Caution Travel Obsessions – The Sorrento WebcamI am not a spontaneous traveler. There, I admitted it. The months of day dreaming, web crawling, giddy early morning and late night conversations with my husband and hours thumbing through travel guides are really a huge…Read More

Caution Travel Obsessions – The Sorrento Webcam

I am not a spontaneous traveler. There, I admitted it. The months of day dreaming, web crawling, giddy early morning and late night conversations with my husband and hours thumbing through travel guides are really a huge part of what I love about the actual trip. No matter what dreary events I have to crawl through each day, I have THE TRIP to keep a small smile on my knowing lips. Better days are on their way. I have airline tickets and room reservations! But sometimes my muse can turn into an obsession. And such is the case with the Sorrento Webcam.

I came across the webcam one weekend morning while busily avoiding housework. The webcam shows a small cross-street in Sorrento, Italy on the Amalfi Coast. We were planning to add Southern Italy to our trip in September. The camera hones in on three potted plants that stand in front of a tobacco shop. Not so exciting, until you start to see the shop owner on the right starting to put out knick-knacks to buy. People stroll by in groups or alone. Arguments about which direction to go seem to pop up here and there. I wonder what is on either side of the street. What are the people buying in the vending machine by the tobacco shop late at night? (as it turns out, condoms or cigarettes) And then, once every blue moon, someone will stop at the drain cover in front of the tobacco shop, linger, point at the webcam and wave. The meeting of the Sorrento Webcam Obsession Support Group has started, and just as quickly, adjourned. I am soooo hooked.

Rather than keeping my obsession secretly to myself I now had to involve others. I was going to be in front of the webcam in a few weeks, and I needed a picture to capture the moment. I sent notices to friends and family letting them know the exact time we would be there and made sure they were schooled in capturing screen shots. After a few practice sessions with my mother (did I mention I was obsessed?) I felt our few seconds of Sorrento webcam fame were secure.

It turns out, my plans weren’t foolproof. We were scheduled to take the ferry to the town of Amalfi on a specific day and take the shot in the evening when we returned. We hiked down to the ferry landing per schedule, to learn that the winter schedule had just taken effect that day, and the ferry wouldn’t be running again for several hours. Damn. We headed back to the hotel, sent out an email to friends/family with a switch to the next night, and headed out for a different day trip that wouldn’t allow us to be back in time for the originally planned webcam event.

The next day we went early, found the webcam, shopped at the stores in the area that we had watched for so many months, all the while aware of the webcam lurking down the street. Kind of a reality vacation TV moment. We sat at a bar off site next to a ceramic shop and waited for the appointed time. As we watched other streaming by none seemed aware that the webcam was there. And then it started to rain. And we didn’t have an umbrella. None the less after months of dreaming and planning we presented ourselves to the webcam, pretended to buy things from the tobacco shop and enthusiastically waved from atop the drain cover.

When we got home we learned that nobody had received our email alerting them of the new webcam meeting day or time. Except Mom. You can view it using this link:

http://www.zygerimports.com/catalog/pages.php?cID=7&pID=9

In writing this I learned that 2 months after our trip the webcam owners were fined (not due to anything we did on camera!!), and it is now necessary to submit a request and a privacy agreement to access the site. But if you are planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast, or thinking that planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast should be somewhere in your future (it really should) you should learn to love the Sorrento Webcam too: http://www.sorrentoinfo.com/en/registra_utente_completo.php.

I admit that since returning from Italy I have been cured of my obsession. I haven’t logged into the Sorrento site once until I sat to write my thoughts. But do you have any idea how many cooking schools there are in Thailand? Happy Travels.

www.zygerimports.com
Handmade Italian Glass Jewelry

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Capri is a beautiful small island in the Mediterranean Sea, about a 30 minute ferry ride from Sorrento. The easiest way to get to Capri is to take a ferry from Naples or Sorrento.Return tickets cost about 25 euros each person from Sorrento. Once you…Read More

Capri is a beautiful small island in the Mediterranean Sea, about a 30 minute ferry ride from Sorrento.

The easiest way to get to Capri is to take a ferry from Naples or Sorrento.
Return tickets cost about 25 euros each person from Sorrento.

Once you land in Capri, you have to take the funicular up to Capri Town, or you can take a bus right from the port to the other town on the island - Anacapri, and the famous blue grotto. As another option you can board a motor boat to go around the island and access the blue grotto from there.

We took the bus straight from the port to Anacapri, switched buses and headed to the Blue Grotto. You must purchase your bus tickets at the ticket booth at the port, or you can buy them on the bus. The buses are quite small which is necessary because the roads going up the hills to the other towns are quite treacherous! The roads are narrow and very often you have a view of the ocean or hillside off the edge of a steep cliff...
In the buses, you either have to sit or stand. You will be lucky to get a seat because the driver likes to pack on as many people as can be squished onto the hot bus.

If you do not want to be crammed in like sardines, you can hire one of the convertible style white taxis to take you to your destination. The fee can be high.

Once we arrived at the Blue Grotto stop, we had to wait in line on the stairs for about an hour before getting a boat to take us. There are manager type guys at the docking area who assign a boat to the next group in line. Once you get in the boat, you pay around 8 euros each person to enter the grotto. Then, your guide casually says to you that you can tip whatever you want, 5/10 Euros... Make sure that you tip him after the trip, because if he thinks the tip is too skimpy he may limit the amount of time you get to experience inside the grotto!

To go into the grotto, everybody has to lay down in the boat because the opening is very short. Inside, the water sparkles a brilliant blue, and you can hear the echoes of the guides as they sing away. You get paddled around in the grotto a bit as you marvel at the azul waters. Once back out, you must climb back up the stairs and wait for the next bus to take you back.

In Anacapri, we transferred to the Capri bus and took it to Capri Town. It was another white knuckle ride on the bus, but we did arrive in one piece. Hanging around in Capri Town, we ate a gelato as we gazed into the amazing view and had one of the best slushies ever. It is a little stall near the balcony overlooking the hills and sea - we had a slushie with fresh squeezed orange juice and lemon ice, it was the greatest ever.

Capri is a wonderful island, a world all its own.Close

We arrived in Sorrento and decided to take on its road system head on. The Blonde had the confidence and decisiveness that you want in a navigator, bizarre considering we had no map or clue where we were going. Still . . . we weren’t…Read More

We arrived in Sorrento and decided to take on its road system head on. The Blonde had the confidence and decisiveness that you want in a navigator, bizarre considering we had no map or clue where we were going. Still . . . we weren’t going to let such trivialities stand in our way.

It was as we carefully backed our way out of a street barely as wide as our car that we decided to review our navigational policy of ‘Ooh let’s try down here and see where it takes us’. If only we had one of those motorised wheelbarrows that the locals were tootling around in.

Sorrento occupies a dramatic position on the southern side of the Bay of Naples. It is an incredibly popular resort, particularly with the British, and is crammed with hotel and apartment accommodation catering mostly to the package tour crowd. For the most part, the bars and restaurants of downtown Sorrento are geared towards this clientele. Corso Italia, the main road through town, is home to an English Inn and a Chaplins amongst its motley collection of themed pubs. Many of the restaurants offer a formulaic collection of dishes that seem to appeal to many judging by the crowds.

It would be very easy to dismiss Sorrento because of its leanings towards popular tourism but it has a lot going for it if you can see past the souvenir paraphernalia. The town’s main square, piazza Tasso, straddles a dramatic gorge and the streets on the seaside of Corso Italia are a pleasant jumble of tight bustling lanes. ‘Real life’ is still proceeding here at a leisurely Mediterranean pace amidst the beach towels, lemon-oriented souvenirs and purveyors of limoncello (the local liqueur that can be found in a mind-boggling array of novelty bottles).

Sorrento is also a marvellous place from which to explore the region. The more exclusive resorts of Positano and Amalfi lie on the other side of the peninsula along a stunning (and frankly petrifying) coast road. The famous islands of Capri and Ischia lie a short hydrofoil ride out into the Mare Tirreno and sprawling, intense Naples lies across the bay. And then there’s Pompeii and Herculaneum some 15 or so miles away with Vesuvius lurking ominously behind them as you gaze inland.

Sorrento will not appeal to everyone because of its populist leanings but there isn’t the brashness that you would find on the Costas in Spain (or the all day English breakfasts). There are good meals to be had – we relied on the Rough Guide and really enjoyed ‘Sant’Angelo’ on the Via Santa Maria della Grazie and Il Giardiniello (Via Accademia 7) – and watching the world go by on the piazza Tasso is suitably relaxing. Sometimes it's nice not to have to work at being on holiday if you know what I mean.

If you only have one night to spare in Sorrento you can still cover a lot of ground. From Rome, start early by catching one of the first trains for Naples; once there, you can go to the Circumvesuviana station close by, which is where all…Read More

If you only have one night to spare in Sorrento you can still cover a lot of ground.

From Rome, start early by catching one of the first trains for Naples; once there, you can go to the Circumvesuviana station close by, which is where all trains going to the peninsula depart from. Stop at Pompeii about thirty minutes after leaving the station, and spend a few hours there before proceeding on. If you have not got a hotel, go straight to Sorrento proper and contact the local tourist center there. They have contacts all over the area, and will usually make the necessary calls themselves. Campgrounds are also present outside Sorrento town, but it can be quite a trek to reach some of them.

Little villages such as Meta or Piano di Sorrento can be excellent value for money, and are very well connected to Sorrento proper by the Circumvesuviana train.

The trains run all day, the last departure from Sorrento being at 11.30 pm. Once you've settled in, you can do some shopping or relaxing on some of the beaches. If you have a vehicle you might want to consider driving dowm the southern side of the peninsula, along the famous Amalfi coast, but be warned that the drive is the most notorious in Italy, even worse than some Alpine roads, and it can take a fair amount of time due to traffic congestion.

The next day you can return to Naples via Capri, by catching a hydrofoil from the port of Sorrento, located at the bottom of the gorge in front of Piazza Tasso. After spending some time on the island, another fast hydrofoil ride will get you back to Naples in about forty-five minutes.

From the dock, the easiest thing to do is simply use a taxi to get back to the station; it's only a five minute ride from the port. Alternatively, if you've got a car with you, you can spend some time in Naples itself, as private vehicles are not allowed to disembark on the island of Capri.

The Italian goverment is currently building a fast train link between Naples and Rome, which should reduce the travelling time to roughly two hours, and which should (hopefully) be running by next year.

We went on a tour operator excursion to Ischia, as the spa was included, and a tour of the island. The island was truly gorgeous, relatively uncommercial, and we fell in love with it, as did many other day-trippers, if the comments we overheard were…Read More

We went on a tour operator excursion to Ischia, as the spa was included, and a tour of the island. The island was truly gorgeous, relatively uncommercial, and we fell in love with it, as did many other day-trippers, if the comments we overheard were anything to go by.

The spa (Tropical Gardens) is set on a cliff top overlooking a lovely fishing village.

As you drive around the island, you see geysers shooting steam into the air, as it is a volcanic island, hence the prolific amount of spas. This is one of the loveliest places that I have visited and just had a lovely relaxed atmosphere about it. The one drawback (though it wasn't for us) is that very little English is spoken there.

By the way, rather big city. But a couple of days it can be seen almost entirely. Admire the stunning views of the Bay of Naples, wander through the narrow old streets. But in fact, Sorrento is better seen as a base for future pedestrian…Read More

By the way, rather big city. But a couple of days it can be seen almost entirely. Admire the stunning views of the Bay of Naples, wander through the narrow old streets. But in fact, Sorrento is better seen as a base for future pedestrian outings and trips to the surrounding areas in all directions. The road to the railway station takes only 5-7 minutes walk. On the train can independently go to Pompeii and Naples. On the bus to get to the good Positano and Amalfi. In Amalfi you can transfer to the shuttle buses as the direction in Ravello, Salerno and more. Of those longer trips, we returned in the evening sun the most crowded impressions! Although nearly collapsing from exhaustion. Escaped after a trip just live off the bus or train - and five minutes later you're already home.Close