When we arrived at Napoli, I met up with a group of fellow travelers as well as our campus director, Emanuele. Antonio is our fabulous bus driver for most of the next week. As soon as you leave the airport you can see Vesuvius. We learned that the 79AD eruption blew off the top half of the mountain so it had been quite an impressive peak. The vegetation reminds me a lot of LA, although much more lush.
When we get to Sorrento, we each make our way to our hotel rooms at the Hotel Plaza. It's right off the main square, Piazzo Tasso, and very modern. We have a couple of hours before meeting the group for a quick walking tour of Sorrento so after getting unpacked, I headed to the roof to check out the bar and spectacular view of the Bay of Naples, and the small infinity pool. Definitely going to have to find time to take a quick dip!
After a short but much needed nap, we gather in the lobby where we are given radios and headsets to help us hear the guides. Today's local guide is Franco. He takes us through the Piazzo, to the one spot in town with a public access to the water and through some delightfully picturesque shopping streets. There are at least 10 things I want to buy! Many stores in the main street take a long midday break and stay open later in the evening. As we pass stores, half the shop owners greet Franco by name.
After the tour, we gather in the hotel lobby bar for a welcome drink and get to know our fellow travelers. There are people from all over, although the largest contingent are U of T alums from Ontario. Other folks are from Arkansas, Nebraska, Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey. Everyone is really friendly and interesting.
Dinner is in the hotel dining room, with a wonderful local wine. I had cheese ravioli, eggplant (melanzane) parmeggian, and panne cotta.
I went to bed right after dinner and slept soundly until 3am, then fitfully after that until it was time for breakfast.
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