DAY 118 - DAY 112 CRYSTAL SERENITY

4/12/2019

WELCOME TO SORRENTO, ITALY

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon with friends Rob & Jim. We sailed on the 2015 World Cruise with the two of them, saw them at our home and when we visited Serenity last year while the ship was in Sydney. They joined the ship in Cape Town.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

We all dined at the Umi Uma Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We were seated by Head Waiter Ruel and in the wonderful hands of Waiter Albert and Sommelier Jay. Everything is perfect.

We began with a couple of items we pre-ordered for the table. Each couple ordered their own sushi and sashimi. We also enjoyed soup and salad and a few other items.

Everything was terrific including delicious food, impeccable service and the wonderful venue

We slept well as we sailed to our next port of call in Sorrento, Italy. Keith was up first and enjoyed a workout at the Fitness Center before we had coffee and breakfast in our room. We then got ready to go ashore.

We anchored off Sorrento on-schedule. Sorrento is a town that has lots of shopping, cafes/restaurants and hotels. On a few prior visits we have enjoyed lunch in-town including Pizza.

Its overall population is 17,000 people.

Local attractions of Sorrento include:

Duomo which Sorrento's Cathedral whose original structure was built in the 15th century.

Museo Correale which holds collections of painters from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Villa Comunale which is the largest park in Sorrento sitting on a cliff overlooking the entire bay.

Chiesa di San Francesco which was founded in the 8th century as a place of private worship. Overtime this changed and in the 14th century was turned into a church.

Piazza di Tasso which was constructed in 1866 and is a large square surrounded by historical buildings, restaurants, outdoor cafes and other pastel buildings.

There are many places to visit from Sorrento.  In fact, when Anne Marie’s sister was alive she and her husband used to use Sorrento as a home base to visit other areas.  Some of the places easily visited from this town include:

Capri, The Ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Amalfi Coast.

We have been to Sorrento many times. We have also visited some of the places we mentioned from this charming town and also from Naples. On some occasions we have had two days because of overnights allowing us to sightsee one day and to enjoy the town including having lunches and taking long walks on the second day.

In 2014 while our son Eric and daughter-in-law  Kara  were on board for a cruise with us  we took them on a tour of the Amalfi Coast.  We enjoyed it so much we decided to do another tour of the Coast.  We made arrangements with Crystal Cruises for a private tour.

We took the tender from the ship over to the tender drop-off in Sorrento where we were met by our driver and tour guide. Our tour guide was Maria. The other day we had Anna. Very easy for "Anne Marie" to remember both names.

Although  it was   raining for a  good portion of the day, we enjoyed the beauty of the coast before arriving to the town of Ravello.

Ravello has only 2,500 residents.  Because of its scenic location  it is a  popular stop for tourists.  It is listed as a  UNESCO World Heritage Site, starting in 1997.

Ravello  was founded in the 5thCentury. Between 839 and  1200 it was an important  trading  power in the Mediterranean.  By the 12thcernury it has 25,000 inhabitants.

We also visited the town of Amalfi.

We continued with a drive to the town of Positano.  Positano was a  key location for  both the Greeks and the Phoenicians on their travels to western  areas.  It was a popular site for rich Romans during the Roman Empire to build grand villas. IT became a wealthy market port between the  15h and 17thcenturies.  By the end of the 17thcentury the town fell on poor times and many people left and emigrated mostly to America.

Although a poor fishing village in the first half of the 20thcentury, by the 1950’s it began to attract tourists.  Its popularity increased after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in Harper’s Bazaar in May of 1953.  He called it a dream place.

Our next stop was to the Hotel San Pietro where we  had lunch at Restaurant Zass.

The hotel began in 1934 when its owner rented his house to tourists hoping to turn it into a hotel.

Restaurant  Zass is a Michelin Restaurant. It offers stunning views of the Amalfi Coast.

This was one  of the most amazing restaurants we have  ever dined at.  The food was spectacular  as was the service and the  views  were amazing.

Our tour ended where we began at Sorrento.

This was an amazing day.