A side trip to Sorrento

This is me in Sorrento... beautiful!!!! (do I mean me? or the location? was meaning the latter, but I'm ok if anyone thinks the former ;-). This pic was taken on the pier that can only be reached by walking through the restaurant.
This is really part 2 of my blog post My Day in Pompeii... after the ruins, our tour took us a bit further south, past Naples, to Sorrento on the Almalfi Coast for lunch here:

Our tour group at lunch... I was sitting next to the lady in the hot pink top, and had a direct view down to the water and the pretty little bay. Hats off to the tour company for picking such a spectacular location for lunch; I don't think there could have been a better located restaurant in all of Sorrento - and the food was good, and pretty reasonable.

My view if I looked directly down from my restaurant seat - looks like a lovely spot to cool off, doesn't it?

Diners on the sea side of the restaurant. Ah, amore...

Ah, the pier.... You can rent a deck chair here for something like 6E/day. Suits optional. Great view of the location behind.

Another shot of the location... we drove a loooong way down to reach the restaurant. That walkway you see is to climb back up to one of the hotels.

Boats and sunbather....

Another location shot....

The water was soooo clear!

Changing huts for the bathers....

OK, after lunch, we were driven half-way back up the hill to the town square in Sorrento, for some free time. I believe we were originally supposed to have two hours, but we had lingered at lunch, and our driver was quite astute in sensing the weariness of the group. He asked if we would rather just stay an hour, to which we all said yes!!

I spent my time wandering the cute streets, buying a few souveniers then sat and doodled in a little cafe. On my wanderings, came across this old building (an old market?) where the local men come to play chess....

Apparently there is a trade in fake Limoncello.... (didn't buy any here, but when I finally tasted Limoncello in Rome I fell in love with what really must be the nectar of the gods....)

Cute little square....

The main square where we were dropped off....

Now, where did I leave my beer...... ? (no, not me silly! ;-)

These are the very first fresh olives I have had in my life, and wowweeee! I ate them all! I got these, plus two bowls of nuts free with my Coke Light (that's what they call Diet Coke in Europe), which was only about 4E. Delish!!!

A sampling of Sorrento transportation....

Sorrento transport for those who can afford more than a Vespa....

Our driver was waiting on time when we returned from our various wanderings and we settled into the looooong drive back to Rome. Talk about a full day!!!! I think I slept until noon the following day! But I am certainly glad I saw Pompeii, and glad I did it with such an awesome tour; really, the lunch and time in Sorrento really topped it off perfectly.

OK, one final side note: I was really surprised that one of the people on the tour, a woman about my age, told me she didn't know what to expect on the trip: she'd never heard of Pompeii or the eruption.... I was sooo surprised, the story has fascinated me since childhood....