Sorrento - Day 5

Today’s adventure is Sorrento. 

We were able to take the train from Castellamamare di Stabia directly into Sorrento. 

It was just under thirty minutes.

In the first square is a statue of Saint’ Antonino.

The basilica of Sant’ Antonino is a monumental basilica of Sorrento: inside 

it are kept the remains of the patron saint of the city, Saint Antonino.

We crossed the bridge to explore the shopping district.

Lots of leather goods, jewelers, souvenirs, local foods, and of course, limoncello.

There was a chocolate shop that had flowing chocolate in the window. 

We saw inside that they were passing out samples, so of course we had to stop in and try the chocolate.

Averaging over 13,000 steps a day, we felt we could definitely treat ourselves.

Church of St. Francesco.

From the outside, the Church of St. Francis has an air of modernity in contrast to other more ornate churches in Sorrento. The simple white facade was built in marble in 1926; however, the present portal which dates back to the fifteen hundreds, was preserved.

We made a donation for a small bottle of holy water to bring home for someone very special.

Outside the church was an interesting mural painted by a local artist.

We made our way to the sea, to relax and enjoy the views of Sorrento.

We shared a sardine pizza as it was the special of the day.

Not.

Most Italian homes have large beautiful wooden doors adorned with ornate door knockers.

 

The landscaping everywhere was extremely meticulous and you could tell that everything was well thought out prior to its installation.

Fresh Italian baked goods are everywhere and are consistently delicious.

We were advised to have dinner at a specific restaurant.

After reviewing their web site, it said that reservations were required.

The restaurant did not open until 6:30 pm.

We made our way to the restaurant and arrived at 6:15 pm. The maitre d’ was in the entrance.

I went inside to see if it was possible to make a reservation.

He reviewed the reservation book and turned to me and said he had only one table for two available but we would need to come in and sit now as the restaurant was about to open.

Someone special was definitely watching over us.

We were seated directly in the middle of the restaurant and were brought two glasses of Prosecco.

Our waiter welcomed us and gave us each a menu.

After we placed or order, our waiter brought us these warm cream puffs filled with warm ricotta.

There were two reduced sauces. One was zucchini and the other roasted red pepper.

We both took a bite and just looked at each other in amazement.

One of my favorite appetizers is fried zucchini flowers.

These were filled with ricotta cheese, ham, fried in a light batter, served with red onion compote.

My entree was sea bass with clams, mussels, calamari, prawn, and a reduced marinara sauce.

The sea bass just melted in your mouth with each bite.

The clams, mussels and calamari were soft and tender.

The reduced marinara sauce was beyond words.

Absolutely decadent.

This restaurant is known for the entree below.

Tagliolini pasta with lemon cream sauce, red prawns, caviar and served with creamed spinach.

The pasta with the caviar is served inside a hollowed out half of lemon.

It was just as incredible as the sea bass if not better.

We both understood why this dish is known for at this special restaurant.

Dessert was a classic tiramisu.

Cocoa sponge cake, coffee cream, mascarpone cream and gianduia chocolate curls.

Every tiny spoonful was an incredible experience for my taste buds.

On the way back to the train station, we decided to sit by this water fountain that had two large sculptures of poppies. As we relaxed and enjoyed the setting sun, a family arrived. Grandmother, mom and three children. The littlest boy threw his ball into the fountain. His older brother and sister tried to get it out with a very small handled net. As the moments passed, the little boy was having a complete meltdown. Kicking and screaming, and even hitting his grandmother and mother. As the moments passed I could see his siblings trying to help, but I think they felt it was an impossible task. Defeat were on there tiny faces.

I was wearing shorts and took off my sandals and went into the fountain to retrieve the ball.

When I handed the ball to his older brother, he had a look of shock on his face, but thanked me. His sister thanked me. The mother thanked me. I think everyone was in complete shock that I went into the fountain.

Do you get arrested if you go into a fountain?

If so, I got lucky since no police were around.

As the family got into their car and drove away, a man and his wife were sitting by the fountain like us.

The man said, “ what a nice guy”.

That made the ending of our day.