Hello everyone! M. Cheesemonger and I spent a stunning week in Italy, but now I’m back (albeit a little jetlagged). I can’t wait to share it all with you!
We spent a majority of our nights in Sorrento, at the Hilton Sorrento Palace. Our room’s motorized curtains opened up to a balcony with a sweeping view of Sorrento, the Bay of Naples, and Mount Vesuvius. The evening we arrived, we wasted no time, and had plenty of seafood (mmm seafood salad!), fresh pizza, grilled vegetables, arancini, gelato, and the infamous and addicting sfogliatelle–seashell-shaped pastry stuffed with ricotta cheese and candied fruit.
During our first full day in town, M. Cheesemonger and I visited the island of Capri. The 30-minute ferry ride was pleasant enough, and we arrived at the Marina Grande ready to visit the famed Blue Grotto, where thanks to some fortuitously placed holes in the rock, we can get the impression that we’re in a glowing blue wonderland. Sadly, the Blue Grotto was closed that day, so we contented ourselves with a boat ride around a part of the island.
We had a deliciously simple lunch at Villa Verde, which featured boards full of photos of celebrity patrons out front (this seems to be an Italian thing—we saw this at lots of restaurants we went to!). On the menu was a fluffy, fried ball of cheese pasta, octopus salad that I could have eaten for days, a refreshing penne with tomato sauce, and strawberry tart. M. Cheesemonger and I then ducked past the rows of high-end designer shops to roam the quiet side streets for most of the day. If we had had more time, we would have visited Anacapri or the Villa Jovis, but at least we have something to look forward to if we make a repeat visit!
That evening, we had dinner in the shadow of an enormous garden lemon grove, with traditional Italian dancing and music to entertain everyone. The food was traditional local fare—marinated anchovies, fried stuffed squash blossoms, lemon leaf-wrapped mozzarella, gnocchi . . . . the region is renowned for its limoncello and everything lemons. They’re massive—grapefruit-sized—and everywhere. We even were treated to some virtuosic pizza dough slinging!
I’m going to let the photographs and video do the talking for the rest of the blog post, especially since my mind is so jetlagged and fuzzy right now! Let’s imagine we’re sipping on some limoncello and basking in the sun now, shall we?
The Island of Capri
Dinner in Sorrento
Be ready for more travel pictures and videos all this week!
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