Hotel: Majestic Palace, San Agnello
Having never been too far away from Salerno and family whilst visiting Italy before, this was something completely new, I was out of my comfort zone with my language skills and would be put to the test.
The journey from Naples airport to Sorrento is full of amazing vista's, the views coming down into Sorrento are that from a postcard, and then into Sorrento itself, the smell of lemons and the buzz of the city grabs you straight away.
We were staying a mile out of the main city, in a little suburb called San Angello, our Hotel was half board and looked very classy. The Majestic Palace exceeded out initial thoughts, it was spectacular.
After we had unpacked our bags, we decided to venture toward Sorrento and take in the sights. With the arms-width galleys and Limoncello in every shop, it is a beautiful place to be. My Italian was put straight to the test when pounced on by a waiter trying to sell his restaurant to us. Thinking I was a typical English man with little language knowledge he started chatting to me in Italian, to which I replied and he seemed a little shocked. We found a little quaint restaurant, ordered one pizza too many and relaxed into the environment.
We found an Ice Cream shop down one of the main galleys, Davide's, Wow, simply wow! The ice cream flavours on offer exceeded 50, the options of milkshakes made it even better.
All our evening meals were Ala Carte choice from a menu at the hotel, I was thinking that we would not get real authentic Italian meals at the hotel and may have to venture out for the experience. How wrong I was, it could have been my wonderful Nanna in the kitchen cooking all our meals if I hadn't have known. The food was fantastic every night and the service from our waiter Vincenzo could not have been better, what a wonderful guy!
Sorernto is a great place to stay as the Circum Vesuviana (Train System) and buses visit a whole host of various locales, such as Pompeii, Vesuvius, Amalfi, Positano and everywhere in between, so we had decided to take advantage of this. One of our first stops was Pompeii, the ruins still standing from when Mount Vesuvius engulfed the metropolis. This is a major tourist hot spot and the ticket touts were out as soon as any train arrived. The basillica in the centre of Pompeii may have been ignored by a few people just interested in the Scavi, but it is simply breathtaking.
Amalfi was our second destination, and the option of travelling there by bus is a must. Sitting on the right side of the bus as it descends down the Amalfi Coastline should be on everyone's bucket list, it is spectacular. When we arrived in Amalfi is it customary to grab an ice cream and enjoy the perfect little town for everything it has to offer, so we did.
Once we had become familiar with the transport system, it was off to family in Salerno. Meeting Toni at the Salerno station we we off to see Zio Matteo and Zia Angelina, then on to Mario e Nina with my amazing cousin Sabi, down to Zio Ugo's fantastic house and then back to Toni's famiglia home for an exquisite meal. We laughed so much that day and it was great to see Clare enjoying it as much as I had hoped, if not even more so. Showing Clare where my Nanna had got married and the street she lived on, with all the memories of the many years I was with my Nanna and family in Salerno, it was a truly emotional day. I swore to Clare that we would come back to Salerno so she could see more.
After a long day we returned to the hotel with a couple of bottles of wine that my Zio Ugo had made and passed one on to our friends Sue and Brian, warning them that it was a special brew.
After a jam packed week, we bade farewell to this amazing city and fantastic hotel and journeyed back to Naples. Clare knew she had found somewhere she loved and wanted to plan our return visit asap.
Ciao
