Our Honeymoon: Sorrento

Hello again, friends! It feels great to be back home, but I’m running solely on caffeine today. We got home around 1 a.m. after a marathon day of travel from Rome to Indiana. The cats must have really missed us because they woke us up at 6:30 a.m. Welcome home?

While it’s nice to get back into our normal routine, my heart is already aching to go back to Italy. The country and its people absolutely stole my heart. Our honeymoon was more amazing than I ever imagined and I’m sad it went by so quickly.

Getting There

Our first day in Italy was a long one. We flew from Indianapolis, to New York City, to Rome. We arrived in Rome at 8:30 a.m. and immediately hopped on a train from the airport to Tremini Station (Rome’s central train station). Then, we took a high-speed train to Naples and hopped on a local train to Sorrento. I was proud of how easily and quickly we were able to navigate from one place to another!

I did have an interesting experience on the train to Sorrento. We were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with locals and other tourists for most of the ride. While we didn’t have any problems with theft, an Italian man kept trying to grab my butt during the train ride. James and I quickly switched spots and had no problems after that, but it definitely put me on edge for the rest of the ride. It was an important reminder to stay alert and be aware of our surroundings.

Sleeping in Sorrento

Because we were spending five nights in Sorrento, we decided to rent an apartment through Airbnb. It was the perfect size for the two of us and located in an alley just one block away from Sorrento’s main drag, Corso Italia. That made it easy for us to walk everywhere — the beach, the train station, the harbor. Our host, Martina, even left a bottle of wine for us to enjoy. If you’re planning on traveling to Sorrento and are looking for a space that sleeps two, I would highly recommend booking this space!

Local Sights

We chose to travel to the Amalfi Coast for part of our Italian honeymoon because it seemed like the perfect place to go for a good balance of relaxation and sightseeing. Sorrento served as a great home base to take day trips to nearby Positano and Pompeii. And there was plenty to keep us entertained on the couple of days we decided to hang around town.

I loved Sorrento, which boasts stunning views, colorful buildings and all things lemon. There was no shortage of amazing shops throughout the city. The Amalfi Coast is known for its lemons, linens and ceramics. Many shops featured beautiful, handmade goods at great prices. We had fun popping in some of the shops to buy some mementos of our trip and gifts for family. Among my favorite purchases is a beautiful, hand-painted tile of the scenic Sorrento coast.

Our favorite activity while in Sorrento was swimming in the Gulf of Naples. It was in the mid-to-high 80s for our entire trip, so the cool water felt amazing. Swimming with Mt. Vesuvius in the background was absolutely magical. But, you’ll likely have to pay if you want to take a dip. The only public beach is an extremely small portion of the shoreline and is usually busy with locals. Sorrento’s shoreline is rocky, so the best spots to post up for several hours are on one of the docks lined with chairs and umbrellas. You’ll pay about 10 euros per person, but we decided it was worth the money. It’s wise to choose one of the docks that doesn’t have a restaurant connected — they’ll allow you to bring a picnic.

The Food

Everything we ate in Italy was amazing. What stood out to me was how simple many of the dishes were. They were all made with just a handful of ingredients that were extremely fresh, which let the flavors shine. One of our favorite meals of the entire trip was our first meal in Sorrento at Inn Bufalito. The restaurant specializes in buffalo mozzarella and buffalo meat and it didn’t disappoint. We ordered a massive meal after not eating all day during our trip down to Sorrento. The mozzarella tasting plate with focaccia was our favorite dish. James ordered a buffalo steak, which was great. I got the gnocchi with tomato sauce and devoured the entire plate. We liked this place so much we went back a second time!

We drank a whole lot of wine during the entire duration of our trip because it was so cheap and so dang good. We ordered the vino del casa at almost every restaurant and were never disappointed. We went out for drinks after dinner most nights too because the city doesn’t truly come alive until after 8 p.m. Corso Italia is open only to pedestrians in the evening and was always swarming with people. We would sit down at a table lining the street and people watch for a couple of hours while sipping a local favorite: limoncello. I’ve had limoncello before, but it’s much sweeter in the U.S. I fell in love with the Italian version, which has quite the kick to it!

We also made it our personal mission to sample as many gelato flavors as possible during the entire trip. We picked places at random, but looked for shops that had more subtly-colored gelato — bright colors (other than fruit flavors) are a sign the gelato was likely made from a mix.

Other great restaurants if you find yourself in Sorrento: Restaurant Da Gigino for napoleon-style pizza, Trattoria Chantecler’s for a 9 euro, two-course lunch (order the gorgonzola gnocchi and pollo al forno) and Restaurant Bagni Delfino for seafood with a view of Marina Grande.

Now I’m off to relax and try to adjust to life back in the states … while sipping some Sorrento limoncello. Salute!