Campania Day 6: Positano and Sorrento

After finishing our hike on Sentiero Degli Dei, our main goal was to get to Sorrento by ferry in time to explore Sorrento a bit and then catch one of the last Circumvesuviana trains back to our B&B. We bought tickets for the 5:00 ferry and then had a couple of hours to relax in Positano.

We were pretty hungry after all that hiking, so we wandered into a waterfront hotel called Covo dei Saraceni for a late lunch.

Steve ordered a limoncello, the famous liquor of the region. It is supposed to be served ice-cold, but this one wasn't. Whew, was it ever strong.

We ordered focaccia caprese--definitely one of the most beautiful meals we ate in Italy. It was refreshing and delicious.

And of course I had to have some gelato :)

A view of Covo dei Saraceni from the water:

I wanted to wade in the Mediterranean just to say I had...

But the beach was awful! There was no sand, just tiny rocks, and they were so painful to walk on barefoot!

Looking up at Positano from the water

Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta

The water had so many brilliant shades of turquoise and blue:

I would have loved to see more of Positano, but we had to get to Sorrento and eat dinner early enough to make sure we didn't miss our train to Portici. The ferry was a great way to travel--we got seats on the top deck and enjoyed sitting, relaxing, and cooling off with the sea breeze while taking in the coast. Here's Positano as seen from the water:

After Positano, the rest of the coastline around the Sorrentine peninsula is pretty barren. The water was a stunning inky blue-black:

The Isle of Capri

Finally we reached Sorrento, high on the cliff overlooking the water:

The main thing I wanted to see in Sorrento was intarsia, a woodworking technique the city is famous for. We wandered around looking for a place I'd read about and also just taking in the sights...

 

After we'd seen a couple of shops, we found the main cathedral of Sorrento, whose wooden doors were created by some of the artisan families. It was some of the most beautiful, impressive artwork we saw in Italy. Unfortunately I was unable to take photos inside and could not find any on Flickr; you can see some on the cathedral's official website. 

The restaurant Lonely Planet had talked about in Sorrento didn't seem to be an actual restaurant, only a shop, so we wandered around aimlessly, not sure where to eat dinner. 

Finally Steve suggested we just head back to Portici early and eat dinner at La Tradizione again--and that turned out to be the best possible idea. But first, we had to take the Circumvesuviana train back. I thought this artwork on one of the trains was fun:

And that was the end of our time on the Amalfi Coast/Sorrentine peninsula. One more meal in Campania and then off to Tuscany!