Sorrento on $85 a Day - Sorrento's Siren Song

From our apartment overlooking the sea, David and I walk half a block to the steps leading down to another street of shops and alleyways in this cliff side town. Just down this street is a cleft in the earth where what appears to be a castle covered with vines sits, home only to the birds that soar through the canyon. A little waterfall plays over a bank and the stream winds through this Eden of ferns and trees. There are no paths leading to the cleft. No one goes there. It can only be seen from above, tantalizing everyone who passes with the promise of a Shangri-La* that can only be seen, never experienced.

This is a place of cliffs that march to the sea, of narrow winding streets, and a sea that beckons. We have listened to its Siren Song and been willing captives.

We will be sad to leave this enchanting place tomorrow.

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*The cleft in the earth, with its own ecosystem, was caused, so the experts tell me, by the Phlegrean Fields earthquake in the 1800s. They say the ruins are a former paper mill and that more accessible parts of the cleft, closer to the marina, allow a road to double back on itself between the cliffs. Note the three vehicles in the photo.

The experts can believe what they like. I know what David and I saw every day when we walked to town--a castle in a private Garden of Eden.

Italy on $85 a Day - Sorrento

Path to Villa Angiolina

David and I are in the land of the Sirens, the mythological beings who sang so beguilingly that anyone who heard their song would jump overboard and die in the rough sea.

When Odysseus passed this way on his twenty-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, he stuffed his men's ears with wax so they would not hear the Sirens' songs; he had his men tie him to the mast of the boat so that he could listen without fear of leaping to his death.

David and I haven't felt any urge to jump into the sea, but this land has played a Siren song for us nevertheless. If we had come here first on this trip, we may never have gotten to Rome and Florence!

On Thursday, the fast train deposited us in Naples in three hours flat. The clackety local Circumvesuviana Train got us to this bit of paradise just an hour after that, but the taxi driver had to drop us off 100 meters from our hotel. The “road” was too narrow for him to navigate.

It was the first time all day we didn't mind trundling along with the suitcases. From the moment we walked down the narrow path, a loggia, really, of overhead grape vines, blooming yellow roses, and profusions of pastel colored orchids to Villa Angiolina Relais, we were enchanted.

Villa Angiolina breakfast room

We cannot get into our apartment for two nights, so we'll stay in this lovely B&B until then. We'll enjoy exploring the gardens here as well as this land of the Sirens, a place of soaring mountains, crayon-blue sea, and clusters of houses clinging to the cliffs.

Friday we're going to Capri and Anacapri, sister towns on the same island. I'm hoping to find the little market where I bought true Sicilian-style pizza seven years ago, but, if not, the scenery will be food enough.

Practicalities -
We used the Trenitalia website before we left the States to reserve our tickets.  This is, I think, the only way to get discounted tickets (called MINI) and the best routing.  The Ron in Rome! website has an excellent step-by-step guide to purchasing tickets.