Napoli: no, no. Sorrento: si, si.

Today was a loooong, but wonderful day. I found that, for me, Naples isn't somewhere I am comfortable. It's the first time in 18 months, since I've been traveling alone, that I have felt uncomfortable. Being a woman alone, I have to trust my senses. Rome is a quiet city compared to the confusion, crowdedness, and unpleasantness I found in Naples. There was, however, only one motorcycle driving on the sidewalk, so I guess sidewalks are relatively safe. The city is filled with the constant (and I do mean constant) sound of horns blowing. Being from the states, I just found it rude beyond rude. The people I encountered in the city were unfriendly and somber. I'm sure there is beauty there, I just couldn't find it. I walked to the port (about 45 minutes) and decided the ferry to Capri was more than I wanted to spend, so I headed back to the train station. I decided to give it another shot and, since I had a walking tour with map from Rick Steves, I began that, but quickly decided that I simply wasn't comfortable in the city, so I headed back to the train station and got a ticket to Sorrento. Thanks to Carrie Baker for suggesting that I see Sorrento, or I would have missed it.
The only pictures I took in Naples were of run down buildings along my walk. I couldn't find anything interesting to shoot. As I was on the train (after being on two, yes two, wrong trains) the scenery began to change.... thankfully. I did find some nice women on my second wrong train who overheard the english speaking employee of the train station guide me once again to the wrong train. After the second or third stop, a lady approached me and told me that the train didn't go to Sorrento and that I would have to change trains. Another woman worked with her to decide which stop would be the easiest for me to board the correct train. Thankfully, the change was an easy one.

This picture is at a bus stop in Sorrento. How would you like for that to be your bus stop? It was along the coast and I found the walk out of the city to be refreshing and fun. The town of Sorrento itself is beautiful and is already decked for the holidays. I didn't include any photos of it here because it's similar to other quaint towns that I've included in the blog. I do, however, have some lovely photos of the town. One thing I did notice, however, is that, although the town is so near the sea, you can't see the water while in the town because large hotels front the ocean and have tall walls that hinder the view. Seriously..... you can't see any water from the town. But a short walk outside the city and your senses are overloaded by the beauty all around.

I was above the town and looked down to see the boats harbored below. The colors of the buildings looked nice against the color of the sea. The water was very blue and calm. There are amazing cliffs on which the town sits. I found a little park along the sea that had this sweet set of steps. I know, I love concrete steps. They seem natural and inviting to me. These were under some great trees and it was cool, quiet, and peaceful sitting amongst that setting. I wish I had brought a book along to read for an hour or so.

In the main part of the town I found this communal garden loaded with fruit trees. It was just hidden above the main street, but, because there were great concrete steps leading to it, I had to check it out. I was so surprised to find this place! How special it must be to be a part of this. I'm ending the blog with my favorite picture of the day. I took quite a few pictures of the cliffs hoping to get one that somewhat captured how awesome this place is. I think this picture begins to do that. After figuring the days I have planned to travel by train, I have one train day left on my pass and I'm trying to decide whether to return to Sorrento (which I would love to do) or spend an extra day in Florence. Having not been to Florence yet, I'm not sure which I will choose. Because I began the day by spending over 2 hours in Naples, my time in Sorrento was shorter than I would have liked so I look forward to being able to more thoroughly explore this town in the Umbria region of Italy.