Easter Morning in Sorrento

We left at 9:00 AM for a walk to the Tarsia Museum.

http://www.museomuta.it/muta/en/

I was only moderately interested, and after a few blocks at a fairly quick pace, on a beautiful, but humid morning, I decided this wasn't fun, and I told the group to go on without me.  Then I used the morning to explore the town.  

I enjoyed moving at my own pace, with time to stop wherever I wanted.  I window-shopped and sat and watched the passaggiata.

€3.00 for a basket of strawberries is about $4.  My hotel has wonderful fresh fruit at each meal, and if you are not interested in the dessert of the day, they bring fresh fruit.  

I was looking for lemoncello filled candies.  I found them in this shop.

No bargain, in this shop called, Il Vino, but they are delicious.  He also offered me a taste of limoncello. Mind you, it was 9:45 AM.  

We had some at the dinner last night, and I found it to be bitter.  

But this one was delicious.  Our group leader suggested waiting to buy it until we tried the good stuff at the agroturismo Galatea, when we go on Tuesday.

And I took time to smell the flowers.

It was a lovely morning.

Buona Pasqua!

If you take it, you have to schlepp it

In an effort to minimize the weight I had to haul around, I took one small suitcase, lightly packed, one carry-on, lightly packed, a handbag, and I wore a Scottevest.  The suitcase went into checked baggage, cameras, ipad, and chargers went into Scottevest, along with money, passport, and tickets. One set of meds, liquids bag, one set of tops, extra jacket, flipflops, went into carry-on.  The other five tops, five underwear, extra shoes, suit,  slax, bathroom bag, went into checked.  Pencils and pads, various miscellany, went into checked.

How do you make it work for two weeks?

This is how.

The checked bag also included a few clothespins and laundry soap in a little shampoo bottle.  (One of the women swears by Pert for oily hair.  Cleans well and takes out grease spots.)  I also packed a pack of shoelaces from the dollar store so that I could make a line of any length.  Works slick.  It helps to have a balcony.  (BTW, those sox were bought at Brooks Brothers in 1976, when D needed a great suit.  It pays to buy quality!)

Most apartments in Sorrento have special lines to hang clothes because no one uses or even has a drier.  So I didn't feel out of place hanging clothes on the balcony.

This is taken from my balcony.

Easter Dinner at Grand Hotel Cesare Augusto

The hotel provided a special Easter Dinner for us.

The antipasto came first.

Salami, prosciutto, hard boiled egg (I wonder what the chickens eat.  The egg is so orange.), ricotta, green olives.

The pasta course was ravioli stuffed with ricotta and asparagus.

Note the room key to the right of the plate.  It is solid brass and is left at the desk if you go out.  It weighs a ton, and I can tell you from personal experience, if you drop it on your toe, it hurts!

Secundo piatto is lamb, peas, roast potatoes.  The lamb did not need a knife.

We had a traditional Neopolitan Easter dessert.  And a member of the group had brought German Easter eggs for everyone.

The dessert is called Pastiera.  It is heavy, but quite moist, and not too sweet.

It has orange peel, citron, ricotta, eggs, and the essential ingredient is cooked wheat.  There are lots of recipes and lots of information on the web.

I'm ready for a nap!

Friday morning in Sorrento

Breakfast was hurried because we left at 8AM for Pompeii.  I had cafe latte, OJ, fresh fruit salad, ham, provolone, a delicious cheese similar to Havarti, and, for starch, I chose cookies.  I figured it was not very different from croissants (which I had yesterday, with cherry jam.). Everyone should eat cookies for breakfast.

Then to Pompeii, where we walked for four hours.  It will take me a while to sort the pictures and write about the day.

After Pompeii, we went to a local trattoria where we had prosciutto and melon, salad, and our first taste of Pizza Marguerita.  Dessert was gellato.

I was very hungry,  especially since it was 1:30, but it does not hold a candle to Nina's. (I had already eaten 1/3 before I took the picture.)

Now off to a lecture on the customs of Sorrento.

Dinner on Thursday at the Grand Hotel Cesare Augusto in Sorrento

All this walking leaves me hungry!   I was definitely ready for dinner.

I chose the linguini della donna.

The sauce is tomatoes lightly cooked in oil with capers and olives.  Delicious.

For "secundo" I decided to try the grilled mozzarella.

Look at the size of the portion!  It came with spinach and mashed potatoes.  I could not possibly eat that much, but it was delicious.  

Dessert was creme caramel, but I chose fresh fruit instead.

Our group leader said that we would not be getting fresh fish.  It is too expensive.

I guess I'll have to enjoy them in the market and imagine,

Actually we have two dinners and two lunches "on your own", but my thinking is that a gelato would make a wonderful meal.  Or two. . .

buffet breakfast at the Hotel Cesare Augusto

Even after a large dinner

which began with a beef, arugula and parmesan salad

breakfast was welcome.

The coffee pot of insanely strong coffee was brought to the table with a pitcher of hot, frothy milk.  The rest of the meal is self serve.

There are fruit and cereals, meats and cheeses.

Eggs and breads and sweets.

After breakfast is a lecture on Sorrento.  This will be followed by a walk and return to the hotel for lunch.

Grand Hotel Cesare Augusto, Sorrento, Italy

We arrived in Sorrento on Wednesday.  We will be staying here until Thursday morning.

They gave us our key.  It is solid brass, and it's very heavy.  You leave it at the desk when you go out.

I immediately checked out my room.

The floors in the room and on the balcony are tiles.  They keep the rooms very clean.

The bathroom is large.  Notice the flush buttons on the wall behind the toilet.

The bathtub is large, with a decent shower.

It is wonderful to have a balcony.

Each morning, I can check out the world, and I can sit out during free time to enjoy the view of the lemon trees and the hillside.

The lemon trees are protected from the wind with mesh tarps.  Did you know that the lemon tree can have buds, flowers, ripening fruit, and fully ripe fruit at the same time? 

We Re here from Wednesday to Thursday, when we leave for the Amalfi Drive.

 

Map of trip

Here's a map of areas I will be visiting.
I fly into Naples (Napoli) midday on Wednesday, April 16, 2014.
Then a bus to the hotel in Sorrento.

Thursday will explore the town.

Friday is a visit to Pompeii

Saturday in Sorrento

Sunday to Naples.

Monday to Capri.

Tuesday to Herculaneum (Ercolano).

Wednesday is a tour to the countryside and cooking and making mozzarella.

Thursday is the Amalfi coast, Positano, Amalfi, and a new hotel in Minori.

Friday is Paestum (just beyond the right side of the map).

Saturday is Ravello.

Sunday is the end, with a drive to the Naples airport.