This morning we caught the train from Rome to Naples, then we hired a car to take us to Sorrento.  What a beautiful area of Italy.  We walked the streets, had lunch at a cafe where we could watch people come and go, and we explored the cliffs.  It’s a magical place!

I took this on the train because if made me smile.  The equivalent of flight attendants went through the train offering snacks and drinks, just like on a plane, but this cart was set up to make espresso on demand.  Only in Italy!

This was the view of Sorrento along the road from Naples. What a beautiful coast! Here you actually see four little towns; Sorrento is all the way out on the end of the peninsula. It is all completely charming.

This is the view of the square from our table at lunch.  It was beautiful.  We even saw and bride and groom stroll by with a film crew following them.  They could have been locals getting good shots for their wedding video or maybe they were a crew filming a segment about a romantic Italian wedding for Say Yes to the Dress.  Who can say?

A real, honest to goodness, original Caprese salad.  Yum!

After lunch, we decided to wander the shopping district in Sorrento.  No cars allowed; these alleys are too narrow for even motorbikes.  Above are a couple of different alleys, and a little square we stumbled on by accident.

This is an entrance to a private residence.  I liked the little statue of the Virgin Mary watching over it.

We found some artists!

This is a grocery store for the locals.  Apparently, this region is known for its incredible produce, so there was plenty of it for sale.

This is one of the walkways we found back at our hotel.  It’s an old monastery that sits on the cliff.  It’s incredibly beautiful.

This is the pool at our hotel.  When we arrived we startled a cat that was sitting by the pool admiring its reflection.  We’ve seen a few stray animals in Rome and Sorrento, but not a lot.  None of them were neutered.

A view of the cliffs from the walkway behind our hotel.

Here we are with the Sorrento Bay behind us.

This series of pictures shows the staircase that leads down the cliff face from our hotel to the landing below.  It is ancient.  You can see in places where it was once decorated with beautiful tiles and paint, but it is long gone.  At one point, the staircase cut into the cliff face like a cave.  Thank goodness Bob had a flashlight app on his phone or we would have killed ourselves in the pitch black.  At the bottom, everything was closed and we couldn’t get out onto the docks.  Luckily, we didn’t have to climb up — we found an elevator that worked!  What a relief!

Of course, once we were finally back on top safe and sound, we noticed the candles that were kindly provided for anyone who wanted to venture down.

More of the cliffs by our hotel