Rome, Sorrento

Prev :: Wednesday, 12 October 2005 :: Next

41. Rome, Sorrento

Photo Gallery

An early morning — had to pack up, drop my bag at the train station, and get to the Borghese for my appointment at 9:00. At least I knew how to get to the gallery, having made my otherwise pointless visit to it yesterday. It's a very impressive collection housed in grandiose rooms which sometimes threaten to overwhelm the other art. Lots of Bernini sculptures, and paintings by Caravaggio and Raphael. Next time I'd get the audio guide, so I wouldn't have to spend so much time reading the printed guides to each room.

Not far outside the gallery sits a fabulous old-fashioned round blue hot-air balloon, which is supposed to take you up for a great view. At this time of year, it was already closed for the season — bummer. So I made my way south on the metro to the Pyramid of Rome. Yes, you needn't work Egypt into your itinerary — you can just see the pyramid here. But it's only about 30m high. Not much to hang around for beyond taking a quick photo. Then I walked north past the Colosseum and had lunch on the sidewalk at the Caffè dello Studente. Hoped to take a look at Michelangelo's work in the St Peter in Chains church, but this was closed for its long afternoon siesta. I should also have made time for the Catacombs — a stop on the Grand Tour of the 19th-century British Romantics — and the National Museum. So I'll have to come back — which won't take much arm-twisting as I did like Rome very much. It was a bit sad to be leaving my perch on the rooftop at San Giovanni.

I took a mid-afternoon train for Naples (about 20 minutes slower than the Eurostar and much less posh, since I hadn't reserved). As in Rome, I didn't feel at all in danger in the station at Naples. It really wasn't that crowded, and I never really had the sense that I was in a place dominated by organized crime — indeed, most people seemed very charming, handsome, and friendly. The Circumvesuviana train line around the peninsula was similar, not at all as scary as the guidebooks make it sound (perhaps it's different at high season). This is a slow line; it isn't that far to Sorrento, but the train makes innumerable closely-spaced stops, even in its "express" form.

At this point, my schedule went from utterly rigid to completely flexible, with no more advance reservations at all having been made. This worked out fine (until I got to Athens, my last stop, where many hotels were full). From the train station I phoned the Hotel Désirée, which seemed to have plenty of room. It was a long half-hour walk through and out past the town, which is stunningly situated on a high cliff above the sea, with mountains rising further up behind. A park near the center has a great view over the edge of the cliff. Vesuvius is visible across the Bay of Naples, rising out of the haze to the north. I had a lovely room with a limited outlook onto the bay for €60. The place is friendly and has lots of cats, which was a plus. Cats seem generally to rule southern Europe; they're very common here (they are also the masters behind the scenes at my alma mater, Caltech). Being so close to Naples, I decided to go back into the town for pizza. Sorrento is a fairly large and very touristy place, filled mostly with Brits, but not terribly crowded at this time of year. Lots of pubs — not very Italian. But also lots of limoncello, the delicious (and very strong) local alcoholic drink produced from lemons, which are grown in great abundance here. I found Internet access at a chic bar on the main drag, with a DJ playing good Brit pop videos.

Jonathan's Travel Blog :: Europe

Contents

Prev :: Wednesday, 12 October 2005 :: Next

41. Rome, Sorrento

Photo Gallery

Next