.

Finally off in Piano. Pushed our bags thru the rotating barriers with some hilarity and there to meet us was our hostess, Candida with her car. Sweet, no 10 minute walk to the apartment.

Candida gave us a quick tour to the town and then the apartment. Rapid fire English. Ok?, Ok? But we got the just and settled in.

After talking about what to do, we headed to the grocery store, bot some produce, sausage, cheese, crackers and very cheap wine. Went back and had a lovely picnic on our balcony.

Fun Fun Fun. Angels are LOSERS. Lost Wages Baby.

Last Night.

Today.

Oh wait. This is the shot.

After three fun filled days with Bill and Sallie, I had to make my way part of the way home. 4 plus hours to Las Vegas, but it wasn't as bad getting out of LA this morning as I feared and thanks to the directions from my intrepid hosts.

I arrived in Los Alamitos on Sunday afternoon after a nice drive down from Morro Bay. Spent two wonderful days walking around Venice, Seal Beach, Long Beach and Los Alamitos with Bill. Had a great dinner with the Stouts and son Macey and Fiancee Taylor. Bill makes a mean Coq au Vin. We drank way too much.

 

Monday night after trips to Costco and Total Wine we had dinner at Super Mex in Seal Beach. Very yummy Mexican food

Last night the Los Angeles Angels hosted the Boston Red Sox and I treated the Stouts to the game and they treated me to a interesting ride through rush hour traffic to the stadium (plus dinner and beer).

The best seats that we could get just coincidentally ended up in the Boston rooting section. Way more Red Sox fans than Angel fans but good seats along the first base line about 20 rows up. 

The game however was a bust. First Boston batter, home run. It went down from there as the Angels lost 10-1.

I hit the highway to Las Vegas around 9:15. Took the 605 to the 210 to the 15 and at that time traffic wasn't a huge nightmare. Lots of traffic for sure, but not stop and go by any means.

Arrived in LV around 2 and am staying at the Rio. I like their "All Suites" rooms but the fees are getting out of hand. Don't know if I'll stay here again. Advertised as a $35 room, but add in $30 dollars for a "resort" fee and it's not so cheap. To make things even more aggravating they wanted to charge me another $22 for arriving early. Guess my "That's Bullshit" comment gave them a hint that I wasn't happy so they didn't add it to the bill. Yet.

Nice room, no view.to speak of. 

Tomorrow Grand Junction for a night to visit my friends Kris and Fred, then heading home to greet the snow that's supposed to fall on Friday afternoon and night.

This could be the last day. Another "hill" bites the dust. Busy, busy little beach town.

Another brilliant day today. 74 or so with much less wind than the last few days. My beach walk today started at the Morro Strand State Park. Was hardly any beach trash at this end of the beach and it was a great start to the day.

Afterward I headed back out to Montana de Oro to tackle Hazard Peak. 6 miles RT. Very popular with Mtn. Bikers since it only gained a average of 400 ft per mile. Must have been twenty or more on this trail this morning.

The nicest thing about the trail was that it crossed thru a Eucalyptus grove for a ways. The smell was awesome. Cleared my sinuses right up.

Looking down at the Eucalyptus Grove about mile into the hike.

A nice view of Valencia Peak (yesterdays hike) from this trail.

The rest of the day was avoiding the crowds that have come into town today. Went for lunch at about 1 and every restaurant down by the docks were packed. I can only imagine what it's like during the summer.

Packing up for LA tomorrow. Can't wait to see what the traffics like on a Sunday.

Cheers.