Leaving Naples and Exploring Sorrento, Italy

To get to Sorrento, I decided to be a princess and pay €10 to take an air conditioned coach bus even though there were cheaper options to get there from Naples. You can read about the other transportation options in How to Get to Positano (Amalfi Coast). To catch my princess bus (it’s called  Curreri Viaggi), I had to get back to the airport. A lot of  people fly into Naples, but skip actually going into Naples and head straight to Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast, which is why the Curreri Viaggi stop is right in front of the airport. I guess Naples is pretty scary but I enjoyed it and would go back! Come on people, THE BIRTHPLACE OF PIZZA. HELLO?!

Anyway, after exploring Naples, I went back to my hostel to grab my bags (read about my Naples adventure here) and walked over to the port to catch the Alibus to the airport. I got there a bit earlier than the scheduled departure time so I relaxed in my seat. A couple boarded the bus and struggled a bit with their luggage and were deciding on a good seat to sit and to keep an eye on their luggage. Then something clicked. Wait, why didn’t I struggled with my luggage boarding the bus?

OH SHIT

I forgot my luggage at the hostel! LOL!

I jumped out of my seat and asked the bus driver, “How much longer until you leave?”

He looks at his watch. “5 minutes.”

“I forgot my bag. I’ll be right back!!”

I bolted out of the bus, ran all the way back and up to what felt like the 50th floor to get back to the hostel. Of course the one hostel I stay at that is multiple levels up just had to be the one time I forget my bag! So I had taken my luggage out of the storage, closed the door, and I just LEFT it there. Ugh, I blame it on my jetlag. It’s only my second day in Europe after all! I ran back to the bus and made it just in time. Yay~

Outside of the airport, there was absolutely no one else waiting at the bus stop. Well, I think it’s the bus stop. This is what I get for not researching or planning anything before going on a trip haha I literally just decided I’d do this that very morning. After a bit, a cute older French couple came towards me. They asked if it was the bus stop to Sorrento. I shrugged and said, “I think so? I’m going to Sorrento too, so I hope so!” So all three of us stood and waited. Eventually the bus did show up, so yes, we were at the right place. Yay again~

The bus took about 45 minutes to get to the peninsula. My stop was actually the Sant’Agnello stop. The French couple almost followed me off the bus but I told them, “Next stop for you!” They were so cute! We chatted the whole time we were waiting for the bus. I wish we did have the same stop!

I got off the bus, looked around and thought, “Oh crap well now where do I go?”

I was walking the wrong direction and my intuition told me to turn back, so I did. I was probably lost for a good hour but I was eventually able to find my new hostel that I had just booked the same morning. I really should have google mapped the directions… keep in mind that I don’t use data or get a SIM card when I travel. It’s all airplane mode from here!

I remember reading the directions for the hostel saying it was next to a church and I legit walked in every direction listening for church bells. Thank you church bells for ringing, because I really did find my hostel walking towards the sounds of bells! I’ll make a post dedicated for the hostel I stayed at because it was pretty nice, so more on that later.

I spent my first day taking it easy and didn’t take any pictures or anything. I went into a little supermarket, grabbed some groceries, and just made myself at home. Oh yeah my period decided to come a week early too so I spent the remainder of the day rolling around in pain and bleeding until I knocked out.

So next day, I felt better and decided to go explore Sorrento! Sant’Agnello is actually a town right next to Sorrento and cheaper to stay in. I actually didn’t know that until I got there. It’s a learning experience for all of us! You can either take the train one stop over, a bus, or just walk for 20-30 minutes to get to Sorrento. Of course I chose to walk because it’s a better way to get to know the area.

I totally forgot European sidewalks are a lot smaller than our large, roomy American ones. I thought I was going to get hit by one of the giant tourist buses omg. I had no idea when I entered Sorrento or where it started. I saw a very large group of Asian tourists and noticed someone in the front group holding up a flag. A TOUR GROUP! Since I had no idea what was in Sorrento, I decided to run across the street and sneak into their tour group and they led me to this amazing view:

Amazing right??

They stopped here for a bit so everyone could take their pictures. I blended into the group perfectly! …until someone came up to me and said something in Korean. I stared blankly and said I only speak English and decided to not follow them to their next stop on their tour hahaha but it was for the best!

After I stuck around taking self portraits, I walked down to see another woman trying to take selfies of the view. I asked her if she wanted me to help her take the picture, we chatted, then decided to grab something to eat together! We walked back up to where I came from and she showed me a bit of the town.

We peeked inside this beautiful church and it was surprisingly empty! We had the whole place to ourselves :O

Walk through a dark street and you’ll find lemon heaven! I didn’t expect to see the pops of yellow in a dark alley. It goes on forever!

Yellow everywhere!! We felt like we walked for quite a bit and were hungry so we settled with this cute little restaurant here.

We decided on splitting a pizza, which was only €5 for a whole pizza! I got a water while she got a giant beer. The pizza here costs more than the world’s best pizza in Naples… after eating pizza in Naples, this one was just okay. Maybe it was a mistake to start my Italy trip by eating the best pizza in the world… Anyway, my new friend is from Brazil and she was staying in a town about an hour away from Sorrento. We talked about what our plans were and I told her I was planning on heading to Positano the next day and she was saying how she was going to Pompeii the following week and it eventually to us deciding, “Let’s go to Pompeii together tomorrow!”

After our meal, we headed back down to where we met because I wanted to see what was down there.

Turns out, that path led down to the marina!

You can come down to the port to catch a ferry to Naples or one of the many towns along the Amalfi Coast! It’s not the cheapest option, but it’s definitely the fastest.

The sun was starting to set so it was time for us to make the walk back up to town…

So many steps… The walk up is brutal when you’re slightly jetlagged and bleeding out of your vagina like I was ugh.

Look at what we walked up so far!

It was a good opportunity to take a break by taking pictures hehe

We walked around to explore the town more before I walked her over to the Sorrento station where I waited with her until her bus arrived since I had nothing else to do. Just being the gentleman that I am ^_^ We exchanged our contact info and were somehow going to meet up at Pompeii the next day. Remember, my phone is on airplane mode and I need wifi to contact anyone. Hilarity ensues, but more on that in my Pompeii post.

Since I wasn’t heading out to Positano the next day like I originally planned, I ended up booking an extra night at my Sant’Agnello hostel and asking front desk how to get to Pompeii from there. Yay for being spontaneous!

I hope you enjoy the bits of my time around Sorrento that I captured! Next up: Pompeii 😀

-Diana

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