Sorrento, Italy

When we entered the port of Naples, I had many choices of what to see...too many choices.  So, I chose the excursion that would take me to the ruins of Pompeii.  That choice included a brief trip to the charming area of Sorrento, Italy.

The seaside cliffs and clear water are beautiful and calming.  South of Naples, the Sorrento peninsula has the sea on one side and mountains from the Appian range on the other.  The roads were narrow and windying, but the mixture of views that included the sea, cliffs, small towns, and citrus groves on the sides of the mountains were a sight to see.

Sorrento is known for their oranges, but most especially for their lemons.  The lemons were the size of a softball and the city streets smelled of lemons as every shop sold lemons and lemon products including candies, ice cream, and limoncello (a strong drink).

Today was Palm Sunday in the Christian church.  Italy is mostly Roman Catholic and we have seen that in the number of churches located throughout the peninsula.  To accommodate the number of people attending, we passed (and sometimes right through in our bus) several outdoor masses where people stood in the streets.

In this area, they do not give palms at the mass.  Instead, they give olive branches and as they do, they wish the person peace.  Our guide, Paolo, gathered a branch and passed out a bit of peace to each of us in the group and decorated his lollipop (that is what they call the stick they hold up to keep the group together in crowds) for the rest of the day.

While I did not get into the city center of Naples (this time!), I could not leave the area that claims to have created pizza without having some!  The Margarita pizza is named for Queen Margarita because it was made for her to celebrate the colors of the Italian flag -red with the tomato sauce, white with the mozzarella, and green with the basil.