Naples and Sorrento

Much to our delight the trains were running and we headed out to Naples. We had a 2 hour layover, in the birthplace of Pizza so we decided to consult Rick "Dick" Steve's advice for a pizzeria near the central station. Getting there we found out that Napoli drivers are very aggressive and that scooters don't slow down but rather honk at you to move. Avoiding traffic and the large heaps of garbage on the ground we made it. For 7 euro we had the best pizza of my life, a thin crust with red sauce, uneven amounts of cheese, ham, funghi, and italian olives. So good.

We caught a bus which took us to the port where a ferry would taxi us to the port of Sorrento. The city was located on top of rigid cliffs, it was a steep climb from the ports to the center of town but had very beautiful views. Our hostel wasn't actually located in town but in Saint Angeli, a short bus ride from where we were. Riding the bus we met two other Americans, our accents are impossible not to pick up on, who were staying at our same hostel.

We checked into the seven hostel, this place was unlike any hostel, it was more close to a 3 star resort. Built recently it had a 3 tiered rooftop terrace excellent bar area and bar tenders, better yet the ratio of girls to guys was very favorable. The night started with pasta gnochi and ravioli at the hostel restaurant. We then met up with the american girls on the rooftop terrace, drinks and travel stories made for a very fun night.

Our original intent was to hike Mt. Vesuvius but gray clouds and rain redirected our day to exploring Sorrento. Walking in local shops we purchased some world famous lemon Gelato made from Sorrento lemons and lemon cake, a taste that can only be described as heavenly. After purchasing some souvenirs we went back to the hostel and relaxed on the terrace.

While we were gone we were delighted to find out that a bus tour of Americans were now staying at our hostel, our last night in Sorrento was looking right. Dinner featured traditional Italian dishes of lasagna and spaghetti at a bustling restaurant in saint angeli.

The sun dropped below the horizon on the rooftop bar and the night began. We each had a personal bottle of cheap red wine to start. The night was going well and got even better when we met a group of girls from UNC. They surprisingly knew a mutual acquaintance of ours, Phillip Duetsch who was on the South Africa trip. A small world indeed.

An early wake up and we were off to naples to catch a flight to the last leg of our journey, Amsterdam.